Flighted--no clip.

I thought this issue got pretty well thrashed around on another board that most of us are/were members of, and was one of the reasons for some serious issues over there? Would hate to see that happen all over again, here......

This is an extremely frustrating issue to me, I don't believe in taking away any birds flight but I will tell you all a very sad story.
We took in 2 baby blue Quakers that were being raised by a mated pair of Cockatiels, one had splay legs that we corrected, My wife and took turns with the hand feedings, they grew into wonderful birds.
One morning I went to go get one of our babies and bring her into the kitchen for breakfast, I sat her down on her perch and away she flew, her first flight, I ran behind her trying to catch her not knowing what would happen, well she hit the wall, broke her neck and died in my wifes hands, her only flight and she was gone within seconds.
For days the wife and I cried, walked around in a world of DAZE, now my heart breaks when looking at the pictures we have of "Little Blue".
We clip the first 4 flights so our birds can fly and stretch there wings without the worry of injury.
Just a heads up, even a clipped bird can catch a breeze and disapear in a matter of minutes, do your want to experience such hurt, or subject your little one to such danger as being lost in the wild?
I also hate harnesses, but I would never allow my birds to be outside without one.
This summer I am building a very large inflight on our deck so our birds can be outside without any risk factors involved.

Yes, but opinions change and evolve and I really think that there are some issues involved in owning parrots that needs to be brought and discussed again. For example, diet is and should be continually discussed, IMO.

If you were to ask me a year ago about clipping or not, I would say to clip. I have completely changed my mind based on what I have experienced.

No worries about that happening again here, Irish -- different rules and structure here that will prevent a repeat of that episode.

It wasn't the clip no clip for me as much as the response was the last straw for me in a long line of things. I somehow think it might have been the same for others.

Right now - 4 of our birds are flighted. The other 2 (Zoey and Kirby - their flights haven't grown back in yet or they'd be flying too.) I would really love to keep them flighted - BUT - spring and summer are around the corner and I have very big concerns on whether or not we can be keep them safe if they are flighted. I have 3 small children (12,6 and 4). During nice weather - they are in and out constantly to play outside. Not to mention the amount of times our doorbell gets rung in a day - other kids wanting to play. The 12 yr. old is pretty good about watching for the animals - but the other 2 just aren't old enough to think first before opening doors. For the 3 birds in my daughter's room (the tiels and Skittles) they spend a lot of time during the summer in their room with my daughter - so I don't worry about them as much as I do the birds living in the living room. The front door is in the living room - and they can all see the back door from where their cages are located. I especially worry about the conures - they're small enough that a lot of times you don't "hear" them flying. Cosmo has given me quite a few scares since he's been flying - following me into the kitchen and landing on my shoulder - without me realizing he ever left his area. (I swear I have at least 2 new gray hairs!!) I've been trying to figure out what I can do to make things work for everyone - but have a feeling in the end - I'll end up clipping some. But nothing is set in stone, yet.

Don't clip, don't clip, don't clip but PLEASE do, do, do take ALL necessary precautions to prevent escape and injury (as many as possible in your/our individual setups). Those precautions can include safety proofing a room/area in your home; building a safe walk-in type aviary outside your home (temp. controlled if necessary) for interaction with your bird(s); building a flight onto a wall of your home right outside a window or sliding glass door (also temp. controlled if necessary) so your flighted bird can easily come into the safe area of your home for interaction (without chance of escape due to transporting in & out). This can be done while the possibly careless members (usually small children) of your home are out and about and while you have the doors and windows locked to prevent anyone from coming in unannounced. One can also build a somewhat roomy & safe enclosure/aviary/flight/cage along a wall in a room or up high along a wall where it really isn't in the way of foot traffic or where it isn't taking up the space of one's all-so-important furniture etc.... Of course IMO, one should safely install good beneficial/true F.S. Lighting on top of same enclosure. In most cases (vast majority of cases IMO), where there is a will, there is a way - to allow your bird full flight in a safe environment rather than choosing to handicap him/her by clipping - usually done (IMO) for the convenience of the keeper or keeper's human family.

Note: My comments above were basically stated for any newbies to the bird-keeping world, as the regulars here heard all this before (no harm in hearing it again though IMO if one chooses to read it and no harm in once again chimming in our personal opinions/experiences). Discussion and even spirited/passionate debate is cool - as far as I am concerned.

However, maybe one shouldn't comment in this thread (IMO) if one is already set in their ways/decisions with nothing beneficial to add for the sake of better health & natural enjoyment of life for our birds..... JMO.

I am one of those people who say it depends completely on your situation. Although the health benefits are irrefutable and the bird would definitely be happier being able to do what they were born to do, you have to weigh that against how safe you can keep them.

There are many hazards in the home for both clipped and flighted birds. Some are similar, some differ. When Ollie was clipped she could still fly fairly well. Not controlled though- which made it that much more dangerous. A flighted bird who has had the opportunity to practice and control their flight will not fly into walls. I've heard of many clipped birds flying away. I've also heard of many flighted birds flying away. There are no statistics on the return percentages of the 2.

Clipping can really lead to a false sense of security. If you don't check those flights religiously (and keep in mind that even clipped birds can take flight very easily on a breezy day), an accident is just waiting to happy simply because you are not taking the precautions that those of us with flighted birds take.

Ollie is flighted. She will NEVER go outside without a harness or without being in her travel cage. She is constantly supervised when she is out (that time NOT being affected by her being flighted- she is out for 4-7 hours a day, much longer on weekends). She is trained very well, to not fly on top of doorways (although we ALWAYS check). Ollie lives in my bedroom (I live in an apartment) and my bedroom door is always closed. She has 2 gyms in the living room, and if I take her out there I am on even higher alert- no cooking, no leaving or entering the apartment until she is back in my room. Our apartment is so that it would be nearly impossible for her to get outside.

My tiel Dakota is also fully flighted and has been for his entire life. The same precautions are taken with him.

A common misconception of flighted birds is that they have complete reign of the house. I know in most cases this is not at all true. Flighted birds are probably watched more closely than clipped birds, because we EXPECT them to fly, we expect to have to get up and retrieve them if they go somewhere they shouldn't be. Ollie is completely content to fly back and forth from her gyms, or to me. Flying isn't a game, or "play time" for her. She flies when she wants to get somewhere. She isn't just constantly turning acrobatic circles around the room wrecking havoc along the way.


Having a bird flighted is a risk. Having a bird clipped also has risks. The best we can do is try to minimize those risks, while striving to keep our birds as happy and healthy as we can. Do what works best for your situation. Having Ollie flighted works for me now, so because I know its best for her I'm going to keep it that way.

bella is still clipped because she came that way.... valo grew his flight feathers in and he's starting to fly now... not that he's doing it often but when he does, he's great....

being from austria, the concept of clipped wing feathers was new to me in the whole when i got valo... we never had clipped birds, and we were well used to the adjustments necesseary.... same now - bird proved the house and constant supervision when valo's out... i'm still working on the additional 6arms required to get the harness on, but even if i can't, i rather have him stay in a cage when being outside than not being able to fly at all....

i can see the advantages of clipping, but i personally prefer flighted

~j~ totally understand,,,,,I'm still afraid of not clipping, maybe someday I'll get back.

BTW I think it is wonderful that we all can have a rational adult conversation about this.