growing back

[sweetie&meli]

question: my tiels flight feathers areg rowing back she has 2 on each wing..should i clip them now or wait till they all grow back..im not to sure what to do? help

[Joel]

If it was my bird, I would allow all to grow back, allow full flight after taking ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS in the house or put the bird into a long flight cage and let fly around for a few months and then clip again (IF YOU MUST)......JMHO

[Ron Howard]

For the past several years, my wife and i have operated a cockatiel rescue in northern California, so naturally we disagree on many things . I believe that a bird must be free to fly, except under very restrictive circumstances, so I don't normally clip feathers to prohibit flight 8) . My wife believes that clipping their wings makes them more dependent on people and less likely to escape in a moments lack of concentration :o . There are lots of avocates on both sides of the issue . On each wing, if you look at the first 6 feathers (the long ones), those are the only ones that should be clipped, being careful not to clip into the coverlets. Normally, clip the outermost 1-2 on each wing and the tiel has to work harder to fly, but it can still get around fairly easy. Clip 3-4 on each wing and the tiel has managable level to gliding flight. Clip the 5th or 6th feather and the tiel is a glider only. Clip more than those 6 and the tiel usually becomes a stone with the same flight characteristics. Some stronger tiels can get by with fewer flight feathers, but the information I gave is under normal circumstances for a tiel. The biggest concern about clipping a growing feather is that it may contain a blood vessel and you could cut it causing a sudden and fairly large loss of blood for the bird, requiring an immediate vet visit. Better to wait until its grow back out, or check and find where the vessel ends and clip beyond it. Ron

[sweetie&meli]

well shes getting around with just 2 on each wing .but thanx for the lesson on wing clipping i workd in a petshop but i didnt know about the amount of feathers to cut would change her flight ..as i have cat i like the fact tha she can fly away if anything would happen:)