Anyone NOT clip wings?

MurkyWaters

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I have a green cheek (nugget) he's about a year and a bit. Got him 3 months ago. He has gone through a full molt so his wings have grown back. He's been having a blast flying around. He did short jaunts and now has graduated to being able to fly the full circle of the house. So other then the obvious windows and celing fan danger is there anyone out there who let's them fly?

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I do not! If our Tango had been unclipped, she wouldn't have been killed!
 
Oh no! What happened!?

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Clipping wings is a highly controversial subject, the best answers are delivered respectfully and without rancor!!

I do not clip any parrot's wings, but take extreme care to prevent injury or escape. Given a bird's natural tendency to fly, it is IMHO our responsibility to fulfill as much natural activity in captivity as possible. With one exception, all my flyable parrots are skilled and don't tend to crash into walls or objects. All windows and doors must be secured, and when birds are loose it is imperative to prevent a surprise unintentional opening of a door from the outside! Ceiling fans are deadly and not all birds show a natural fear. All occupants of the house must be aware to prevent hazards such as hot stoves and open toilets. Other pets such as dogs and cats must be properly assessed and absolutely removed if they pose the slightest hazard. If your bird has frequent flight privileges, one might reduce their guard over time. Birds can and do explore the floor and present a tripping hazard - dangerous to you and deadly to them.

If you choose to clip, there are several options! A "light clip" permits the safe fluttering to the ground but prevents liftoff from a stationary position. The most controversial is asymmetrical; just one wing is clipped. While intended to discourage a bird from flight, it takes several potentially dangerous attempts and subsequent crashes to "train" out the behavior. I am *not* a fan of clipping just one wing because of the physical and psychological trauma.
 
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Clipping wings is a highly controversial subject, the best answers are delivered respectfully and without rancor!!

I do not clip any parrot's wings, but take extreme care to prevent injury or escape. Given a bird's natural tendency to fly, it is IMHO our responsibility to fulfill as much natural activity in captivity as possible. With one exception, all my flyable parrots are skilled and don't tend to crash into walls or objects. All windows and doors must be secured, and when birds are loose it is imperative to prevent a surprise unintentional opening of a door from the outside! Ceiling fans are deadly and not all birds show a natural fear. All occupants of the house must be aware to prevent hazards such as hot stoves and open toilets. Other pets such as dogs and cats must be properly assessed and absolutely removed if they pose the slightest hazard. If your bird has frequent flight privileges, one might reduce their guard over time. Birds can and do explore the floor and present a tripping hazard - dangerous to you and deadly to them.

If you choose to clip, there are several options! A "light clip" permits the safe fluttering to the ground but prevents liftoff from a stationary position. The most controversial is asymmetrical; just one wing is clipped. While intended to discourage a bird from flight, it takes several potentially dangerous attempts and subsequent crashes to "train" out the behavior. I am *not* a fan because of the physical and psychological trauma.
Ya I think he would be sad if I did it so there would be some psychological effects. He's loving his new found flight. We only have a bunny who has learned very quickly to hop away or he will get his fluff ball of a tail bit. The kids already know to watch the doors because of the bunny. And it's winter now anyway here. I think I'm going to leave him. Right now for sure it's not posing a problem and he's loving it.

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Ya I think he would be sad if I did it so there would be some psychological effects. He's loving his new found flight. We only have a bunny who has learned very quickly to hop away or he will get his fluff ball of a tail bit. The kids already know to watch the doors because of the bunny. And it's winter now anyway here. I think I'm going to leave him. Right now for sure it's not posing a problem and he's loving it.

To Murk up the Water, remember, your bird is very smart, and will associate an opening door with excitement! Plus if it is much brighter outside, Oh Boy!

6 months ago, having been away for a couple days, I turned on the oven without knowing my kid flipped a pizza in it and hadn't cleaned it yet!
The full story is here, But, It Happens so fast!!
http://www.parrotforums.com/lost-found/62116-i-lost-jojo-but-she-back.html

FYI, she is a he! DNA testing.
 
