Bad wing clip

[Tango's_Mom]

Tango got a wing clip today. It was a lady who I work with who did it. Her mother bred lovebirds and she's had her own birds before, she said she could clip his wings for me. It seems she didn't know as much as I thought, she clipped too many feathers, and Tango's having a pretty hard time with it. He's taking a couple of tumbles, nothing to serious, but he's scared me a couple of times. He's starting to figure out that he needs to stay close to me, and I'm hoping he'll get used to it soon. From now on I'm definately taking him to my avian vets office or the petstore that did his original clip. For now though he's stuck with what he's got, and I feel terrible for not taking him to the petstore or vet, I thought I could save him a trip and some stress, and myself some money by asking someone I trust to do the clip, I just hope he can adjust until he moults again, and I can get a proper clip done.

[dovelady4]

I've never had my birds' wings clipped. If you clip the secondary flight feathers, will they be able to fly with them again, or are they permenantly clipped?? I can't remeber. I feel as though I've been told that somewhere, but I'm not sure. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense really. I only know that you should only clip the first 7 primary flights.

[Janie]

Jenna, we live and we learn! I also let two of mine get a bad wing clip because it was less distance to drive. Actually, my dog vet did it and she is also avian but not board certified and I do not use her for other bird stuff. She'd clipped Oliver a time or two before and gave him great clips but did some kind of weird (I think she said it was a canary clip??? Left the front flights long and clipped those behind them, weird!) that time on Big Boi and Shy and it was awful. The good news is that those bad clips do grow out! :D Sorry that Tango has had a few tumbles and I'm sure he'll stick close to his momma for a while.

[Tango's_Mom]

Jenna, we live and we learn! I also let two of mine get a bad wing clip because it was less distance to drive. Actually, my dog vet did it and she is also avian but not board certified and I do not use her for other bird stuff. She'd clipped Oliver a time or two before and gave him great clips but did some kind of weird (I think she said it was a canary clip??? Left the front flights long and clipped those behind them, weird!) that time on Big Boi and Shy and it was awful. The good news is that those bad clips do grow out! :D Sorry that Tango has had a few tumbles and I'm sure he'll stick close to his momma for a while.

Yeah, the friend who did Tango asked if I wanted the first two left, and the ones behind cut, and I told her that the clip he had when I got him was the first 5-6 feathers (he never let me count them, I was going by a guess from what he had dropped while moulting) but she definately clipped more than that. The other thing is he's been preening like crazy since she left, now he may have been doing it all day because I was at work. And it has been a few days since his last bath, I was planning to dunk or spritz him if he hadn't taken one by tomorrow, so maybe it's unrelated, but has anyone seen a bird that just preens and preens after a wing clip?

I just feel so bad since I had just gotten to the point where I could hold him in my bare hands and get him to step onto my finger, now he definately doesn't want to be held, and he's hesitant to step onto my finger, although he still does it, not as consistently as he was over the last couple of days though, and he doesn't want to stay there, I think he's afraid he might fall, and he rushes to my shoulder or my lap if I'm sitting down.

[Kathryn]

So sorry to hear about the wing clip.
That's why my Wing has her name....when I bought her the store attendant clipped her wings and she bit him while clipping and he butchered one wing. By her next moult, the feathers grew out, but she was hand shy for a long time.

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Aw, I'm sorry. If it's any consolation at all, my lovebirds go through a serious pouting pity party after any wing clip, good or bad. They preen their stubby little wings, and they pout, and they preen, and they pout. They try to fly somewhere but they can't get the same lift they had previously and they crash land. Then they pout some more. This goes on for a day or two.

Millet and extra snuggle time seems to help.

[Cathy]

I went throught something like that and so the next time I took my Jasmine to the person who hand-fed her. She is very good at clipping but Jasmine bit the ... out of her and was so upset and stressed that the next time I did it myself after watching a wing-clipping video about 20 times and it was very successful. The first time, I didn't clip the feathers enough, so I just clipped them a little more. It was so much less stressful on her. After Jasmine, it was much easier to do Melli. I think that when your birds are used to your handling it is so much easier on them to do it yourself.

[LauraO]

No worries. The feathers will grow back, and Jeniffer is right when she says all birdies go through a pouting fest right after a wing clip8o. I see the pouting as indignance than pouting. My lovies always have that "how dare you put those big dirty hands on my precious feathered self8) . Tango should be better after a day or two, but you will have to be more concentious about him and his needs when he's out of his cage.

The resource library has a good illustration showing the flight feathers and what to clip. If you looked at that and then had someone show you how to do it you should be fine. I used to be so scared to clip wings so my husband used to clip them. He would leave the two longest feathers and cut the rest. I hated this as it gave the birds less mobililty and the feathers often broke off. After awhile I just started clipping and after a bird or two I was fine. Now I clip all the wings in the house.

