ceiling fans

[Val27]

My 13 yr old cockatiel flew into a running ceiling fan on thurs night. I took her to the vet and had her checked over. The vet sent me home w/ pain meds for her. She is still eating, drinking and climbing around in her cage somewhat. I think she may be just sore. Sometimes when sitting on her perch she sort of sits down a bit. I am still very worried. My tiels wings are clipped but somehow she got enough height to get to the fan. I don't know if a simple breeze thru an open window gave her the lift to get up that high (9ft ceilings). I take her out every day and she sometimes flys off my hand but only to the ground, never that high. She didn't get knocked down when she hit, she actually flew into the next room on her own. She has flown a little since and stretches her wings still. The vet found nothing broken. She doesn't sing like usual but still a bit vocal. Not sitting on bottom of cage. How worried should I be?

[Dave007]

Well, it sounds like she handled the problem and she seems to be alright. Actually what you descibe makes me think that your bird is doing all the regular things better now than before the accident. So, there's nothing to worry about. Don't clip her wings again.

[judygram]

Those ceiling fans do pose a problem with flighted birds but glad to hear your tiel is fine.

[Birdnut]

We just don't run ceiling fans, unless it's late in the evening and all the birds are put to bed. Better safe than sorry.

[Val27]

Today Gracie was singing w/ me a little. That makes me think she must be feeling a bit better. I am so thankful she is heading in the right direction. I don't understand why I shouldn't clip her wings. Doesn't clipping the wings keep them from flying into windows and dangerous situations? Thankyou for your insite.

[Eshana]

Today Gracie was singing w/ me a little. That makes me think she must be feeling a bit better. I am so thankful she is heading in the right direction. I don't understand why I shouldn't clip her wings. Doesn't clipping the wings keep them from flying into windows and dangerous situations? Thankyou for your insite.

 

My 'tiel Shelby came with his wings clipped. This forum has educated me so much. For some reason none of the bird books I read said anything bad about wing clipping. Thanks to Grey Forums I understand now why clipping is bad..and, of course, my first hand experience.

 

Shelby is only now, at 7 months, starting to grow back his flight feathers. Prior to now, however, Shelby has been extremely clumsy! When he tried to fly he'd fly into a wall or he'd awkwardly crash on a bed...and the scariest one was when I had him in my kitchen and the sink spooked him. He flew halfway into the living room before crashing into a lamp!

 

If Shelby had his flight wings he could turn around or pull up before crashing into a wall, or land with grace on the bed. If something spooked him, he could land someplace "safe" instead of just crashing. His poor beak even has some cracks on it from all the crashing.

 

I'm never letting another bird of mine get clipped ever again.

[katana600]

I am so happy that Gracie is feeling a little more chipper. That had to be a big scare. We got our first parrot and she was clipped already. She would fall straight to the floor and it took almost two years before she would molt and get her flight feathers. In that time she was nippy and confrontational, she seemed fearless. She would get on the floor and chase the dogs and the cats. What I learned about clipping from her is that when her wings grew in, she was a different bird. She is able to avoid the other ground dwelling pets and we have much less likelihood of her getting hurt accidentally. Also, while her wings were coming in we considered her flightless and got a little lax about opening and closing the front door to let the dogs out. It seemed like an instant between straight crashing to the floor and being able to glide, then fly. We are in a house of all adults and whoever opens the bird cage is responsible for letting everyone else know we have a bird in flight. We put her behind one closed door prior to opening our front door and it becomes second nature to always look for the bird before opening an outside door. Every home has to make choices regarding clipping and guardianship, but sometimes new bird homes think clipping is keeping our bird safe when in reality, it may not be the case. We have one flighted bird and one unflighted due to plucking. The difference in confidence, biting and playful interaction has my vote for non clipping.

[Greywings]

Fortunate outcome for this fan encounter, so many ways our birds can find to get hurt in our homes. Very happy she is rebounding so well.

[danmcq]

Thats good news.

 

A flighted bird learns what a window, mirror etc. is very quickly and will not fly into them. In the beginning, you need to place some stickies on them so the bird will know it is not an opening to the outdoors. You can also take them up and let them tap on the glass, look at themselves in the mirror etc. Once they know what they are, stickies are no longer needed and you will probably catch them checking their mirror image out. When we are outside, our grey will fly to the patio sliding glass door, hover and see where we are.

[dw310]

Wanna know what a vet called birds around ceiling fans? Shreaded tweet. Unfortunately, it's a fairly common cause of injury. Another known danger is taking your bird outside, in its cage, onto say a deck. This vet said he had several injured birds come in--attacked through the cage by a wild bird. But back to the ceiling fan issue. I always have mine off when Morgan is out of his cage. He has never flown up to it (mine is about 20 feet high), but there's always that first time. I'm so glad Gracie is doing well. She's a beauty!!!

 

When I first got Morgan, I also learned from this board to not clip his wings. While there are pros and cons to both sides of the issue, in my opinion it's best for Morgan to remain flighted. My main argument for it is that: birds fly. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but it's a huge part of who they are. I think it's much healthier for them. Morgan has flown into a few things, but never more than once. CAGs are amazingly smart, and he has it figured out.

[Val27]

Thankyou for all the advice. I always felt I was keeping my bird "safe" by keeping her wings clipped. Sometimes it is hard to decide which is better when there are pros and cons to both situations. I am so thankful she is better. Singing and doing everything pretty much like her old self. So relieved!

[Zoom]

I don't clip any of my birds for the same reason as dw13. Birds fly. It's a huge part of who they are. It's one of the best things about being a bird. It's integral to their sense of safety and security. To clip their wings is akin to crippling us to protect us from getting hit by cars crossing the street.

 

Personally, I think if we want to live with birds, we have to be willing to modify our environments to suit the birds, rather than modify the birds to suit our environments.

 

Also...Simon's wings were clipped by the breeder, and that hasn't stopped him from flying. It's only stops him from flying WELL. It just breaks my heart to see him crashing into walls and doors. I can't see how it has protected him from anything. If the door were open, he'd be gone, clipped wings and all.