Dilemma about wing clipping

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
Hello everyone.
I am having to face a dilemma I never thought I would.
A bird's flight is something I adore and I know it is healthy for them to fly so I've always kept my feathered friends flighted. My newest baby, who came to me five months ago with her flight feathers clipped already, is growing her wing feathers out now and she can fly again. I was SO looking forward to her getting the wings back, and now I have to face something I've never had to face before. She is afraid of flying. And moreover, she gets startled very easily and flies around the apartment in a panic. Yesterday morning when she did that (she saw something outside that startled her) she flew around and hit my balcony glass door. I was so worried and scared, but thankfully she was okay. She was dizzy for about 20 minutes and couldn't balance properly, but after that she pretty much returned back to normal.
The thing is, I do not want to clip her wings. But at the same time, I don't want something bad to happen to her. Now the reason I'm posting is because I'm wondering if any of you have gone through something like this before and trained your bird to not get startled. Also, I don't really know what to do about the glass. And besides the one balcony door that doesn't have anything covering it, even my windows that have blinds could potentially be dangerous if she hit the blinds hard enough. I don't want to take away her flight, but I don't know if I'm just being selfish and maybe I should care about her safety first. None of my birds ever got startled as much as she does. I don't know if she will just get used to not getting startled over time after she figures out that she can fly again because it seems like she has really lost her confidence. She won't fly to me, even though she can. It seems she is afraid to fly. She is a one year old female green cheek. Apparently from what the breeder tells me, her flying skills were incredible before I got her. So for the first seven months in her life, she was a flighted bird. She has quite a cautious and gentle personality so when she tried to fly a bunch of times when her wings were clipped and bailed on the floor, I think it really frightend her and now she is afraid to fly even though she can.
Any advice on any points I have made in this post will be helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read.
 

BirdyBee

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Hi there. I think keep an eye on it. If it continues and she is hurting herself badly and shows a lot of anxiety, then if you feel better having her clipped, then go ahead. But maybe take someone else's word for it, since I've never been in your position.
 
D

Deleted member 42416

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Hi, it is imperative you either put shades down when she’s out or consider window stickers (they have unobtrusive prismatic ones that the birds see clearly) that are glueless.

Your little birdie had a concussion and you are very lucky she’s ok. I just lost my young sun conure new to flying when he struck a window. He had a brain bleed and died 10 hours later. I felt (and still feel) so foolish for not thinking of it. I had been aware when I brought the other birds in. I did the shades and a window “tour” where I took them to each window and had them tap with beaks. Since Kevin died, I have put window stickers up. I also bought cling window film that I can cut up for spaces in between.

I would not clip wings yet…we just need to “baby-safe” the windows!

I put 60 of these dragonfly prismatic stickers on our bedroom windows:

image.jpg

I plan on cutting this film in smaller pieces to put between the dragonflies. The film is much cheaper and easily customizable.
image.jpg
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
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Full house
Hi,
This is common with finally being able to fly. Its a learning process. Fledgling age tgey have a biological urge to learn to fly and helps overcome fear of falling.

When this was deigned them. It takes time to overcome.

Bird learn to fly and think on the wing. If all flight feathers aren't in yet it also throws off flight dynamics.

The good news is your burd can learn to fly well! Can learn to avoid objects when startled. It takes practice and time.

Try and take on lots of walking tours of home. Stop with bird and tap on glass and walls. Stop and set down on perch spots through out the home thin pick up and continue tour. Do a tour out to length of room and back to cage . This helps them map it. So I take them out and back to cage out to perch spot then back to cage. Repeat a few times every day.

During this learning try and make home safe, blinds or curtains or tape decals on windows and mirrors .

Do practice flight in a bedroom with door closed and blankets on floors. Its often the landing that's hard fir them to learn at first , and direction and height change.

Its common for burds thst don't know abd are afraid to fly, to at first only fly when startled. But birds that know how to fly and fly well don't do panic flights into stuff, and are much less likely to panic in the first place. They will fly off to a different spot, and in high drama situations do loops around the room.

Sometimes you can help them learn by doing a perch jump where ey use wing a little. So start where they just have to hop from you to top of cage, fir a treat. If you need to start were they just step down fine. Then slowly increase the distance, very slowly like a inch. Lot o praise.
Birds do best with very short sessions of training tgen a break. Let them get really good at short hops. Just gradually increase over days weeks. Hope thst helps
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
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Hi, it is imperative you either put shades down when she’s out or consider window stickers (they have unobtrusive prismatic ones that the birds see clearly) that are glueless.

Your little birdie had a concussion and you are very lucky she’s ok. I just lost my young sun conure new to flying when he struck a window. He had a brain bleed and died 10 hours later. I felt (and still feel) so foolish for not thinking of it. I had been aware when I brought the other birds in. I did the shades and a window “tour” where I took them to each window and had them tap with beaks. Since Kevin died, I have put window stickers up. I also bought cling window film that I can cut up for spaces in between.