[dmj64]

No big deal. At least you were on top of Tango's care and she can't get away from you.

With my original lovie pair, I neglected their wing clipping. Then one day, my Blue Girl's first mate got spooked when the cage was open and in less that a heartbeat was gone, gone, gone.

[Tango's_Mom]

Thanks guys, he seems to be coming around, I finally heard a couple of peeps out of him around dinner time, I swear after 24 hours of complete and utter silence from him, I will never complain about him being noisy ever again. He's moving around more in his cage, and sitting on his swing more so I guess he's feeling ok about his balance. His appetite, which wasn't up to it's normal level last night and this morning seems to have picked up, that's what was worrying me the most, he was just sitting up in the top corner, preening and sulking, he ate the nutriberries I gave him for a treat last night, but wasn't touching much of his regular food, which he normally dives into anytime I put fresh stuff in his cage. He's been out of the cage for his snuggle time, and while he's not at all inclined to leave me he is a little more active and more like himself.

[Janie]

Jenna, I'm glad to hear that he's coming around! It's the truth, when they get quiet and you are worried about them there is nothing you want more than to hear them chirping away! Oliver had one bad experience on a trip last year for his yearly exam. He threw up several times as we were leaving the vets office and on the way home. I was scared to death (poor Linda got several PM's from me) because he'd never been so quiet or fluffed up in the 2 1/2 years I'd had him. After a few hours he did return to normal but I was so worried. We think he was car sick and a little nervous about the appt. and it took me a couple of days to get over that exp.

Give Tango a kiss and a beak rub from my lovies and me! :)

[ottermom]

I'm too chicken to clip their wings! I want to be the one who rescues them from the big bad vet, not the one who tortures them (not that it's actual torture - you know what I mean). Last time I made my husband take them to the vet. He wanted to learn how to do it for next time, so I get to be the rescuer again - yay!

One day I will be able to let them fly free. It's up to them to behave!

[Janie]

Tania, it took 2 full years after adopting him before I was comfortable allowing Oliver to have full flight. He really does behave so well and is not a very curious lovie. Not sure if the other two boys will ever be trustworthy! :lol

[Lindades264]

Hello,

Here is a wing clipping tutorial for anyone who is interested. I have always clipped my birds wings, with no mistakes.

http://www.parrotparrot.com/lovebirds/wings.htm

[Z28Taxman]

Ditto had a nasty wing clip when he came here. Wing clip is not the right word for it actually, he had no wings! :eek:

It took almost a year before he could fly again (2 moults) and I haven't had to clip him since. He usually only flies to me, his gym and his cage. :) As long as he is a good boy the wings stay unclipped. He's so well behaved that no matter where he is, all I have to do is call him and he flies right to me and lands on my hand or shoulder. 8)

[Tango's_Mom]

Janie - the kiss - done, however I think the beak rub is probably out of the question since the only fingers that get that close to his beak get bitten, hard (we're still working on that one)

He's still not really himself, in someways actually, he's worse than yesterday, but at least he's moving around in the cage and playing with his toys and his appetite seems to be back to normal, however he really doesn't seem to want to leave his cage. It's almost like he's back to when he first started becoming tame, a couple times I've left the cage door open for ages and he won't even look at it (it's been months since I could open the door without him rushing to come out), he was doing so well stepping onto a finger, almost never turning me down, today I've hardly been able to get him to do it at all.
So today I've been letting him come out on his own and then offering him a sleeve or shoulder.

Once he's on my shoulder, he's still not himself he used to climb all over me, down to my hands, onto my keyboard, I had pretty much taught him to stay off my head, now he either just sits really still on my shoulder (like he did when he was first learning to sit on me) or constantly tries to get on my head (which was something he started doing after getting comfortable on my shoulder, and had been pretty much under control for a couple months).

Also, he had been really learning to enjoy the play gym I got him for Christmas, and had seemed quite comfortable on it, now he won't even sit on it. He just doesn't seem to be the same happy bird he was a few days ago, funny what a few missing feathers can do to a wee little bird.

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Pssst. Hey Tango.

Milo here.

Hey - I hear your momma got your wing-wings clipped. Yep, I know it stinks but mommas gots to do those kind of things sometimes 'cause it's for our own good.

The good thing about wing clips is that mommas always feel bad after they clip wings and you can get in on lots of treats an' toys. The more you milk it, the more treats an' toys you can get!

But don't milk it too long or your momma will feel real bad. Keep your chin up, buddy.

Stubby little wing flaps,
Milo Lilo

[Janie]

Aw Jenna, go ahead with that beak rub, your fingers, not mine! :lol OK, how 'bout a big millet spray? :D

I know it's unsettling for them to loose flight, it always was for Oliver but I'm sure he'll be back to normal and fit as a fiddle in the next few days. :)

That little rascal, Milo, knows exactly what he's talking about! ;) One very smart little lovie! :D