Please share your experience

[Cupid]

Hello friends, if you have had a clipped grey that has flown away please share your personal experience. Ive

searched the forums for horror stories about missing birds that were clipped, and I cannot find not one. If this has happend to you, please share your painful experience.

 

Edited August 20, 2011 by Cupid

[Luvparrots]

Cupid, I'm not sure if its flying away or just the fact that the clip grows out and owner is unaware that the bird has become flighted. It also can happen if a gust of wind catches a bird's wings and off the bird then goes. Or in a moment of panic a bird is frightened and the adrenaline gives the bird the strength for flight. It is very easy to lose sight of a bird and not be able to find a scared bird that will normally stay very quiet when frightened. When I first brought home a re-homed older ekkie, the pet store owner told me she took this clipped bird out in the backyard to sun bathe and he always just sat there. Well I took him out and off he went about 20 feet off, luckily I was able to quickly retrieve this "unflighted" bird (I think he was just as surprised that he could fly). It is a person's personal choice to have a flighted or unflighted bird/parrot and I personally believe people should read the information Dave007 has provided in the Health Room and then decide for themselves. This is not a topic to be debated just personally chosen for an indvidual's situation. As it can because a very hot topic.

Edited August 21, 2011 by luvparrots

[Cupid]

This is not a topic to be debated just personally chosen for an indvidual's situation. As it can because a very hot topic.

 

I know luvparrots, very heated indeed. I read and re-read Daves posts on the topic and I get it. Honestly I do. Im actually a bit envious of people that can have their fids fully flighted as Ive never had the opportunity to keep one. (Except for finches).

 

I didnt start this thread to be a debate, I just wanted to read if someone has really lost a clipped bird. I appreciate all the advice I read and get, and am proud to be a flock member here, but ive searched and cannot find not one thread about a lost bird that was clipped.

 

I get excellent advice from my flock members, I wish I had found this forum four years ago when I had my first CAG that I made so many mistakes with. I regretablly rehomed her for personal reasons, and have tried unsuccessfully to get her back. Knowing what I now know, her life couldve been so much better. She really loved me cause she'd regurgitate all the time for me, I thought it was adorable. I still see her time to time, but the new owner is smitten and wont make a deal to let me have her back.

Edited August 20, 2011 by Cupid

[Cupid]

 

 

Not once have I read, "my clipped grey has flown away" as I have been searching for the thread, all the stories I read are of loving owners who let their fids fly around inside their homes, and something accidentally goes wrong. Someone leaves a door, a window open, a father in law walks in at the exact moment the bird is happily flying toward an exit... etc.

 

Ive had birds for many years, some people may call me cruel to take away the birds abiliy to fly, but I disagree, since I do it for their saftey and my peace of mind. Its my personal experience with previous parrots and with current parrots that IF they do get startled, the flap their wings and glide to the ground. At the aviary which I frequent, the staff has answered my question of a flying clipped bird, saying that they person doing the clipping did a poor job, or left too many flight feathers. I regularly take my fids to get "mani and pedis" so to speak and they hardly never jump off of what theyre perched on, but if they do, they glide to the ground.

 

I wish I had the knowledge that I have now thanks to wonderful members from this great forum, because I loved my first grey a lot and I see a lot of mistakes that I made with her that will never be repeated.

 

When I get a baby grey, it will be a full indoor bird and not clipped until it has mastered flying and hovering, "fledging" I believe, and I pray that by then I will have a larger home so that I may have a "bird room" so all my fids can be flighted. At that time, when my paychecks are fatter, I WILL move so that my dream of having a bird room (and a two car garage) will be realized.

Then possibly I wont have to clip my fids, and can experience the joy of having them fly to me when they want to. I have not had that pleasure yet, but look forward to it.

Edited August 20, 2011 by Cupid

[Cupid]

For now my fids are clipped, and Im Ok with that. As my friend has suggested, I will look into getting Aristotle a harness asap.

 

And GOD FORBID, that my grey does fly away, I will start a thread that reads, MY CLIPPED BIRD FLEW AWAY. (But that wont happen knock on wood... )

[Morana]

I don't think clipping or knocking on the wood will make your fid any safer. It is required just one unfortunate chain of events that can cause loss, injury or death of your bird. Why risk it? If you don't hear, for lets say, next 25 years that anybody lost a clipped bird it still wouldn't mean it is impossible or that it won't happen to you the very next day. It is required just that one first time. I thought, for many things, that my fid would never...something...till he did that first something and I was shocked..and I'm still shocked every time he does something "FIRST" that he never ever did before and because of what I presumed it is gonna stay that way.. So now I'm not betting on "my fid will never...something" anymore as you shouldn't bet that Aristote would always glide to the ground, or he would always just "sit there".

