I agree that most household dangers can happen to clipped or flighted birds, and using those dangers as an excuse to clip makes no sense to me. An open toilet seat or fish tank or having non-bird safe plants around can get any bird into trouble. When Lulu was still working on her flight skills, she flew into the next room and landed right into a small tin (empty) trash can - because she couldn't steer nor gain more height at the time. To me, that's more dangerous than having a flighted bird take a lap around the house.

In my situation it is easy to keep things safe in order to have them flighted. I can understand if there are kids within the house that it's more difficult (my solution - don't have kids! ). And since we have multiple animals that require similar safety levels (fish who jump out of tanks, cats who like water, etc.), it makes things that much easier.

All doors to the outside stay locked when the birds are out (visitors are either directed to the back door where there is a buffer of the garage, or they wait outside until the birds are put back in their cages). No cooking when the birds are out. Bathroom door stays closed at all times (with toilet lid down at all times) for all animals' safety and cleanliness. Fish do not get fed their dinner until after the birds are out so there's no reason for the fish tank lids to be open. Birds do not come out when we have visitors unless I really trust the visitors who understand the safety rules.

The other excuse to clip that makes no sense to me is when people clip to prevent birds from flying into walls or windows. I honestly believe (and have seen this with Lulu) that birds who practice their flight skills and are accustomed to their surroundings will not have these problems. It's when birds cannot control their flight that they end up in the most unusual places. And before Lulu was flighted she could have easily flown into a window or wall because even when spooked she could very powerfully launch herself into the next room. I don't think that we can always prevent instances like this, but I believe that fledging a bird and allowing them to control their flight skills lessens the possibility of them flying into a wall or window.

I clip and have considered letting all my bird's wings grow out. All of them were almost all grown out until the other day. I took Murray in for his clip. The other three go in next week.
Since I have let them almost grow out throughout the winter, I have seen Rico's confidence soar and what a smile it brought to my face. But next week he too will be given a clip.
I had asked this question when this was discussed before. When you can't be in the same room with your flighted birds what do you do? The answer I got was "put them back in their cage". This is why I have chosen to continue to clip. I work out of my home and I work in my basement. While I'm down there, I have two birds in the birdroom, one upstairs and usually one with me. That means 3 are unattended. I have cameras on the ones that are not attended and can watch them while I'm downstairs if I choose to. But from the answer I was given if I'm working then 3 need to be caged. So I have made my decision to clip. My two cockatoos are quick. Rico would be the first to bite the head off of any of the other three in my house. Rocky? Sheesh, I can't even imagine. I've heard too many horror stories on how quick the cockatoo was in killing another bird in the house.
So for me what I see it coming down to in my situation is fully flighted and being out of the room, the bird needs to be in it's cage. Clipped and all birds can be out the majority of the day. This is why I have chosen to continue to clip.

I like to keep an open mind, because I don't know what the future will hold for me an Ollie. I do know that flying is the best thing for Ollie, and I would hate to take that away from her. Who knows what will happen when I have human kids running around, in and out of doors...bf and I are planning on Ollie having her own free roaming room in our future house, but that will be years down the road after school and when we have money!

I have a question for you Lara, or anybody else who has clipped their birds wings after they have been flying. How do they act when they find they can suddenly no longer fly? I want to be prepared for this just in case. I would just be so afraid that clipping a fully flighted bird would severly damage their confidence and lead to bad behaviors, such as feather chewing or plucking. Obviously I'm worried about this with Ollie because she is a grey. Does anybody have any experience with this that they can share?

After having both clipped and non-clipped fids and observing Buster in both states, we have decided not to clip beyond the first clip AFTER fledging for training/taming purposes. But it does take some solid attention to details. Buster stays in our room and the door to our room stays firmly closed at all times. We have to be very careful of the patio door because she could squeeze out through a small opening and she flies fast! Plus she is a rescued escapee so we know she could get out and get away. Even so, we will not clip her again. The difference in her confidence level, her spunkiness and overall attitude are worth the trouble. She is allowed free flight at all times and really craves the attention when she takes a spin around the room and we praise her, cheer for her and tell her what a strong bird she is. She totally reacts and shows off for her dads all the more.

