Wing Clipping Advice Please

[Spangle]

I have a five month old Senegal (Bumble) and we would like to wing clip. I have been told that you should let the chest/flight muscles on a baby develop before clipping. At what age should we start clipping - is it ok to start now? Bumble is going through his fearful and nippy stage right now so I am think other than patterning behaviour that a wing clip might help us! Please help!

[svolk]

He needs to fledge and learn how to fly before you clip him, that is so important for his physical and mental development.

And it's my opinion that clipping him will not lessen his fearful and biting attitude - by clipping and taking away any confidence may cause him to be more fearful and nervous because he knows he can't get away.

Here is a good article on clipping:

Should you clip your parrot

[Spangle]

Well he can fly very very well! So he has fledged... I don't clip my budgies wings. It is just that all the behaviourists are saying do it...hence my request for help! I will read the article though...

[Pepper's Pa]

I brought my Senegal, Pepper, home when he was three-months old and already had a typical wing trim. He experienced many hard falls from his play gym and cage that led to broken tail and wing feathers. When his flight feathers were replaced, I had a slightly less than typical feather trim done, but he still could not maintain control and safely glide or flap to the ground. More hard falls continued.
I have since allowed him to become fully flighted. He does have his difficult moments when he wants to fly to dad, but the safety he has at other times is most important to me.
My recommendation is to consider allowing Bumble (I love his name) to remain fully flighted. If you must trim his wings, be very conservative. Start with only the outer most flight feather on each wing. If after a few days he is still strongly flying, trim the next outermost flight feather. Continue this process until he is able to flap safely to the ground, but does not have strong flight ability.
Good luck in making your decision on wing trimming and with Bumble.

[Spangle]

Thank you for your post. What advice would you give for when Bumble is flying around the room panicking (it is daft things like a toy moving that set him off - he does seem happy overall in his environment). How do you encourage a bird to not go to a 'no go' area - such as bathroom or heading upstairs (have teenage daughter and cannot guarantee safety up there at all times). Sorry that was 2 questions and nothing to do with wing clipping!

[svolk]

Originally Posted by Spangle

Thank you for your post. What advice would you give for when Bumble is flying around the room panicking (it is daft things like a toy moving that set him off - he does seem happy overall in his environment). How do you encourage a bird to not go to a 'no go' area - such as bathroom or heading upstairs (have teenage daughter and cannot guarantee safety up there at all times). Sorry that was 2 questions and nothing to do with wing clipping!

My tiel was similar to that (except she was a terrrrible flier at first, couldn't steer or land at all - so Bumble already has an edge up being that he flies well). My tiel also spooked easily, and honestly once she learned how to manuever she can handle her spooks much better. She still spooks at some weird things, but I've observed that she'll take flight (as is the natural response for birds when frightened or caught off guard) and she'll circle the room until she calms down and she'll land smoothly and everything is fine.

I've never had to teach the "don't go there" command, but I'm sure it can be done - I'll think about it. But recall training could certainly achieve the same results.

What I would do, though, is try to not allow Bumble to have a large enough space where he can go full speed and possibly injure himself when panicked. Maybe stick to one room for now and try to block off the other areas of the house. Also having many play stations with lots of toys keeps them interested in where they are. I have many play stations and hanging gyms and the birds seem to know that those areas are "theirs."

[Pepper's Pa]

As a group, the companion Poicephalus parrots are observant, cautious and appear to have a “panic” response when frightened. At five-months old, your Meyer’s is still learning what is safe and what needs to be escaped from or risk the possibly of being eaten. Even when he matures, his innate behaviors will on occasion cause him to flee a perceived danger.
It is unlikely that you can train Bumble not to fly to some places, but you can train him to come to you. As was suggested by Spangle, I’d work on recall training. Begin by sitting on the floor, place Bumble on the floor just out of your reach, and then call him to you while at floor height providing your finger as a perch. Hopefully he’ll come waddling over and perch on your finger. At a pace that’s comfortable for Bumble, continue this process, but from longer distances each day.
When Bumble flies, call his name and then just above your eye level, hold your hand out in front of you as a perching location for Bumble. Position your hand in line with the path of Bumble’s flight to you. Do not move your hand, but allow Bumble to adjust his flight and perch on your hand. This may take some time for him to learn to do well.
By doing the above I’ve trained Pepper to the point where after he takes to the air he will come directly to me about 80% of the time. He’ll fly to his cage most of the remaining times. If he’s in a major panic, he may fly to other places to escape his fear.
When Pepper flies, I never tell him, “No” or “Bad bird”. If he comes to me I praise him and tell him he’s a good bird, then I immediately return him to where he flew from (his play gym or top of his cage). I want Pepper to know that any time he flies to me he will be accepted in a friendly and positive manner. I do this in case Pepper ever escaped he knows he’ll be safe and welcomed when he comes to me . . . even if he’s flying.
I hope this is of some help to you.

[Grillis]

I think you should read the book Senegal parrot and it's family, Barrons. I learned a lot about the poisephalus when reading.
My meyers were very nippy it started around 5 months old, and that went away with training with positiv reinforcement. Unless the parrot attack humans faces I dont think it's a good thing to wingclip.
Another good book I think is - Guide to a well behaved parrot.
Please try other options before wingclipping

[Spangle]

Hey Guys - thanks for the advice, I will start the training to get Bumble to come to me. I do have all the above books mentioned above - I hope you realise they all recommend wing clipping. That was my problem in the first place, all the recommended behaviour books suggest wing clipping. Well Bumble still has all his feathers.....we are having a good time developing together.

[Grillis]

you can type building trust with your parrot on youtube.com and you will see how you can do if you have that problem. I dont believe in that you should "be the leader" over a bird the way you are with a dog. To get a parrot to do what you want it to do you need treats. With treats I've gotten my meyers to stop biting (except for in the stairs :P) But at first I thought I had to show her who's the boss and just force her to, for example go into her cage when she didtn want to, but that didnt work at all.