If you insist on risking your birds well being that way, start a recall training even if it means hoping, walking or gliding for your bird to you instead of flying.

 

And yes, this thread will cause much chaos;-P

[Cupid]

I don't think clipping or knocking on the wood will make your fid any safer. It is required just one unfortunate chain of events that can cause loss, injury or death of your bird. Why risk it? If you don't hear, for lets say, next 25 years that anybody lost a clipped bird it still wouldn't mean it is impossible or that it won't happen to you the very next day. It is required just that one first time. I thought, for many things, that my fid would never...something...till he did that first something and I was shocked..and I'm still shocked every time he does something "FIRST" that he never ever did before and because of what I presumed it is gonna stay that way.. So now I'm not betting on "my fid will never...something" anymore as you shouldn't bet that Aristote would always glide to the ground, or he would always just "sit there".

If you insist on risking your birds well being that way, start a recall training even if it means hoping, walking or gliding for your bird to you instead of flying.

 

And yes, this thread will cause much chaos;-P

 

Thanks for your opinion Morana, but I assure you, my fids are safe with me, as Im sure Zak is safe with you. No, reading that anybody lost a clipped bird still wouldn't mean it is impossible or that it won't happen to you the very next day. It doesnt matter to me if I ever hear or read of a clipped bird, as this news will certainly not stop me from doing what needs to be done to my birds from my personal situation/perspective.

 

I honestly hope not - that, as you say, "this thead will cause much chaos", but sometiimes parronts are a tad aggresive when it comes to this serious thread, and I just wanted to read a personal story involving this taboo topic.

 

I didn't mean to "ruffle your feathers". and by they way, ~(The "knock on wood" expression, is just that, an expression Americans use so that no bad luck comes this way)~

 

=)

[prettyBird]

I can agree with both sides on this, but here's my experience with BOTH;

The first time my cockatiel, Fez, flew out, the dogs had scared him. And although he was clipped(it was growing out however), a wind gust blew him a few hundred feet away. BUT, he didn't fly far, and landed on the ground. I kept calling him, and he kept calling back so I eventually found him on the ground.

The second, and last, time however, he was fully flighted, got scared, flew off and is still gone to this day. I looked for him forever.

 

Personally, I prefer clipped for my peace of mind. And, when I had Fez, he was perfectly happy with only a little bit of flying(just enough to glide down safely). But, I see the perks of a unclipped bird.

To each his own!!

[Cupid]

Wow a couple hundred feet! That must've been scary for you, thank goodness that you were able to catch up to him.

*Im sorry about his final escape *

I agree with you about peace of mind. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Shoulderin]

My baby CAG was about 5 months old and clipped. I had her on her stand outside while I was cleaning her cage and dropped the tray. The loud clang scared her and she flew away, around the side of my property and over the fence to the neighbors yard. At least 500 feet. The gardner next door found her so I was able to get her back right away but I immediately took her to be trimmed the next day. I have too many kids and pets leaving doors open to take a chance on this again and there are many hawks and coyotes where I live to take any chances. I do try to help compensate for this by fake flying her (running while she flaps her wings holding onto my fingers ) and taking her on outings as well as to give her the most attention and nurturing I can.

[Morana]

The "knock on wood" expression, is just that, an expression Americans use so that no bad luck comes this way)

I know what knock on the wood means (we have the same expression), I was being sarcastic ;-)

[Cupid]

My baby CAG was about 5 months old and clipped. I had her on her stand outside while I was cleaning her cage and dropped the tray. The loud clang scared her and she flew away, around the side of my property and over the fence to the neighbors yard. At least 500 feet. The gardner next door found her so I was able to get her back right away but I immediately took her to be trimmed the next day. I have too many kids and pets leaving doors open to take a chance on this again and there are many hawks and coyotes where I live to take any chances. I do try to help compensate for this by fake flying her (running while she flaps her wings holding onto my fingers ) and taking her on outings as well as to give her the most attention and nurturing I can.

 

 

Great story! and I do the fake flying thing too, in my grey book it says that this form of excersize is very important at least once a day... How old is your bird now?

 

Im glad were getting some positive feedback. Thanks for your reply.

[Cupid]

I know what knock on the wood means (we have the same expression), I was being sarcastic ;-)

 

Oh good. I read in a previous post that you like clarifications for your english and grammer- so i tried to help you understand.

