I had Archie clipped about 5 months ago. He was still a youngster of course, and really hadn’t done any flying prior anyway. All of a sudden, he did one or two short flights that scared me, so off to the vet we went.
I was a little pissed because when we got home, he tried to fly and dropped like a rock. I thought they “over-clipped” him. He didn’t attempt any flying since, until this week, now at 19 months.
And he’s flying like a helicopter. Real steady altitude...he’s not soaring up and swooping down...just steady, and slow.
I inspected his wings (boy, did he love that), and those are the same feathers still fully clipped.
I gotta assume he’s just reached the age where a bird gotta fly, and he figured out how to do it. His speed is so slow that I’m not worried about him escaping at breakneck speed (my house is small, I’m always close to him), but it definitely scared me because my wife was boiling water at the time.
I just wanted to relay this experience for parronts who clip their fids to say that clipped doesn’t really mean no flight, and it certainly varies on how the bird was clipped.
I used to be of the train of thought that clipping ONE wing was a better way to go, because he just turns in a circle, but came to the decision this is more dangerous, putting the bird in a flight pattern he doesn’t want to follow.
I was a little pissed because when we got home, he tried to fly and dropped like a rock. I thought they “over-clipped” him. He didn’t attempt any flying since, until this week, now at 19 months.
And he’s flying like a helicopter. Real steady altitude...he’s not soaring up and swooping down...just steady, and slow.
I inspected his wings (boy, did he love that), and those are the same feathers still fully clipped.
I gotta assume he’s just reached the age where a bird gotta fly, and he figured out how to do it. His speed is so slow that I’m not worried about him escaping at breakneck speed (my house is small, I’m always close to him), but it definitely scared me because my wife was boiling water at the time.
I just wanted to relay this experience for parronts who clip their fids to say that clipped doesn’t really mean no flight, and it certainly varies on how the bird was clipped.
I used to be of the train of thought that clipping ONE wing was a better way to go, because he just turns in a circle, but came to the decision this is more dangerous, putting the bird in a flight pattern he doesn’t want to follow.
Last edited:
I've been trying to learn him to fly,giving him flap flap lessons regularly and he holds the perch and does a good job waving his arms and seems to like the lessons and if I hold him over the bed and let go of the perch he just holds on and goes poof on the pillow. He shows zero interest in flying...kind of bums me out 
