I clipped my BF's caique, Sherbert, since he was fully flighted and, after having lost the Rosella, I worried that he, too, might go flying out the door one day. He can also be careless and leave the toilet seat up. After Sherbert was clipped, he called me and said he was depressed; not himself; didn't want to hang with him; stopped "rubbing" his body all over him (as caiques do) and, in general, he was very depressed. I felt horrible, but knew I would feel more horrible if he had called and said he flew away or drowned in the toilet.

Within a week, Sherbert was flying again (with his wings clipped) but just couldn't get as far as he was previously able to fly. His personality returned and he was back to his old self.

In this situation, I feel that Sherbert is better off being clipped and "somewhat grounded" so to speak. Otherwise, I would again start to worry. Is this selfish? Probably. Is my BF irresponsible? No, just careless but cares for his birds better than many I know. It's just a necessary evil that I feel is warranted for Sherbert's own good.

My white belly caiques came to me with a horrible clip!! Not even at all and they fell like rocks when they attempted flight (I made the clipper of their wings aware of my deep dissatisfaction with the poor quality of their clip -- my preference had been that they come to me unclipped but they were clipped before I ever even saw them). I nearly had a heart attack when I saw Splash attempt to fly off the end of my bed and light square on her head on my hard floor the first day she was with me. They were so horribly clipped that I moved the perches low in their cage and layered towels at the bottom to cushion their falls. Their perching and climbing skills have improved in the nearly 3 months that I have had them (they are now 7 months old), and I don't see them falling to the bottom of their cage nearly as often as they did at the beginning. They are both such sweethearts and I am dying to see how their personalities will be affected by having fully functioning wings. As with all my birds, I am allowing their flight feathers to grow back in.

If Sherbert is any example, we call him the "Mayor". He rules the roost - chases the B&G away (and she runs!!). The only time he stopped being bossy was for a few days after I clipped his wings. (Of course, I wasn't there to witness it; in fact I think my BF was overdramatic about it, since he didn't seem that bad when I did see him a week later - just a little more well behaved!)

I don't let my caiques near any of my other birds as I've read of their tendency to attack other species, regardless of size!

I can have my greys, amazon, U2 and ekkie out at the same time with little problem -- they leave each other alone. My macaw has always been one that I have out by himself as I do not wish to have him test his beak on any of my other birds!!

Bob and I have totally different points of view on interaction of the birds - so much that we have ended up not speaking for days. I can tell you though, that if poor Maggie, his B&G, is, let's say snuggling on the floor with me, Sherbert, the caique, will come all the way across the room, land and hop over to Maggie and bite her tail. Maggie will run while Sherbert is literally hanging onto her tail until one of us can rescue the B&G. Mind you, all this takes place from start to finish in a matter of 3 - 4 seconds. The strangest thing is this - when he puts down their huge dinner plate of food, ALL of them go to it and eat together - in harmony! The B&G, caique, tiels and grey. Scares the living **** out of me!

Camille, I didn't let their wings grow out enough to fly, or I suppose they could but they don't know how. Rico and Molly are the two I was worrying about letting their wings growing in any longer. I don't want to take the chance of them learning how to fly and then clipping. I think the two of them would be the first to pluck if I did something like this. When they go in for their clips next week I will have Dr. O clip them lightly everyother week until they have a full clip.

Camille, I don't have a grey but if I did, our concern would be the same. The same as with Rico. They are so smart and, I think, some of the most intricate of the companion parrot species, that a sudden clip to them , I think, would have a high percentage rate of leading to plucking.

I feel that clipping is a personal choice. My Parrotlets have a mini clip so they can safely get around the house. Merlin was NOT clipped when we adopted him but not being clipped is what got him away from his first home to the place we got him from. I do plan on keeping him with a mini clip to keep him safe in the house. If any of them get outside all bets of being safe are off!

We Clip our birds, 2 years ago we just about lost Kally our YCM (long story)

Our choice , yes we clip.

Recovery from upside down drop



Flying to me in gusty force 7 crosswinds in Kenting village South Taiwan



Shama Yingshiong flying to me on recall cue

Above are just some of such photos.

How empty life will be for them with their wings cut.