Stephen has never been clipped. He's just over 3 years old and his previous owners let him fly. They'd also take him outside on walks on their shoulders and he never showed any inclination to fly away.

When I got him I debated clipping and decided against it. It's his best defense against predators! If he's on his play stand and I get up to go to the kitchen he'll fly to my shoulder.

I don't have ceiling fans, I don't leave him out when I'm cooking and I restrain him on our walks for his own safety but I don't want to take away one of things that comes most natural to him.

I'm new to this whole bird thing so maybe my opinion will change. But to me clipping a bird is a lot like declawing a cat. (Certainly less invasive) Each to his own but for me, part of owning a pet is accepting it and it's abilities and adjusting to them, not altering the animal to suit me.

Besides, his wing feathers are so friggin pretty!
 
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I grew up with 3 fully flighted parrots, 2 of whom are fairly free roaming during the day. They're all 40+ years old, only one incident in my memory where the wind caught a door and one flew out. He was fortunately the worst flyer of the bunch and immediately crash landed in a shrub and waited for a human to come rescue him. My amazon is clipped, likely has been since before he was weaned and likely never learned to fly as a juvenile leading to a next to impossible task to teach as a mature adult. He is perfectly happy and well adjusted though. Had we got him as a baby VS as an older rescue, I likely wouldn't have ever clipped him to begin with. There is no right or wrong way, however I do tend to lean towards letting them fly as nature intended if the bird shows the inclination to do so.

Some risk beyond doors and windows to consider with flighted birds include- ovens, boiling pots on the stovetop, fireplaces, open sources of water (such as the toilet, cleaning buckets, drinking glasses, other pets water bowls etc...), electrical cords, small objects that can be swallowed, toxic houseplants, cleaning chemicals, non bird safe materials (such as galvanized metal or painted surfaces), uncovered vents or other small openings into walls (conures are small enough to fit into all kinds of small places you may be unable to get them out of) and landing on the floor (risks of being stepped on accidentally or other pets trying to eat/accidentally harm playing with).
 
Ours are all fully flighted, but Zoe, our mac is the only one that flies. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer for this topic.


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Mine are fully flighted. There is actually a third option. My preferred method of clipping (rehomef babies clipped at new owners request) is this. Day 1 take 2 feathers. Day 3 take 2 feathers. Then decide from there whats needed.

Doing this they got used to diminished flight capacity. They also maintained some flight ability. They were slower to fly away and couldnt fly as fast or far.

I clipped at owners request so i could control the clip and asked the new owners to continue to clip this way.
 
I am considering giving my new conure a light clip.

If I still didn't have the dogs, now a cat, I would consider a light clip!

FYI, JoJo and the cat are NEVER out at the same time! Very aggressive cat!

It's just hard, my guy is a very skilled flyer and clearly loves it!
 
I'll post more later, but I'm highly in favor of full flight WHEN POSSIBLE, and I believe there are SAFETY pros and cons to both.


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The Rbird has been unclipped most of his life, and flies where he pleases. This makes time-outs (or even catching him) unlikely, so I do pay the price: he pretty much rules the roost. Our house is a fairly quiet place with secure access/egress, so we feel safe in letting him do his thing.
 
I kept Lilly clipped until about 5 years ago - she loved being outside on the deck with me & clipping gave me a false sense of security. I always knew when it was time for a clipping - or so I thought. I put her on her cage for a few minutes to throw a load of wash in (my water lover incessantly tried to get in the washing machine). My house is on a hill so the back deck is a story up, roof covered and enclosed on 2 sides by the house. Unhappy with being relegated to the cage for a minute she came looking for me. I had the sliding glass doors open to the deck so she flew out...banked right & kept on flying. I came back up to collect her & she wasn't there. When she didn't answer my call I ran through the house and out the back door calling her. I got to the deck steps & heard her call back. With us calling back and forth to each other & me running down the sidewalk with my heart racing it took a couple minutes to figure out where she was...she was 2 houses down in a tree over my neighbors garage! I called my daughter who knows a couple of the guys over at our Public Works Dept - they came over with ladders and a bucket truck and rescued Lilly from the tree. I know how lucky I was and they will always be my hero's!

