wing clipping question

[jlt666]

hi everyone~

We let Martini (my 7 mos old TAG) fly about a bit before getting her wings clipped, then got her wings clipped by a very reputable bird shop. I requested a very light clip because i wanted Martini to be able to glide to the floor at the very least.

So the question i have is, how long does it generally take for the flight feathers to grow back and Martini to fly again?

Will the clipped feathers fall out and the new flight feathers come in? Its been two months and i don't see anything growing in to replace the clipped feathers.

Thanks in advance for the words of wisdom.


Jac

[jenseits]

They'll grow back when she molts. She'll drop the clipped feathers and the new ones will grow in to replace them. Just wait 'til her next molt. =)

[Sprecker]

Exactly. They should grow back when she moults again. I say "should" because it took my Quaker two moults (1.5 years) before he dropped his clipped feathers. Wally (quaker) was clipped by the store we got him at when he was really young, around 2months. Unlike your Grey he never learned to fly and go banged up pretty good. He never lost his flights last summer or winter but lost his tail feathers and some others. This last month he finally took flight and only has one clipped feather to replace.
You did a good thing by letting your fid learn to fly before he was clipped. It will increase his confidence and mobility. My Grey has had thrashing problems because he was clipped to much and would just drop leaving him flapping him wings against the floor causing all his flights and secondary feathers to splinter and bleed if he ended up hitting them. Long story short, it was very tough for him and because of it he doesn't let me touch his wings. He is in the middle of a very long moult and has grown most of the flights back on one wing but has over preened the other causing him to lose those ones. I hope he still grows them back soon so he can enjoy some flight this year. If not hopfully next year.
Sorry for babbling. I just wanted to say you did a good thing.
Cheers.

[jlt666]

I appreciate the response, especially about moulting. We have a cockatiel and we've had him clipped several times and those feathers grow back fast, so i guess that's what i was expecting from Martini too.

Martini flying was a beautiful thing. I have a huge back lanaii that is about 60 feet long and i took her out there and she'd start on one end and go all the way over to the other, i would put my two hands palm up out and she would land right on them. And then.... she learned to well, and inside the house was flying up to the top of the cabinets and refusing to come down. Well, i'm a bit too old to be climbing on counter tops so we knew her freedom was going to be short lived. I was hoping for a happy compromise, that when her flight feathers grew back, we'd let her fly a bit and then trim them back again I just didn't realize it would be this long inbetween. I thought it was so sad when she first tried flying after the clipping. She'd sit on the floor and flap and flap and look puzzled as to why she wasn't going anywhere. At last she can get from table to floor with out crashing, but so ungraceful compared to when she could fly.

Now, i'll go look up when to expect the first moult!

Thanks again!

[babypiggy]

jsut as a side note
that it will take a few molts for her to have all her flight feathers back

greys do not molt their entire body
they molt in different places each time

and sometimes their molting period may seem to last forever
ajax is goign through his first major molt
and it's started oct or nov last year

[DynamitePsycho]

That's good info to know for myself as well. I've had Ziggy for about a year now, and he was clipped when I got him and he lost one of his clipped feathers finally this week. The TAG I grew up with never had clipped wings, so I never had a frame of reference for how long it's going to take for Ziggy to replace his clipped feathers.