clipping

[DeepLikeNin]

Hi everyone, Mercuri is about a year and a half old now, and I'm about to take her in this afternoon to be clipped again. The last couple of times, I've let her wings grow to full flight, thinking I could handle it, but she gets grouchy and really hard to control (and she loves flying to the most frightened person in the room, without fail). I want to get her clipped, but I don't want her to lose ALL flying ability. If I want her to be able to fly a little bit, be able to flutter around her cage, just take away a little bit of what she has now, how do I have my friend do this? He usually tells me to just clip them all, but I think the ability has to do with HOW MANY feathers you clip, right? not the length? Or is it the length, and if i only take a little bit off the ends ... but that doesn't sound right. Help?

[linda040899]

Hi Cerissa,
The purpose of flight feather clipping is to limit flight, not eliminate it. You need to clip the feathers on both wings or you will upset your bird's balance even when not flying. I, personally, would start with the 4 outside flights on each wing. I cut them just below the covert feathers (the layer above the flights) and cut them to follow the line of the wing. Once you have clipped 4, see how well Mercuri can fly. If you want a bit less flight, remove one more feather from each wing. Some lovebirds are very strong fliers, so it may not be the same number of feathers for each bird. It's a matter of try and try again. While I agree that birds are meant to fly, I also agree that, since we have them as pets, we need to keep them safe.

Hope this helps.

[DeepLikeNin]

are the outside flights, the primary flights? *looking at a diagram* I just want to know before i hand her over to my friend, who will do what he thinks if i dont give him specifics.

p.s.
I agree, about the keeping them safe, because we also just got a puppy three months ago, and since Mercuri can fly again...i'm worried she'll fly into the gated bathroom...

[linda040899]

Cerissa,
Yes, you are talking about the primary flights on each wing. I would watch the clipping process just to make sure that what you want done is what's being done. You don't want any surprises!