Clipping Feathers

[Ina]

Hi All, Charlie my Grey is 10 months old, when I received him as a present 3months ago her wings was clipped. She does not fly around in the house but stays just about all day on her cage where she will be happy. If it is a nice day I will take her outside underneath the shade cloth where she will sit on her cage and I will be busy doing something. Lately she has been flapping her wings alot giving it some exersize. There is also alot of planes going pass my home and I am just sceared that she 1day gets a fright and fly away. I dont know what I will do should that happen ........

 

My Jardine Pepe goes regulary to have his feathers clipped which the vet puts him under anasetic and also trim his beack and nails but lately does not like it and starts to bite (not sure if the vet hurt him last time but he does remember it)

 

My question: Both needs to have their feathers clipped. What are your opinion please advise because it will need to be done nextweek when I am on leave.

[lovemyGreys]

Please dont let her sit under a cloth on her cage,if she is outdoors she needs to be in the cage or on a harness supervised by you.Greys with clipped wings can still gain flight given the correct circumstances.Dont be under the illusion that she is clipped & cant fly off, she can & will if she is spooked.

[BMustee]

Yes, as Tracy (LMG) pointed out even with clipped wings parrots can still fly so any time outside they need to be in a cage or on a harness.

 

I for one do not agree with putting a bird under to clip wings and nails unless they are so phobic that it puts the bird and people in danger of injury. I trim birds all day long at work and it is easily done with two poeple without putting the bird at risk from drugs.

[kitt79]

yeah, I would be very suspicious if my vet said he needed to put a bird under to clip wings. It's honestly not that hard, and doesn't have to be that traumatic. Anasthesia is a big risk for any animal especially a bird.

[BMustee]

Yeah. I do come across parrots that get very stressed when they come in and get clipped but as long as we are quick about getting him to the back and trimmed they calm down within 5 minutes. Some seem to be more scared of the towel then anything else. I hold the birds many times because I'm good at keeping them restrained and calm and if a bird freaks when they see the towel I just cuddle them up to my chest and grab them around the neck without it. Just about every time they are pretty relaxed...I had a B&G just today that was towel phobic and very nervous about being in the store but was fine when I held him and was relaxing well as soon as I handed him back to his mommy. I also had a grey that started to do the "death roll" when I went to grab him. As soon as I grabbed him and distracted his mind by making funny noises at him he was acting like nothing was going on. In all the time I have been working with birds there is only one that might benefit from being put under and I trim about 30 birds a week so if you do the math that is a LOT of birds.<br><br>Post edited by: BMustee, at: 2008/09/27 08:18

[danmcq]

Ina wrote:

If it is a nice day I will take her outside underneath the shade cloth where she will sit on her cage and I will be busy doing something. There is also alot of planes going pass my home and I am just sceared that she 1day gets a fright and fly away.

 

Please NEVER take your Grey outside without having a flight harness on or in the Cage. I lost and fortunately retrieved a Parrot that way. I had taken him out for many months like that and felt completely secure that he could not fly with wings clipped regularly.

 

He got spooked when one of my Dobermans ran by playing with the other one day and all I can say is he flew!! Not very well but disappeared from sight before I could run and try to see where he went. The next few days and nights were hell and heart wrenching. On top of that, the day time temps were running 109 to 110 and I did not believe he would make it through the first day, but he did. Being high in trees, they have no access to food or water. Without water, they will die in just a four or five days at most.

 

A clipped bird or even a flighted bird, does not know how to fly down or are frightened of heights they have never attained before. They will keep going higher and higher, not lower.

 

As others have stated, having to put a bird under for a simple and quick wing clip is not normal and very costly on top of that.

 

Start playing with towels with your bird so he does not view it as a threat. Then, when he is toweled, it will not be the towel he is afraid, but just the uncomfortable feeling of being restrained in one for a short period of time to clip the wings.

 

It's great to have you here and see you asking questions. There are many knowledge people here that are more than happy to help a fellow parrot owner. :-)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2008/09/27 14:59