sun conure and wing clipping

[africandreams]

So we ended up buying a baby sun conure from the bird fair over the weekend. She is on 2 hand feedings a day. but does eat very well on her own. I have hand fed 2 african Greys before, 1 from very early (not even feathered) and 1 that was on 2 feedings a day. I never thought about clipping wings before weaning would be a problem. I simply have never heard anything about it before. My Greys never tried to fly until they were weaned so I never thought about clipping them before hand. Anyway when we brought the sun conure home and took her out of the travel cage obviously she was a little scared and took off in full flight. She did very well able to stop and turn, hover in the air and eventually land on my husband's out stretched hand. So without thinking anything of it, I clipped her wings. I was just reading some info and read that you should never clip before they are weaned. Does anyone have experience with this? Have I damaged he emotionally or psychologicaly? She is still taking her hand feedings, breaking her neck to get to it if I have her on the counter while I prepare it. But again she eats pellets, fruits and anything I give her. She is constantly in her food bowl. She has not tried to take flight since. She will kind of hop/flap from toys and perches. Thanks for any advice.

 

[weco]

So we ended up buying a baby sun conure from the bird fair over the weekend. She is on 2 hand feedings a day. but does eat very well on her own.

Sometimes, when chicks have a change of feeders, they may slow down on feeding for a few days.....i.e. change of feeder, difference in feeding technique, surroundings, temperature, etc., and once the bird feels safe in its new surroundings, things usually change for the better.....

I have hand fed 2 african Greys before, 1 from very early (not even feathered) and 1 that was on 2 feedings a day. I never thought about clipping wings before weaning would be a problem. I simply have never heard anything about it before. My Greys never tried to fly until they were weaned so I never thought about clipping them before hand. Anyway when we brought the sun conure home and took her out of the travel cage obviously she was a little scared and took off in full flight. She did very well able to stop and turn, hover in the air and eventually land on my husband's out stretched hand. So without thinking anything of it, I clipped her wings. I was just reading some info and read that you should never clip before they are weaned. Does anyone have experience with this? Have I damaged he emotionally or psychologicaly? She is still taking her hand feedings, breaking her neck to get to it if I have her on the counter while I prepare it. But again she eats pellets, fruits and anything I give her. She is constantly in her food bowl. She has not tried to take flight since. She will kind of hop/flap from toys and perches.

I don't know about clipping before weaning, but some birds develop a fear of trying to fly if they are not allowed to fledge and are continuously clipped for the owners' convenious.....

As long as a bird is well socialized and stimulated to try different things, I would think that after its first molt/moult, it would be interested in testing its wings.....

Graceful flying is a learned technique and hard landings & overshooting landing zones are just the result of inexperience.....the same often happens with windows and/or mirrors, false sense of depth, space continuation..... You can usually correct this erroneous perception by your feathered friend, by taking him/her around to each window/mirror & let them beak/lick the window/mirror to learn that there is an invisible obstruction there.....

Good luck.....