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Thank you Talon for the reply. Sorry to hear about the one starting to pluck. It must be very difficult trying to give even attention to all 3. Hope things will turn out for you soon.

Can I please ask 4 input on what the best age to do this is 4 breeding? Will I lose all of ziggy's love? He's 2 1/2 now. How long Should the female be kept apart at 1st if I start with a baby? Should she be fully tamed 1st? I do know a long time breeder that could guide me along.

My young female African Grey Matilda is going through her 1st moult. It appears the silver tinged red feathers are been replaced with all red feathers. Is this normal ? Cheers, Steve

I got Alfie at 11 weeks old. The person I got him from recommended a light clip on one wing. I was 17 at the time and advice on to clip or not to clip was rather lacking so I followed the advice I was given. I got the second wing done a few weeks later to even it out then decided to let them grow out. I didn't see the benefit of clipping wings - I wanted Alfie to be fully flighted so that if he ever did get out of the house he had the best chance of getting himself out of trouble. I also felt like clipping a birds wings were like asking a dog not to wag it's tail. Birds have wings and are meant to fly. I think it has a massive impact on a bird's mental and physical health if they are not allowed to fledge and learn to fly properly. I think it also has a knock on their confidence too. So that was the last time he was clipped. And thankfully it was a light enough clip that it didn't have too much of an impact on Alfie. He enjoys his time out of the cage and enjoys being able to fly from spot to spot. I can't really help answer your question because Alfie is 17 years old, fully flighted and has been since that initial light clip. He has never plucked. I believe a lot of the issues that cause people to clip their birds can be mitigated. Alfie knows where all the windows are and not to try and fly through them. I'm super cautious about doors and windows being opened and have mesh over any that may be opened whilst he's out so he can't get through. He can fly at quite a steep ascent and knows how to descend (useful in case he ever gets into a tree). He has an aviary to play outside in during the summer and lots of places to play when he's inside.

A birds happiness is directly tied to their ability to fly, forage and socialize. Clipping takes away one of those aspects. Not every clipped bird plucks but you are increasing your chances. People usually clip to prevent a fly-away, keep the bird out of stuff or some other reason. Whatever your reason for wanting to clip, I would find an alternative around it. I put up chain curtains on our doorways to prevent an accidental escape and I built aviaries to give them lots of stuff to do and be free of their cages. I took in a couple of birds that had been clipped and caged and not allowed to fly. It took about a year for them to learn how to fly and get past the clumsy stage. Neither are as good as the birds I have which have never been clipped. I have one bird which plucks and we can't figure out why. She didn't before she came to us. She was a 100% cage bird before coming here and I think her sudden freedom to roam and find nesting holes has probably led to her pulling her feathers. However I couldn't go back to watching her perch potato in a cage all the time. There's lots of ways around clipping and I love having a bird that can come to you on their own power. I guess in the interest of your survey: I bought my Grey as a baby at the same time as my manager at work. I've had previous experience with a Grey in my early 20s. He had zero experience. I was hell-bent against clipping and tried to steer him away from it as well. He clipped his bird and within the first year, his Grey was plucking. They have struggled with it ever since. They have gotten a handle on it now that they are both working from home (socialize!) but I think they could have prevented it maybe if they chose not to clip.

Got him to the VET :) Emotionally vet says he's all good happy birdie. Recommended some nutritious food, uv lamp and gave me some drops to rule out mites... drops seems to help he's got down feathers growing on spots after applying drops so fingers crossed.

Frankly if there's an avian vet 60 miles away I'd make the trip. 60 miles really isn't that far. Rio could have an infection that needs treating. Something could be causing him to be very uncomfortable.