Should I clip?

[jessicaboyer89]

O.K. I know the dangers of not clipping and all of that, but I'm wondering if I should let Tiki's flight feathers grow? I feel bad that she is a bird and if I keep clipping, will never learn how to fly. :( Seems cruel to me, I guess. I know that I would have to be really, really careful with her if I let her fly. I guess I am wondering what BirdBoard thinks.
If I let her learn to fly is there anyway to "teach" her how to land, ect?

[Beaks]

I do a light clip on young birds so they can fly but cannot gain height and speed then after they get the hang of it i give them a full clip for their own safty.

But then again i have birds that are fully flighted that go outside with me and fly in the yard (but thats another story and the training sucks to do because it takes a couple of years or longer)

John

[Joel]

Man John, "you are (((FULL OF))) s...urprises" (thought I was going to say something else, didn't ya?). .... I want to learn about that free flight in the yard training someday when ya get a chance. Cool. 8)

Jessica, all my birds are free flighted in flights and sometimes in the house, just take all the necessary safety precautions first of course, otherwise a not-so-severe-clip may be necessary.

Even though free flight seems to make them more independent and a lot of the time causes them to develop an attitude somewhat, I still love to see them happy doing what they were meant to do rather than to just entertain me while hobbling around (donning flack jacket once again now :) )......... IMHO, I feel they are healthier, happier, eat better, eliminate better, immune system is better, live longer (if safe flight areas are provided), smarter, etc....UN-clipped.

[Beaks]

this country needs to get smaller so i can teach you people some of this stuff it's way too easy to teach a bird to stick around in free flight.

Most of mine won't even fly more than 20 or 30 feet before they land back on my shoulder.

But you have to know your birds moods before you try it or its bye bye birdie.

John

[Cindy Q]

Mine are also unclipped. My pionus gets extremely hormonal at times and will fly around to attack me and during those times I give him a slight clip to keep me safe and to allow him the same amount of out of cage time as usual. His demeanor doesn't change he just tries to attack me when i'm close as opposed to flying across the house to get me :shock:
The others all behave and fly so well i've never had to clip them. We do have to take more precautions but its worth it to allow them to be flighted. They love flying and I agree with Joel that its so good for them in so many ways. I think it gets out a lot of energy and leaves them feeling content and happy. We do have stands all over the place for them to land on so we don't have problems wirth them pooping everywhere either. Its more work but I think its worth it when you see how much they enjoy it.

[Beaks]

i only know of one other place that has birds in a free flight situation and that is in california so web sites are out of the picture.

You really don't know how much time that would take LMAO but when i have some extra time i will write it down(it will be long, very long and will take allot of time)

They will all come back if they are trained well and treated right because they all know where their safe place is.

Most will not even leave your arm or shoulder until you make them but they always come back.

John

[trinijones]

I am in the same predicament. I am new to this board. I have 3 budgies in a BIG cage and they are very flighty which makes it very hard to get everyday things done in the cage cause it is a constant battle trying to keep their cage clean without them flying out.

[LMPego]

Whatever you do, you have to be 100% aware with birds in the house. Both of mine are flighted now. We stopped clipping Cory to build her confidence and it worked wonders (maybe a little too well...) She loves to fly laps around the house. If she's bothering me, I can make her step up and then give her a little toss and she'll fly to her cage. But we never leave toilet lids open, we never turn on the ceiling fans when they are awake, we never let them fly free when we're cooking and we are very aware of the balcony door. We leave on the 4th floor of a condo so don't have to worry too much about the front door except for the cat that lives next door.
We stopped clipping Zen after I heard way too many stories about people stepping on their lovebirds and killing them. She has a tendency to want to run in front of walking feet and I feel that she needs to be able to escape a dropping foot. She is almost uncontrollable will full wings, but my boyfriend won't even let me talk about clipping her again.
Here are my 2 stories about having flighted birds and you can take from it what you will:
These both happened the first day I was home alone with the birds after we moved into our new place. First, Cory flew right into the sliding glass balcony window and stunned herself. I was so scared I thought I was going to lose her. She couldn't keep one eye open and couldn't use one of her feet. I never thought about the fact that she'd never seen a floor to ceiling window before and I had the blinds up and hadn't had a chance to put stickers on the window. Anyway, thank God I remembered something I read about honey being good for birds in shock and I got some in her mouth and held her quietly and she recovered 100%. The good news is that she seems to remember that that door is scary and stays away from it. Moral of story #1: Bad owner. I knew she was flighted and was unaware of the situation I left her in. I was lucky.
On the same day, I almost stepped on Zen, but she flew out from under my foot. Moral of story #2: Bad owner being unaware, but good owner not clipping the little bird that likes to run on the floor.

[trinijones]

:? I read your post, and I am still conflicted cause there are both good and bad that could come out of clipping. First let me tell you I know longer live in the USA I live in the caribbean and these birds live in a big cage outside my house (out of the rain of course) but where they can see LOTS of out birds and get plenty of sunshine. These birds were rescued (so to speak from a pet shop) in all honesty I bought them cause the conditions in the pet shop was appalling. They have been caged birds all of their lives from what I have been told so if they escape I don't think they would surrvive. They are not very tame either. SOmething tells me they were not treated well whilst being transported down here and are not very trusting of human beings.

I just want to do what is best for them.

[Beaks]

I would give them a light clip so they can still fly short distances and not be able to get any hight.

You may try working with them more to show them that all people are not bad that will keep them around even if they get out of the cage.

John