iridescent
feathers
SHOULD WINGS BE CUT?
To cut wings or not to cut them? It’s an argument thoroughly debated, with no correct answer. Many people are against wing cutting, and when you see how harsh some wing cuts can be, there's no wondering why. In a pet bird that you handle often and is at risk of flying out an open door, what to do? Do they need flight to exercise?
Start with the diet- if they are fed a healthy, balanced diet, exercise is not as necessary. It is true that they will not get as much exercise as a wild bird would, or one with flight would, and this is a downside of cut wings. There are ways around it: for example, harness training. If you decide to clip wings, we always suggest visiting a vet for both nail and wing trimming (at least to get a basic understanding of the procedures taken).
WHAT DO WE DO?
Personally, we cut all our pet birds' wings with a gentle or pretty cut (see below) for safety. Our birds thrive on our attention, rather than flight. They have learnt not to use wings unless necessary, and this ensures their safety. Despite the fact that they’d never attempt to fly away purposely, if they were frightened they cannot fly far. We cut just enough feathers to allow our birds to gently glide to the floor without risk of injury. We cut their wings as we know that if our helpless birds flew away the chances of them surviving is little to none.
However, we leave all our aviary breeding birds wings uncut as, due to the lack of attention (in that we try not disturb them) they receive, they need more mental stimulation and fit bodies for breeding. As there is no chance of escape in their case, there is no need to cut wings.
OUR BABY BIRDS
With any of the babies we are about to sell, we always ask the client whether they would prefer wings clipped or unclipped. While we would recommend they be clipped, if only for the transfer to their new home (from there they can be allowed to grow out), it's completely up to their new owner as to their preference.
With all our baby birds whose wings will be clipped before they leave to their new home, we allow them to fly for approximately two weeks before clipping.
There are two main reasons why we do so. Firstly, it prevents them from freaking out and trying to lose weight. If you clip a baby bird's wings before it can learn how to fly, given learning to fly is a natural process for a baby bird, it will try to lose weight as it attempts to fly. This can be extremely dangerous, especially when the baby is also being weaned and needs to be eating well to ensure proper growth.
Secondly, it means that if your baby has its wings clipped when it leaves our house and you decide you'd like to let its wings grow out, it will know how to fly in the future. Lots of babies whose wings are clipped too early never learn how to fly properly, even if their wings grow out fully.
WING CLIPPING
If you've decided to clip your bird's wings, here are some basic instructions for wing clipping (though I would recommend watching an experienced vet clip wings before trying to do so yourself). Only clip wings if you are confident you can hold your bird still, and you are certain you no injury will occur.
We do not clip feathers on only one wing as we know birds who have injured themselves due to a lack of balance. I would recommend cutting five primary flight feathers on both wings as we've found this allows the bird to glide safely downwards without any lift. You can start with four feathers either wing and increase to five if your bird can still achieve lift. You can also do a "pretty clip" and cut four primary flight feathers, leaving the outside feather long on both wings, which always looks lovely (see below). Some people clip feathers over the course of a few days, too, to allow their bird to get used to being unable to fly. They do one feather on both wings the first day, then two the next and so on. This is a great idea, especially if your bird's wings have never been clipped before.
We had a few new birds come to our place not too long ago and I noticed that they would fall roughly to the ground every time they tried to fly. They hit the ground so hard I was worried they would injure themselves (I've heard of birds who have busted their chests open as a result of a harsh wing clip), so I stopped them from flying as much as I could until their wings grew back. They had a "harsh clip" on both wings and they could not glide safely to the floor- instead, they dropped very roughly to the ground. Some wing clips can be absolutely devastating- do not cut the primary coverts or the secondary flight feathers!
PRETTY CLIP
Four feathers have been cut. Please note: I would suggest cutting further away from the primary coverts than this.
GENTLE CLIP
Five feathers on both wings have been cut. Again, I would suggest cutting further down the primary flight feathers.
HARSH CLIP
Do not ever cut wings like this. It is messy and rough. The bird below had her feathers cut like this when we got her, and she struggled to balance and perch.