After that I just kept her unclipped and bought mosquito netting. I screwed cup holders into the beams around the 2 exposed sides of the deck & with clip on curtain hooks every spring I would just clip the mosquito netting around the deck and me & my little velcro bird continued to enjoy hanging out on the deck together.
 
None of my bird are clipped.
I get great enjoyment from watching them fly (an indoor air show every day).
It's good for them for there heart and lungs.
That being said I can see reasons that clipping might be necessary.
 
This is a very sensitive subject, just like the happy huts.

While I am personally against both- I realize that not everyone has the same opinion nor does everyone have the same living situation. I understand that and I respect people having a right to their own opinion just as I have my own.

My opinion is, for people who live in highly active/busy households with a lot of possible dangers (lots of opening of doors etc)- an argument can be made for both clipping and unclipping.

I personally believe it IS cruel to clip a birds wings WHEN things can be done to provide safe flight and people just do it to 'control' the bird. But when injury or death poses a significant threat with a flighted bird, its justified. For example, I had a budgie that could not stop flying into walls and banging against the ceiling. I had to keep her clipped. As a solution, I just got her a very large cage where she could fly around. To me, that was a reasonable thing to do. To keep her in her regular cage without room to fly would have been cruel.

I do think that if you have a very busy lifestyle (lots going on etc) OR have other pets (cats/dogs) it is more of a danger to clip than to unclip because the bird can't escape danger quick enough and also people would be more likely to step on them. My advice in those situations is set up a time to allow your bird free flight (put the cats or dogs in another room for a period of time) or if you have a busy life, set up some 'quiet time' to allow your bird flight. If you have a ceiling fan, set up a time to have the fan off and let your bird fly around. IMO, these are small and reasonable sacrifices and if people really can't do them, IMO they shouldn't have the bird to begin with.

Skittles is free-flighted and the only time he is in his cage is if he goes in on his own or to sleep or if I am out (which isn't for very long). I live alone, rarely go out and rarely have company. My lifestyle is unique and for that reason I try to keep an open mind about how others live their lives. Not everyone has the same day to day life as I do.

I've had to make adjustments and sacrifices in my own life and schedule even though I don't have a ceiling fan, an 'active' lifestyle or any other pets. But having a companion parrot, you will have to make sacrifices. I just don't think sacrificing free flight for your own 'convenience' is every the right thing.

Things to be considered (if safety can be established) is that a flighted bird is more likley to live longer, less likely to develop health problems and that is why I think clipping for 'convenience' or 'control' is wrong. You set limits and boundaries with your kids, with your dogs. You keep them close by or on leashes (dogs anyways, lol) but you do that for their safety, not for your own 'convenience' or 'control'.
 
We will try letting Gus (B&G) grow his wings out, because I don't think his skeletal problems will allow him to fly. If he can, he will have to have a light clip. We live in a rural area with large hawks, bald eagles, golden eagles, and residents with guns who like to shoot white deer and anything unusual. It would be dangerous for him to escape, even for a short time. The hawks visit the house regularly to eat at the bird feeder, and bald eagles perch on a tall dead tree in the yard. That said...a frightened bird can fly amazingly well with clipped wings when the adrenaline kicks in, which might help a lightly clipped bird escape a predator on the ground. If you clip, and the bird is hurt by a dangerous predator on the ground, you will blame yourself. If you don't clip, and the bird breaks it's neck on a window or escapes, you'll blame yourself. Read what everyone says, take your best educated guess at the right answer for you and yours, hope for the best and try NOT to blame yourself for anything unforseeable.
 
Thats why there are pros and cons to both. No matter what choices you make with your fids- there are risks involved. The key is making 'sensible' decisions.

There is a BIG difference between being careless and irresponsible vs an unforeseeable accident or something happening out of the blue. I mean how many people purposely sit or step on their birds. Things like that are tragic, but I'd never blame someone for that even though they'd probably blame themselves. It's just what we do as humans. I find that WAY too often people blame themselves for things that are not their fault and they blame other people for things that are their own fault.
 

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