If you love your Birds you'll clip

[Darth_Prophet]

I first must say I was against cutting, but I can no longer be so.

First let me describe my previous beliefs.

We had 4 Cockatiels and many canaries.

Our 4 tiels first came Sylvester; she was a saved bird about to be put down due to her blood feathers and hate of humans.

Then Came Snowwhite and Daisy.

Snowwhite was a very friendly lovable female who took to me right away we purchased her at a bird show, at 7 years old the breeder finale gave up on her in his attempts to get her to bread with other males . This being said it didn't take long for her to attempt to bread with me. Snowwhite was a flighty
Bird she spook easily and because of this we only took her out side on a harness, however we never clipped her wings.

Daisy is a young and some what deformed teil being small in stature and lacking any real flight abilities, however despite this fact even with his wings clipped 10 months ago when going to take him to the local petsmart on a windy day he took to flight as post before on this board we where very fortunate to get him back after 24 hours.

Delilah came to us from her previous own who after years of raising her I believe had come to the end of his wit with her attention demands.

She was of all my birds the one that most thought of her self as my wife.
Delilah demanded attention and kiss. Of all my birds Delilah was the one that I felt I could take anywhere any time no harness no clipping of her wings.
She loved me and we traveled much to include parks and bird shows.

After a long spree of working and not spending much time with her I decided to bring her to the office on a Saturday to spend some time with her.
It was a windy day and as I brought her out of the bird room she was some what spooked by the cats she flew down stairs in which I followed her. She being an exhalent flyer she landed right back on my shoulder.
I proceeded to gather my things and leave the house with her on my shoulder as soon as I stepped out on the porch the wind took right off my shoulder it was a horrible experience that even to this day haunts me.
She made several attempts to come back to me but every time she tried to slow down to land the wind would not only shot her 50+ feet straight up but further away from me we final lost sight of each other 12 hours later she has not been seen since.


That brings us to this morning. After finishing my sales meeting with my staff I get a call from my daughter, who proceeds to put my wife on the phone she is crying and I can barely make out anything she was saying, all I could understand was he saying you need to come home. What had happened is as she entered the bird room to do the daily water and food changes all the birds took to flight with snowwhite flying head first in to the window, she died immediately.


Folks as someone who foolishly believed in not cutting their birds feathers I can not any long make excuses for not.


If you love your Bird you WILL CLIP!
Or the will DIE!!!!!!!!


Later I will include pic's

[Valo's Moirana]

I'm very sorry for your loss.... it's hard to loose a bird to an accident that could've been prevented.

However, I have to mention that I do disagree with the title of your thread. We will watch this thread closely as there are very deep emotions connected with clipping or not.

Clipping versus not is a situation that has to be made based on the individual situation. Keeping flighted birds is rewarding and can be done, IF YOU MAKE SURE TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR THESE FLIGHTED BIRDS. Decorating or covering windows and mirrors is one of them. If you search this forum you will find many threads that discuss the safety precautions that have to be taken if you want to keep your birds flighted.

You will never have the guarantee that accidents won't happen - but that is completely uncoupled of clipping versus not clipping.

And the statement "If you love your Birds you'll clip" is simply wrong as it is a decision that has to be made based on an individual situation! I love my birds with all my heart - they are flighted and they will remain flighted as I can provide the safe environment for them.

[ljhassell]

I do not clip any more. We provide safe in and out so no chance of flight outside their safe places. I have spent the last 3 months straightening out a butchard Tag. I know all our birds are much happier having their wings, and they are georgous and they know it.

[svolk]

I am very sorry for your loss.

I do not, however, agree with your reasoning to clip. Daisy was taken outside, fully flighted, without a harness or cage. I honestly do not mean to rub salt into your wounds, but that could have been prevented. And Snowwhite's accident could have happened to a clipped bird.

I do not mean to argue or speak poorly to you, I certainly grieve along with you for your loss. I simply disagree with your reasoning.

[Kevin]

What works for you, might not work for everyone. Only thing to do is whats the best practical & reasonable option for your personal situation.

[Lisa B]

I agree. It’s an individual thing. Each home is different, each bird is different.
With that said, I do clip(except Emma who is special abled and cant fly)
because I can not guarantee that my doors will always be shut, and another concern of mine is a larger, heavier species flying full force into the window screens in the summer. My house if full of huge windows. I cant guarantee that each and every screen is securely in place each and every day in the event one is hit by a flying parrot.
So what works for one may not work for everyone,tho some refuse to see the other side of the coin.
One must do WHAT'S BEST for their bird in THEIR home.

Kudos to the people who are able to secure a safe home for your birds, that will allow free flight. If that is what you choose to do, I suggest following the training from a reliable source, and not just anyone off the net. There are some highly marketed training materials out there that are at best weak and at worst dangerous, and one to many with little or no experience overall, acting like trainers... My suggestions being:
Parrot Training: Behavior, Flight and Enrichment or something like Barbara Heidenreich's Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk .

Kudos to those of you who relize you are unable to keep a safe house and take precautions that you are able to, which might include clipping.

No one can tell you what is right or wrong in your home....BUT YOU.

[Amie]

Originally Posted by Lisa B

Kudos to those of you who relize you are unable to keep a safe house and take precautions that you are able to, which might include clipping.

No one can tell you what is right or wrong in your home....BUT YOU.

Well said. Scarlett is left fully-flighted, but she clips her own wings, so we do not clip. I don't feel the need to add to the trauma of clipping her wings when she does such a good job of it herself. One day she'll leave those pretty feathers alone.

Our birds (my one and my mothers' small flock) are clipped on an individual basis. All are harnessed when outside, even when clipped. My mother currently has one clipped bird. He's attracted to windows and bright lights like a moth to flame. . .and many accidents have happened because of this. The others just fly from here to there, but they really rather be chauffeured than fly.

I am very sorry for your loss. We are keepign you in our thoughts.

[Sashagirl]

Sorry about your loss but I disagree with your reason to clip.

All 27 of my parrots are fully flighted and will remain that way.I tried clipping and in our household it didn't work.Our flock is happier and healthier and it shows.Our home is safe for them and when they go out precautions are taken
to make sure they are safe.To each his own but mine will stay flighted and free.

Marcia

[ROYJOY]

my birds arent clipped, but i would never take them out in a storm.

[jimpierce7]

I'm really sorry to hear of your tragedy. It is truly sad when things like this happens.