BrokenWing Chronicles
Wing Clipping
What a controversial issue, I have seen many forums torn apart concerning the subject.
Sooo, I would like to share my story, under no circumstances am I recommending anything.
Rose and I were very young to the parrot world, we had but one bird (Joey) when wing clipping became a issue.
Rose said she was taking Joey to the vet to have his wings clipped, I threw a fit, this was something I was not going to agree with, Joey flew around, he had no problems and what I was protecting the most was Joey's ability to be what he was...a bird, and this is what birds do, they fly, taking a birds ability to fly away just seemed very wrong to me.
My wife was set on the issue, she didn't want her Joey to be injured, she was not willing to risk any injury to Joey, and we faught...
Well, I lost the battle, was it because I simply gave in or was Joeys safety behind my decision?
At the time we didn't have a bird carrier, soooo, I found a box, cut a door in the side, and wrote messages on the side of the box to the vet, "My name is Joey, I am a nice little bird, if you hurt me I will bite you and large words such as HURT, PAIN and placed a bright red X through the words.
The vet was very impressed with Joeys carrier, little did Rose and I know, the vet and her assistant were also rescue people and it seems we were called upon to take many birds in from a simple wing clipping.
Rose and I decided to get a friend for Joey, now we had 2 birds Joey and Molly, we decided to save some money on wing clipping and took our birds to a local pet shop, these people that ran this Mom & Pop type of store where very picky about who bought there parrots, one had to visit and spend time with the bird they were buying before they were allowed to take the bird home, we admired this, and these folks seemed to know what they were doing so this is where we took our birds to be clipped at 2 bucks per bird.
I watched the lady clip the wings and thought, hey thats simple, We can do that....
Well, both birds flew backwards now, a very sad sight to see, they had no flight what so ever.
Man I was P..sed.....
One day molly decided to fly off her perch and landed so hard on the floor, she popped her vent.
Away Molly went to the emergency vet, and she had surgery, she came home with a dreaded collar...
I went up to the pet shop and had some very ripe talk with the pet shop owner.
Then, as I have said in another thread, our little blue Quaker broke his/her neck during the first and only flight.
When a new bird comes into our home, the wings are clipped, those that have been here with us for quite sometime and know this house, are not clipped.
We do all our own clipping, trim nails, beaks.
I am posting these pictures to help, not to start a great debate with mud slinging.
For appearance leave the outer primary's.
If trimmed correctly, your bird will still have controlled flight, the distance will not be there, but a safe landing will.
There are issues to consider, do you have cats?
We do, our cats do not bother our birds when they are out and about, we still keep a close eye on things just knowing what cats are capable of doing to a bird.
The same reasoning could be used concerning a dog.
I hope this thread was found to be helpful, controversial was not my intent.
I would like to share a conversation that I have had concerning this issue.
"How can you take a birds flight away from them, that's cruel", the person said.
"How can you cage a bird and keep him/her as a pet", I said.
"We don't cage our birds here, they free fly, they have there own room", she replied.
"What about the four walls you call HOME", I said.
That ended the debate.
