I love her flying, but it's gotten to the point where she's flying like crazy and I'm afraid she'll hit a window and hurt herself. I want her to still be able to fly straight, but not as crazy as right now.
How many feathers should be clipped if I still want my conure to be able to fly?
- Thread starter chika
- Start date
roxynoodle
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- Dec 1, 2011
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Might be hard to say. Some birds you can clip just 4-6 and they can still fly, others drop like a stone, and some seem to fly just fine with a full clip!
This issue needs a lot of careful thought before you go ahead and clip anything, because ANY wing-clipping is going to make her MORE clumsy and INCREASE the likelihood of a crash. Perhaps an alternative strategy would be to train her how to fly properly inside your home. Maybe you can place a few playgyms and T-stands in all her favorite hang-out places, and train her to fly and land on these perches only.
- Aug 20, 2009
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My little guy had the first four feathers trimmed and he could fly some but not up to the ceiling.
luvmytooo
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- Dec 22, 2011
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IMO, clipping may increase the likelyhood of injury. For some birds , it doesnt affect their flying at all , and others it can inhibit the height they can reach.
Some drop like a stone as Roxy mentioned. I dont want to clip my guys unless I have to. I feel they can manuever much better with all feathers intact. With that said , you run the risk of them escaping through a window or open door. My Rosie was a terrible feather plucker when I got her , she is growing her feathers back nicely but it will be a while before she flys again. I was told by her previous owner that she flew very nicely and carefully around the house , so we will see how she does here. I have high ceilings and rafters she can land on and chew (awesome). I have seen my Goffin mis judge flying to me when I was sitting behind a glass door and end up aborting that landing and flying down the stairs instead , he made a perfect landing. If he didnt have his flight feathers I feel he would have had no choice other then to fly straight into the door and hurt himself. Unless they are very careless with their flying , I just think it's safer to leave their flight feathers intact. I also think they panic more if they have no control over their ability to avoid or choose their path.
Some drop like a stone as Roxy mentioned. I dont want to clip my guys unless I have to. I feel they can manuever much better with all feathers intact. With that said , you run the risk of them escaping through a window or open door. My Rosie was a terrible feather plucker when I got her , she is growing her feathers back nicely but it will be a while before she flys again. I was told by her previous owner that she flew very nicely and carefully around the house , so we will see how she does here. I have high ceilings and rafters she can land on and chew (awesome). I have seen my Goffin mis judge flying to me when I was sitting behind a glass door and end up aborting that landing and flying down the stairs instead , he made a perfect landing. If he didnt have his flight feathers I feel he would have had no choice other then to fly straight into the door and hurt himself. Unless they are very careless with their flying , I just think it's safer to leave their flight feathers intact. I also think they panic more if they have no control over their ability to avoid or choose their path.
Pedro
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- Dec 15, 2010
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Chika, the best clip for a GCC is to clip only about 4 or 5 primary feathers on each side & only clip half the length of the feathers, don't clip up to the primary-coverts. They will still be able to fly but like Spiritbird said won't gain height. But do remember that if you take your bird outdoors with this clip they would be able to fly off.
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