I would not clip wings yet…we just need to “baby-safe” the windows!

I put 60 of these dragonfly prismatic stickers on our bedroom windows:

View attachment 35464

I plan on cutting this film in smaller pieces to put between the dragonflies. The film is much cheaper and easily customizable.
View attachment 35465
Beak Beak Same! Tho I have for wild birds!
20220206_140428.jpg
20220206_140418.jpg
 

LaManuka

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Oh Farnoosh, my heart just about stopped when I read this, I am SOOOOOOOOOOO glad that Paisley is ok! You must've been horrified when it happened!

I have blinds and/or curtains and/or flyscreens over every glass surface in our house, for me they've been the most effective sort of barrier to have. On the VERY rare occasion that any of my birds have run into anything, the presence of that blind/curtain etc really slows them down significantly before impact, if impact does occur at all. I have French doors with glass inserts inside the house and they are all covered with bright white net curtains that just cannot be missed. Net curtains would work on a balcony door, or even those vertical type blinds would be great too.

My GCC, when I had him, had been clipped as a baby too, and I used similar training techniques to those described by @Laurasea when he finally did grow those feathers back. Thankfully we never had an incident like this with him, although he was always quite a reluctant flyer, I suspect he had been clipped before he had ever learned to fly so that was the result.

I wish you all the very best with Paisley, Farnoosh! It really does wrench the heart so much when they injure themselves this way!
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #9
Hi there. I think keep an eye on it. If it continues and she is hurting herself badly and shows a lot of anxiety, then if you feel better having her clipped, then go ahead. But maybe take someone else's word for it, since I've never been in your position.
Thank you so much for your suggestions I appreciate it 🌷
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #10
Hi, it is imperative you either put shades down when she’s out or consider window stickers (they have unobtrusive prismatic ones that the birds see clearly) that are glueless.

Your little birdie had a concussion and you are very lucky she’s ok. I just lost my young sun conure new to flying when he struck a window. He had a brain bleed and died 10 hours later. I felt (and still feel) so foolish for not thinking of it. I had been aware when I brought the other birds in. I did the shades and a window “tour” where I took them to each window and had them tap with beaks. Since Kevin died, I have put window stickers up. I also bought cling window film that I can cut up for spaces in between.

I would not clip wings yet…we just need to “baby-safe” the windows!

I put 60 of these dragonfly prismatic stickers on our bedroom windows:

View attachment 35464

I plan on cutting this film in smaller pieces to put between the dragonflies. The film is much cheaper and easily customizable.
View attachment 35465
Hi there and thank you so much for sharing. I am so sorry for the loss of your beloved bird, that is very tragic and yes I am incredibly lucky nothing happened to my baby… Thank you for taking the time to read and make these very helpful suggestions 🌷
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #11
Hi,
This is common with finally being able to fly. Its a learning process. Fledgling age tgey have a biological urge to learn to fly and helps overcome fear of falling.

When this was deigned them. It takes time to overcome.

Bird learn to fly and think on the wing. If all flight feathers aren't in yet it also throws off flight dynamics.

The good news is your burd can learn to fly well! Can learn to avoid objects when startled. It takes practice and time.

Try and take on lots of walking tours of home. Stop with bird and tap on glass and walls. Stop and set down on perch spots through out the home thin pick up and continue tour. Do a tour out to length of room and back to cage . This helps them map it. So I take them out and back to cage out to perch spot then back to cage. Repeat a few times every day.

During this learning try and make home safe, blinds or curtains or tape decals on windows and mirrors .

Do practice flight in a bedroom with door closed and blankets on floors. Its often the landing that's hard fir them to learn at first , and direction and height change.

Its common for burds thst don't know abd are afraid to fly, to at first only fly when startled. But birds that know how to fly and fly well don't do panic flights into stuff, and are much less likely to panic in the first place. They will fly off to a different spot, and in high drama situations do loops around the room.

Sometimes you can help them learn by doing a perch jump where ey use wing a little. So start where they just have to hop from you to top of cage, fir a treat. If you need to start were they just step down fine. Then slowly increase the distance, very slowly like a inch. Lot o praise.
Birds do best with very short sessions of training tgen a break. Let them get really good at short hops. Just gradually increase over days weeks. Hope thst helps
hi Laurasea
thank you so much for your detailed information and taking the time. I truly appreciate it and learned a lot. Thank you again 🌷
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #12
Hi Farnoosh, so happy your young bird quickly recovered. I can think of no better advise than that shared by Beak-Beak and Laura.
Hi Scott, yes I am happy and relieved. Thank you for your support! 🌷
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #13
Oh Farnoosh, my heart just about stopped when I read this, I am SOOOOOOOOOOO glad that Paisley is ok! You must've been horrified when it happened!

