When is the best time to clip his wings?

[HaleBoppPeachyluv]

When I brought my Makali'i home from the pet shop in January, he was a grey green and had black on his beak and feet. His wings were clipped... a little oddly.. all the flight feathers gone except the longest ones on the end. Didn't stop him from flying & zooming around my place!

Now he's dropping feathers like they're going out of style...his first major molt, I believe... his cheeks are going white & his crown is a peach-orange...he's started gacking & doing the swishy... but his wings haven't grown out any.

I want to clip his wings... would it be okay to do it now, or should I wait till he's had a chance to fly with fully feathered out flight?

[michael]

Really, there's two good questions here. One is when is it the right time to consider a wing clip, and the other is should it be done during a molt. Aside from clipping for taming purposes, safety is the most important reason for clipping a birds wings. Usually though, its best to first let young birds gain self assurance by at least allowing them an opportunity to become fully flighted. It is said that this added confidence can make a substantial difference towards their emotional well being later on in life. The problem is young birds love to explore and use flight to gain their control which may or may not pose certain "risks". The decision to clip should be based on when you feel its necessary as per the "risks" involved. My understand about clipping during a molt is that you may have to reclip or touch up shortly afterwards as often flight feathers will grow in more rapidly. If possible maybe try waiting until after the molting has subsided, then perhaps you will both get better results...................:)

[alifess]

I took my lovebird to the vet this morning for his first wing clip, and the vet gave him a clip that sounds similar to this one - he left the longest flight feathers intact and cut all the other ones, which I believe are his secondary flight feathers. It gave him a very funny look, and didn't seem to impede his ability to fly at all! Has anyone ever heard of a wing clip like this? Was the vet just incompetent? Might this have any negative impacts on him?

[HaleBoppPeachyluv]

With my Makalii, I think he had to work a little harder to fly, but it didn't impede his ability to fly at all. He could still gain height & glide for quite a distance. He could fly from our living room, past the kitchen all the way around the corner to the laundery room. I actually wish I had had clipped him sooner. When I moved in with my fiance just before we got married, all his flight feathers had grown in.

My fiance's place had ceiling fans, but then my old place did too. We had no problems at first, but after we got married I overlooked turning off a fan & Maka was on the loose. Yes, the worst possible thing happened.

The lovie in my avatar & siggy pic is my new lovie, Sunrise-to-Sunset aka Sunnybird. She is clipped properly (came to us that way), with all primary flight feathers trimmed, and secondary flight feathers intact. When she leaps, she can go straight a little and slow her fall, but she doesn't get any lift whatsoever. We're much much much more careful about the ceiling fans now, but I find that the lack of ability for her to gain any "up" in her jumping is added peace of mind.

[linda040899]

but I find that the lack of ability for her to gain any "up" in her jumping is added peace of mind.
Don't ever, ever, ever stop being mindful about ceiling fans. Flight feathers have a way of growing back unnoticed and, suddenly, you have a bird that can gain altitude! Safety is a huge issue and we always have to be aware of their flight ability.

I, personally, don't like the kind of clip you have described. I believe it's called a show clip and it's supposed to limit flight while the bird still looks like feathers are intact, at least at quick glance. One of the downsides is the ability to still fly and that's because of the outside 2 primaries that have not been clipped. Much, much more effective is to clip the outside 4-6 primaries. I don't think it looks bad at all and by starting with 4 flights on each side and seeing how well the bird can fly, you can tailor the clip for each bird. Some birds are OK with 4 flights. 5 will limit a lot more. It takes 6 to limit the flight of a bird with strong flight ability.

If you are having someone else clip your bird's flight feathers, you need to specify exactly how you want it done or your bird's flight feathers will be clipped in the style that the groomer/vet usually does.