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From: freds@legs.UUCP (Fred Sieg)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: INDOOR: Wing clipping
Message-ID: <3215@legs.UUCP>
Date: 9 Feb 91 14:24:22 GMT
References: <7022@fs2.cam.nist.gov>
Organization: AST Research, ASIC (VLSI) Development, Irvine, CA
Lines: 42

in article <7022@fs2.cam.nist.gov>, blue@cam.nist.gov (Jim Blue) says:
> 
> Various books and pet stores have different opinions on clipping the
> wings of parrots and other cage birds. This sounds like a topic that
> should have generated heated discussion in the past. If so, does 
> anyone have a summary? If not, feel free to comment. On general
> principles, it seems a practice to avoid, but perhaps there are
> convincing reasons.

We keep our two cockatoos, Chantee and Zachary, partially clipped for
safety. They are both free to roam in the house, so chances of getting
hurt while flying are, IMHO, high. They also both go outside with us so
we want to be sure they don't fly away. We have noticed that the only
time they make any attempt to fly is when something frightens them.

When we first got Chantee, we took her to a pet store for clipping. They
clipped down too far and she got hurt falling. We now do it ourselves,
clipping only enough to keep them from gaining altitude.

Depending on the tameness of your bird, doing it yourself can be easy
or a real chore. Chantee will hold her wing out with only a little
nudge and clip, clip, clip. Zachary has to be occupied by one of us
while the other "does the deed".

When doing it yourself, be careful of blood feathers and experiment by
clipping a few of the flight feathers at a time until your bird can
still glide down gracefully but not be able to flap up. You can always
clip some more but you must wait months for regrowth.
We leave the two outermost flight feathers intact and clip the following
half dozen or so down to the tips of the next layer. This doesn't seem
to hurt their appearance when the wings are tucked in either.

Have never noticed any psychological effect on either of them. They
don't really seem all that interested in flying anyway.

Fred

-- 
Fred Sieg 		|  freds@ast.com -or- ...!uunet!legs!freds
AST Research Inc.	|  Fax: (714) 727-9358 Tel: (714) 727-8465
If any opinions were expressed, they are my own and not those of my
employer (who would NEVER express an opinion).