[CeeCeeNY]

I have little to no experience being a total newbie but I recently purchased an older CAG who for all I can gather has been fully flighted most of his life. I know the risks of losing him are ever present and I even stress a bit when I put him outside in his locked cage for sun. And I stress indoors always making sure the ceiling fans are off when he is loose... but because my only experience thus far is w/ him being flighted I don't know if I could take that away from him. He's amazing to watch, he can stop midair & hover and turn... pretty cool. He seems to be pretty smart about his surroundings too using judgement about when it's better/safer to walk instead of fly. I really hope I never have to make the decision but I certainly understand & resect those that prefer to keep their fids clipped.

[danmcq]

My Peach Front Conure Jake was clipped and I mean all primaries clipped short. He is a suspected wild caught bird that I rescued from a guy that was keeping tons of parrots in his back yard from conures to macaws in size.

 

Anyway, with Jakes wings clipped super short, we thought we "knew" he could not fly more than 10 feet before hitting the ground. He once startled while sitting on a perch on our patio, made it about 15 feet out which ended with him landing in the middle of our in ground pool. That poor little Guy was flapping with all his might to get out of that pool, but would barely go 4 feet and about 3 inches above the water and right back in. Fortunately I had my leaf skimming pole right on the patio, grabbed it and scooped him out in about 20 seconds from the time he landed in it. So, I just wanted to qualify my confidence in him not being able to fly by sharing this scary story. We trimmed his wings ourselves, so I know how short they were. We were always very careful about maintaining them and did not rely on a vet or groomer visit schedule.

 

Now, a few weeks later, Jake again was sitting on his perch outside with us. Something (I suspect a Hawk fly-over) startled him and he FLEW to the 6 foot tall fence about 15 feet away and as I watched, it appeared that he tried to land on the top of it but fell to the other side. I ran out of our backyard and into the neighbors yard to retrieve him before a cat or one of their dogs could make a snack of him only to find that Jake was no where to be found. I looked in every nook and cranny of that yard, flower beds, bushes etc.... Nada! So, I thought perhaps he had actually not fell on their side but did fall on our side. Same search of our yard along the fence in flowers and bushes..nada!

 

Now I was truly frantic and puzzled, did he perhaps fall right near a cat or dog and get eaten immediately? My mind was reeling!! Of course my wife was right there frantic as well. We searched and contact called as well, not a peep. I jumped on the forum and posted for help and any ideas, then had my wife watch for posts and update me with ideas. It happened about noon time, middle of summer and the high was going to be 109, I was afraid if he had not been eaten, he would die of heat stroke. We searched and called for him until it was dark...nada!!!

 

The next morning just before daybreak, I was out there again along with my wife searching and calling. After about 20 minutes, I thought I heard a little "Squawk" that conures make. I called some more and heard another and was able to get the direction which was in the general area of a neighbors yard diagonally behind us a few yards. We finally saw this little orange dot on his forehead visible in a pine tree. I went and asked the neighbors (630am) if I could retrieve my bird from their yard. They complied of course and I tried using a PVC pipe about 20 feet long to have him step-up on so I could lower him to mu wife, He tried, then became scared and flew!!! This time he actually flew about 30 feet and went over another houses roof. So we run around the block to the front of that house and NO JAKE any where to be found. Well we started calling him again with no replies. This continued for hours and finally a return call from a hug tree a few doors down the street. he was about 70 feet up in that tree.. He could not fly down and was obviously scared to even try from such a height. I took his cage down there trying to coax him into trying. He did start slowly climb his way down the tree, but nor low enough. He was still about 30 feet up in it. I tried coaxing more and he came down a little more. But, still not close enough. Finally I thought, maybe if I rig up his little play stand about 1 inches tall and with a little ladder and perch on it to the top of a 30 foot long pole I used for cleaning the pole I may be able to get it to him by standing on a ladder. This was an all day event and he finally did step on to the perch and I slowly lowered him to his cage at a gradual angle and he could not wait to scramble in and get a long drink of water and eat tons of food.

 

Now, my point. If he had been fully flighted and used to flying. He would have had the confidence to fly down to his cage the minute he saw it first thing in the morning. This is the huge issues with clipped birds that can and do fly off. They are terrified of the height and have no idea or confidence that they can flap down to you.

 

Any way, I just wanted to share this story of my clipped bird flying away.

 

It is my opinion, even if your bird is clipped, you should not take them outside without a harness or being in a cage.

Edited August 21, 2011 by danmcq

[prettyBird]

Thank you for your sympathy, Cupid. I still miss him.

 

I agree with danmcq. Harness at all times!

[Cupid]

Thank you all for the replys, I definatly see both sides of the point, and am glad that this thread hasnt "caused chaos" and the forum members are respectably informing each other of personal situations. and excellent advice... I appreciate all of you.