To Clip or Not Clip Wings?

[Nick]

In the near future, I paln to get an African Grey. meanwhile, I am doing as much research as possible. It seems to me that the first few months you have your AG, are the most critical?

 

I am still not certain, to have my AG wings clipped or not clipped. My brain says clipping is the right thing to do, but my heart says NO CLIPPING ALLOWED!

 

My house is fairly spaciaous with high ceilings, and I have two older cats and a tiny minaiture beagle, I don't think they would bother the AG.

 

My primary concerns with NOT CLIPPING the wings are as follows; Since I live in very rurual PA, surrounded by woodlands, I have no window treatments anywhere, I assume I would need to get curtains or something, I have read the AG do a lot of chewing, I assume my furniture and moldings wood get wrecked, As a young teenager, I lost a trained flying parakeet once, because it flew away through an open window, I assume an AG may do the same thing.

 

On the flip side of the coin, it would be great fun to see my AG flying through the house and I have to believe the AG would be happier?

 

Before I commit to anything stupid, can you please share your thoughts?

 

Nick

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Nick & Welcome,hats off to you for researching greys before you buy one.Wing clipping is always going to be ones of those discussions that goes on Everybody has their own personal views & there is always personal circumsatnces to consider,here is a previous thread for you to have a read through,if you do a search with the search box you will be able to read through the many posts on clipping

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/25408-the-african-grey-to-clip-or-not-to-clip.html

[judygram]

Hello Nick and welcome to the family, so glad you could join us and we look forward to hearing more about you and your new grey.

 

Clippling the wings is a personal choice and one you will have to make for yourself. You will find a lot here in this forum about clipping the wings and members will share their thoughts about it with you.

 

I clipped my Josey's wings to begin with but now I am letting them grow out. I want her to be able to fly all over the house if she so desires and maybe take her outside on a harness and allow her some time in the fresh outdoors.

 

Take some time and read thru the many threads for lots of useful and helpful information and do not hesitate to ask questions you may have. We will do our best to get you some answers and help you in any way we can.

 

When you do get this grey would you share some pictures of it with us, we love to admire each other's greys.

[siobha9]

It is funny you should ask today of all days, as I had one of my greys clipped today. My younger grey (he will be 1 in July) had been causing me many problems. Door frames and archetraves have been destroyed. He gets up on top of the cage and refuses to step up. He lands on my little caiques cage and scares the little guy. And he is much more aggressive than my older grey, biting me every other day.

 

With much deliberation, much reading and lots of discussions with my husband who owns the grey we decided to have him clipped. It was THE most traumatic day of the birds life. He hated being toweled, and he hated being in the car. He shook for ages afterwards. When I got him home I put him straight in his cage and left him alone for about an hour. Then I moved a chair beside him and drank a cup of tea talking to him. Then I took him out. He immediately tried to fly away and of course landed on the floor! I have taken him out of the cage for about 10 minutes each time, cuddled him and put him back several times this afternoon.

 

I will keep you posted on how he gets on. But as you obviously already know this is a big decision and not one to be taken lightly! My grey hasnt had his first moult yet, so if we decide this isnt working, he will probably be flying again by the end of the Summer. But if you clip a baby, he won't fly for almost a year.

 

I am still not sure we made the right decision

[Nick]

Thanks GURU for the EXCELLENT link! I am astounded at how controversial this subject is. In addition to the link you provided me, I found quite a few other related topics on this site as well. I've been reading for the past hour and have probably only read 25% of the information on this topic. I now know so much more on the subject of "clipping wings" but I am not any more close to making a descision then I was before I joined this forum? Fortunately, since I don't have my AG yet, I have plenty of time to make up my mind. Both schools of thought have compelling arguments supporting thier position regarding wing clipping.

[dblhelix]

Greetings Nick,

 

Whether you choose to keep you bird clipped or not the importance of allowing young greys to fledge and become fully flight profiient BEFORE clipping is irrefutable. If you have this option, work with the breeder or ensure you purchase an unclipped baby and allow fledging. Full fledging means the bird is completetly flight proficient and can hover, bank, fly up, down and land exactly where it intends to. Learning these motor skills at the natural age has profound developmental advantages with motor skills and other neuronal changes that can ultimately impact the birds personality as well. That is not to say many many birds are out there that did not have this opportunity. There are and many are perfectly happy/healthy. But if you have the choice, you should at least allow this learning period to take place before clipping, if you choose to do so.

 

As others have indicated, this issue will probably be a sourse of debate amongnst bird owners for eternity! There are pros and cons to each approach. You need to research and determine what would be best for you and your pet given your living circumstances. Personally, I am a big supporter of keeping birds flighted as I beleive the advantages outweigh the challenges/risks. But there is not right or wrong per se.

 

Please do read some of the lenghty posts on this forum about the topic. There is a lot of good information out there and if you have specific questions post away and people will share their thoughts! Keep us posted on your decision. B)

[Guest]

Nick welcome to the forum Great to have you aboard <br><br>Post edited by: FairY, at: 2008/03/24 14:04

[nevjoe]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM, NICK. Good to have new member here. Have some fun.

 

Joe

[Jesse]

Nick thank you for the wonderful question to clip or not to clip the wings. I also want to thank every one else for the advise. I have a 3 month old and she also has splay legs and due to balance I have felt that it may be best not to clip her wings. She uses her wings like arms to help her with balance and she is still unable to sit or get on to perch with out using her beak to help her hold and steady herself.

[BaxtersMom]

I was also wondering to clip or not to clip myself. I wanted my grey to be clipped so that he did not fly away. Then I talked to 2 other bird owners that said they had their birds wing clipped and they flew away anyway. Clipped wings and all! One guy said his birds wings were clipped and he took it outside that same day they were clipped and it flew away. Luckily someone found him and he got his bird back but that left me wondering if having your birds wings clipped is a false sense of security?

[kittykittykitty]

Hello and welcome. To clip or not to clip. That is the question!!! (Sorry, Shakespear:side: )