I have blinds and/or curtains and/or flyscreens over every glass surface in our house, for me they've been the most effective sort of barrier to have. On the VERY rare occasion that any of my birds have run into anything, the presence of that blind/curtain etc really slows them down significantly before impact, if impact does occur at all. I have French doors with glass inserts inside the house and they are all covered with bright white net curtains that just cannot be missed. Net curtains would work on a balcony door, or even those vertical type blinds would be great too.

My GCC, when I had him, had been clipped as a baby too, and I used similar training techniques to those described by @Laurasea when he finally did grow those feathers back. Thankfully we never had an incident like this with him, although he was always quite a reluctant flyer, I suspect he had been clipped before he had ever learned to fly so that was the result.

I wish you all the very best with Paisley, Farnoosh! It really does wrench the heart so much when they injure themselves this way!
Hi my dear, thank you so much for your message and your support. I am so lucky that Paisley is okay – that was quite shocking indeed. Thank you for your suggestions and shares. I did put all the blinds down now but I was wondering if it's possible for her to injure herself if she hits the blinds because the blinds I have are not the plastic flexible kinds they are the thin wooden kinds but I guess it is better than hitting glass hopefully it won't happen again… So scary!
Lots of love to you XOXO
 

LaManuka

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Aug 29, 2018
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Fang ({ab}normal grey cockatiel), Valentino (budgie), Jem (cinnamon cockatiel), Lovejoy(varied lorikeet), Peach (princess parrot)
Hi my dear, thank you so much for your message and your support. I am so lucky that Paisley is okay – that was quite shocking indeed. Thank you for your suggestions and shares. I did put all the blinds down now but I was wondering if it's possible for her to injure herself if she hits the blinds because the blinds I have are not the plastic flexible kinds they are the thin wooden kinds but I guess it is better than hitting glass hopefully it won't happen again… So scary!
Lots of love to you XOXO
Farnoosh my friend, I have those timber Venetian-type blinds up against my big windows too. They are an excellent safeguard and I think, from my very bad memory, there has only ever been one collision and it was at very low speed, so zero damage done. I leave mine down all the time but they pretty much always open so lots of light gets in :)

Thank goodness my favourite Canadian niece is OK and I am sending both of you much love and many many hugs too!! ❤️❤️🤗🤗😘
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #15
Hello everybody!
I found this and I was wondering if you think it would be enough to put in front of my balcony instead of curtains or blinds. I think the stickers are not enough because she panics so much that she misses the stickers. Interested in your thoughts about this idea though:
thank you as always for being so supportive!
 

inkspider

Member
Jun 8, 2021
25
40
st. augustine florida
Parrots
Roman GCC
Hello everyone.
I am having to face a dilemma I never thought I would.
A bird's flight is something I adore and I know it is healthy for them to fly so I've always kept my feathered friends flighted. My newest baby, who came to me five months ago with her flight feathers clipped already, is growing her wing feathers out now and she can fly again. I was SO looking forward to her getting the wings back, and now I have to face something I've never had to face before. She is afraid of flying. And moreover, she gets startled very easily and flies around the apartment in a panic. Yesterday morning when she did that (she saw something outside that startled her) she flew around and hit my balcony glass door. I was so worried and scared, but thankfully she was okay. She was dizzy for about 20 minutes and couldn't balance properly, but after that she pretty much returned back to normal.
The thing is, I do not want to clip her wings. But at the same time, I don't want something bad to happen to her. Now the reason I'm posting is because I'm wondering if any of you have gone through something like this before and trained your bird to not get startled. Also, I don't really know what to do about the glass. And besides the one balcony door that doesn't have anything covering it, even my windows that have blinds could potentially be dangerous if she hit the blinds hard enough. I don't want to take away her flight, but I don't know if I'm just being selfish and maybe I should care about her safety first. None of my birds ever got startled as much as she does. I don't know if she will just get used to not getting startled over time after she figures out that she can fly again because it seems like she has really lost her confidence. She won't fly to me, even though she can. It seems she is afraid to fly. She is a one year old female green cheek. Apparently from what the breeder tells me, her flying skills were incredible before I got her. So for the first seven months in her life, she was a flighted bird. She has quite a cautious and gentle personality so when she tried to fly a bunch of times when her wings were clipped and bailed on the floor, I think it really frightend her and now she is afraid to fly even though she can.
Any advice on any points I have made in this post will be helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read.
So far it seems like she’s very nervous, I’d say give it another month maybe two, if she crashes too many more times, it would be safer to clip, if she gets that confidence back then don’t clip
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #18
So far it seems like she’s very nervous, I’d say give it another month maybe two, if she crashes too many more times, it would be safer to clip, if she gets that confidence back then don’t clip
thank you so much!
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 – August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #19
That looks really nice, Farnoosh, I reckon that might just do the trick :)
I hope so :) I really like it actually I think it would look great as well :) thank you my dear!
 

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