We will move this summer at some point and I will build an attached flight cage to whatever house we move into so Buster can come and go, in and out, at will and on command. As we begin to acquire our Aussie community of birds, this type of arrangement will be mandatory. I can't imagine keeping 4 to 8 birds confined to cages all day while we work. The health ramifications to certain of the planned members like the galahs are too severe to think other wise.

Having said all that, I believe that every bird owner has to make their own decision. You have to make the decision based on your lifestyle, number of children, etc. Unfortunately, that means that people wishes come before bird wishes but, in some cases, that is the way it has to be.

Stirling has his flight feathers now. Does he fly? VERY rarely. He rather enjoys holding onto my finger as we RUN down the hallway and he flaps. He yells "woooooooooooo" all the way. He does this whether he is clipped or not. It seems he prefers having the ma exersize over him doing it.
I have not noted any difference with his wings being clipped or not.

However, this is VERY differernt then you an Ollie. Ollie is used to that part of her life, and I am not sure how she would adjust.

When my birds are out and I get up to leave the room, it's easy - they fly after me and follow me

But when I am doing something in the house and do not want them out because of whatever I'm doing or if the dog and cats are roaming around, yes, they have to go back in cages. If I had an entirely bird-proof room/aviary that might not be the case. I need to supervise my guys mainly so that I can keep Jerry away from Lulu - when he's flighted he still sometimes flies to her and when he's clipped he TRIES to fly to her and ends up crashing on the floor - prime area to not notice him and step on him if we're not paying attention. I also do not have rooms that are bird proof and would worry about them (only Lulu really) getting to things like electrical cords and wires.

So clipped or unclipped has no effect on how much they are in their cages. If someone wants to go in or out of the house and the birds are out, sure, we stick them back in their cages for a minute while doors are opening and closing, but that's no big deal.

I clipped Jerry after he was flighted for roughly 6 months. He was completely devastated for 2 or 3 days. When I brought him home after the clip at the AVs, it was truly heartbreaking - he would hold his wings out and in front of him, look at one, then the other, and just hang his head. I cried and cried.

After the initial devastation a few days later, he did cheer up. He was happy again and played and was no different to me attitude-wise, but the main thing that I noticed was his frustration. He never gave up trying to fly somewhere and he would crash all the time and I could see the frustration. It's like he knew that he had it in him to fly but couldn't figure out why it wasn't working like it used to.

We debated on whether or not we would have to keep him clipped, for his and Lulu's safety. But when his flights were beginning to molt back in and he could gradually fly farther and farther, he lit up so bright. I could see the pride in his eyes and body language and I literally looked at my husband one day and said, "He's way too happy being able to fly, we NEED to make this work!"

I don't have any greys - but I have gone through periods of letting the tiels, Skittles and Kirby have periods of flying (for a few months - usually during winter) and then re-clipping them. (haven't had the conures long enough to know how they react.) There's usually an adjustment period of about 2 days - where they still try to fly - then after that they seem to know they can't fly like they used to - so they turn to gliding, jumping on furniture and walking to get where they want to go. I've never noticed any bad behavior because of clipping - but I have noticed better behavior after clipping. Usually it's Peanut and Kirby that I notice "better" behavior - not being quite as aggressive. I don't really notice any difference in behavior/attitude in Skittles and Sydney. Don't know if it's a girl thing or what?

This is exactly what I'm afraid of Sarah. You almost had me crying for Jerry along with you! They statement I bolded really got me- what a heartbreaker. Ollie just has so much joy in flying that I can't even imagine taking it away from her. I know many people will say that its not permanent, they grow back, but still...it has to do something to them psychologically. I don't want to give Ollie any reason to start plucking behaviors, and I'm afraid this may be something that could do that. Hopefully I will never have to, and like you said, keeping her flighted is just something I will have to make work!

When Jerry was becoming flighted for the 2nd time it also took a few weeks to build up his muscle strength again and be able to work his way back up to flying laps.