If circumstances are such that you might be able to live safely with flighted birds at home, eg no kids running in and out opening doors, no poisonous plants begging for a chew and no open bubbling pots of boiling water or boiling oil, why not think about allowing your bird to be flighted.


Go into Tinkerbell webpage

Tinkerbell webpage



Part 2 - Tinkerbell Legacy describes what you need to do and how to do that. It describe what you need to do to your house and the training both of flight and recall. It might not be as difficult as you think.



Clipping of wings probably lead to loss of even more birds than knowing how to live with flighted birds.

People clip wings thinking that their bird will not fly away.

I honestly have nothing against the way people chose to keep their flock. No one should allow others to pressure them one way or other into any prescribed way. They and only they alone must decide.

But they should know as much as they can , not relying on the word of anyone alone, less of all, not from me.

But to think that clipping of wings will meant bird will be safe is so unsafe that that is frightening to me.

Trimming wings is about the worse measure to try to stop birds from flying away.

In fright and with wind gust, clipped birds will , and can fly away.

By trimming feathers, you lull yourself into a false state of mind that all is safe. Then when the clipped bird fly away in fright up a tree, the very lack of those clipped feathers meant that bird cannot fly down to you again.

Those who live with flighted birds will know that flying down is one of the hardest act EVEN WITH ALL FEATHERS INTACT. Successful flying down from high points require much more skills than flying up in fright.

If you think clipping prevent unwanted escapes then read extracts below

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lost cockatiel 'Tory'
Lost cockatiel. Grey/yellowish pearl. Banded 03. ay come to 'Tory Bird'. Poor flier due to wing clipping. Email: dbrueck685@aol.com. White Lake, MI.

Our bird was lost on 11-23-03 in the area of St. Petersburg, Fl. In the region of OLD NORTHEAST. We are heart broken over it, any info that is given will be greatly helpful, wings are clipped and can't fly There is a reward out for the return of the bird , under one year old. Email: ywwalker@mypetshop.com. St Petersburg, FL.

Blue & Gold Macaw, Lost in Pembroke Pines, Fl Distinctive Forth black Line Under Eyes. Still Being Handfed. Wings Were Clipped First two Wing feathers Still On. Lost On Sept. 21. Reward If Found. Email: mattshaninfl@aol.com. Pembroke Pines, FL.


My daughter and I are so sad because my husband went outside on
Saturday Feb. 24th at 3 o'clock and he had our little Mustached Parakeet. It's a female, and she was scared about the noise that my husband did with the trashcan, so she flew away.

We try to find her, we gave to the people some flyers and we put some
of them on the mail boxes, we look around our home where we thought that she can stay but anything happened. Our Parakeet Vet told us that she can't fly long distances because she has just 3 feathers on each side, she is missing 4 on each side.

She was living inside the house in a warm weather and now outside is
cold, the Vet thinks that she can survive outside but I don't know what we
can do. We are missing her a lot. Her head is light gray, she has
salmon-colored half breast, some of her tail feathers are turquoise, and some yellow on her wing feathers. We are living in Gilbert, Arizona.

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You should make your decision when you know what you intend to do and the consequences .

Take a look into what Pamela Clark wrote. Read that and then you decide.

Feathers, Flight and Parrot Keeping
Project Bird Watch Library: Feathers, Flight & Parrot Keeping

I am witnessing this with Winston currently, that learning to fly down - WITH all flight feathers - is difficult. And just to re-iterate that he's an adult male (1 yr., possibly older, and his feet are weak) who was most likely caged his entire life before coming home with me. I have heard many times that flying down takes a lot of skill, but watching Winston try and work this out has been really eye-opening to me.

He can circle and gradually lose altitude, but he's still having trouble with flying down (intentionally) in a straight line, and in a short distance. He knows where he wants to go and he'll begin flying and he'll get to the point where he needs to fly down and he'll become hesitant and turn right around. Mainly he tries to fly out of doorways between rooms and he starts too high up and needs to fly down in a short distance. He's working on it and slowly making progress - he still has a long way to go before he's even half as graceful in flight as Jerry or Lulu and he's been flying every night in my house for over a month now.