I liked what you had to say there.
I agree that the flights being cut does affect their personality, but it often is a temporary thing. Perhaps he is a more sensitive bird & really felt off balance as you said.

With Rio I was sorely tempted to clip but felt it was worth it to see if we could adapt to his true nature. We like to give our pets as much freedom as we can - obviously it is limited.

Jerry had an extreme wing clip as well (from the pet store), this was taken about a month after he was home with me:



Luckily that never affected his ability to fly once his wings grew out.

You know, I have always felt the wing clipping has permanently affected Sugar's personality. It took at least 9 months for those flight to grow back. I used to think they would never come in.
He really had trouble jumping from perch to perch and when he would sit for hours by his food dish, I think it was because it was just easier to stay there than manipulate around the cage.
He never tried to play with toys as a babe and still doesn't. He never got on a swing.
Spice loves the swing at night and Sugar is very jealous of that but just won't get on it.I think he has no confidence in his ability to balance.
This is all just my opinion, of course.

It sounds like a valid conclusion to me. I don't believe that Jerry's clipping affected his balance or willingness to play with toys, but I'm sure that each bird is different. It took Winston months to really learn to fly but Jerry seems as if he was born with great coordination. As soon as Jerry's wings grew in he was gracefully zooming around and he's loved swings and many different perches and toys even when he was clipped. I wonder if Sugar's long tail played a role in his balance issues too.

Since Winston was so shaky on his feet when he came home, I believe that clipping him would have caused him to completely clam up. He struggled with the balance issues too since his wing muscles were so atrophied. Winston will not get on a swing either - but he flies to hanging gyms and boings and has no problem.

We'll never know - but in Sugar's case perhaps he was never fledged.

I'm glad I asked Rio's breeder not to clip him - she was about to do them all. They had all fledged & I had a 'feeling', so I contacted her. She isolated him because he was stirring everyone up with his antics.
I guess the others were subdued.

She said it was rare for anyone to want them flighted.

I'm also glad that I didn't have Winston's wings clipped upon bringing him home - the woman at the pet store was ready to clip them and had to ask me a few times if I was sure I didn't want him clipped. It has been quite a learning experience - as it has been hearing about Rio's experiences as well.

Hi, All,

I never had any good effect from clipping a budgie's wings. They don't tame any better; and it does seem to mess them up psychologically.

Sarah

That's interesting that you point out that they don't tame any better with clipped wings - I think that (here in the States at least), a lot of people associate clipping wings with having a tamer bird in a shorter time.

I agree.In fact, on one forum to which I belong, they were having a training group and the first thing the girl said to do was clip their wings.
I am really not opposed to wing clipping. In fact when I got Spice his wings had never been clipped and he was fully flighted. He was a strong flyer and was banging into everything. I was worried he was going to kill himself. So I clipped only a few wings. He could still fly but couldn't get a lot of height and was more controllable. As his flights grew in , he learned how to land and his limits. Now he flies safely.

I would never do a severe clip like Sugar came with. He could barely balance.

You comments mean a lot - as you have so many birds. But other breeders with lots feel it's the best way to hand over a baby to a novice owner. There is real fear of the bird flying away - for those wanting a hand tamed bird. Of course if the home isn't bird proof they can be hurt no matter.

What have been your experiences with clipping? - did you ever do it?

I do think the psych 'damage' does affect the initial tameness. In Spices example it was a very negative thing.
With more upbeat birds like Jerry it was OK as he could bounce back.

I remember svolk saying Jerry took a long time to 'tame' [maybe she could fill in here!] as he was frightened of lots of things. It's not very scientific of course - as Jerry was their 1st bird with little to compare.

The breeder I got Rio from said he was the most dominant of the group. He definately was after the others were clipped. Rio certainly flies away from anything he's uncertain of. If he was my 1st bird I might be concerned he'd never settle down. I think Laker has a calming influence. To clip Rio at this point would be a big blow - I'm sure he'd freak out & definately hurt himself trying to do what he knows is normal.

His breeder offers 'hand tamed' birds as well - but I noticed she's clipped them all anyways. I think she hand tames any not immediately sold to increase their saleability. & her mother was using the holding them in her palm to get them used to handling. I think this doesn't work well with the no touch policy of most Budgies.

It kills me when someone shows their bird lying in their palm or lovingly accepting scritches!

Maybe the success rate is relatively low & is why so many see them as aviary or caged bird like a Canary.


I wonder about wild caught bigger parrots. They must be quite confused [or worse] when clipped.