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| Wing Clipping |
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| Keep those wings clipped! |
| Pet birds should have their wings clipped for several reasons: 1. There are too many hazards in the house for a flighted bird. 2. Every door or window in your house is a for the bird to escape outside. 3. Wing clipping helps control your birds behavior-nobady likes to have to keep getting the bird down off the chandelier (birds will naturally seek the highest places to perch, wherever they are). 4. Once your bird realizes it can't fly, it will rely on you to take it to see interesting things (and back to its cage to eat and drink), and this will reinforce your bond with the bird. |
| Clipping a birds wings is NOT cruel. When it is done correctly, the bird doesn't simply fall like a "feathered brick" when tring to fly; instead he can fly and get distance, he just can't gain height. Most people who think wing clipping is cruel, tend to wish they HAD clipped the bird's wings after their feathered friend flies off. Yes I know, "my doors are closed" and "my windows are shut" ... but accidents happen. Most people with a flighted bird say the above. Then, well, their bird flies out the door/window and is gone. They cannot live in the wild, they do not "learn from other birds", and will most likely starve to death, be eaten by another animal, or freeze to death(if your in a northern area). This is MUCH more cruel than clipping wing feathers. It's better to have your bird "sulk" at you for a couple of weeks after a clipping, than to have him escape and be gone forever. They get used to it, trust me. Keeping their wings clipped also helps in taming. When they can't fly, they depend on you more. |
| How to trim your budgie's wings: Before trimming, check your bird's wings for blood feathers. A blood feather is a new, growing feather, which has its own blood supply. The feather shaft (the base) is cloudy and purple or red colored, and the feather is all or partly covered with a white, paper-like sheath. If cut, this feather will act like a straw pumping blood out of the bird. The only way to stop a blood feather from bleeding once it starts, is to pull it out with needle-nosed pliers (from the bottom of the feather, not the end). Wing trimming is easy with two people, one to hold, and one to cut. Hold the bird securely (careful not to sqeeze the bird to hard) and gently spread out one wing. Trim off the first seven long feathers up to the bottom of the next layer. It might be easier to cut one feather at a time instead of making one long cut. This way, you can search for blood feathers. Once you finish one wing, reajust the bird and cut the other wing that same way as the first. Make sure you trim BOTH wings or else the bird will only be able to fly in a circle and not have a controllabe landing. Check your bird's wings regularly for new growth. Looking in the bottom of the cage for molted cut-off feathers is a good warning for new feathers to come. Then when the feathers are fully grown in, it's time for another trimming! |
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