To Clip or Not To Clip: THAT Is the Question

There are three things you need to consider about wing clipping

1. Make sure you know what you’re doing if you clip your own birds. If you’ve never done it, go to an expert to have it done, and ask them to explain it to you.

2. Be sure that sterilized utensils and a fresh towel are used on your bird.

3. Understand that clipping is no guarantee of a risk-free outdoor experience.

If You Don't Know What You Are Doing, You Can Hurt Your Parrot Permanently

When I worked at a pet store, a lady brought her pet cockatiel in wrapped in a towel. She had tried to clip the bird herself but, not knowing how, she wound up pinioning the bird instead. That is a surgical procedure wherein the thumb and finger bones of the wing are amputated. Pinioned birds will never re-grow flight feathers.

The Right Way

What you want to do is cut the flight feathers back to the notch where the secondary feathers begin. They’re made of keratin, just like our fingernails, and clipping them doesn’t hurt at all. They will fuss because they’re restrained, or they don’t like the look or sound of scissors, but clipping off a mature feather does not hurt a bit.

I strongly recommend clipping both wings equally. Clipping one wing will throw the bird way out of balance in the air, and an out-of-control plummet can result in your parrot slamming into something and being injured. An even trimming will restrict your bird to short, balanced flight, a much safer situation in my opinion. I also recommend clipping all the primaries! Some people like to leave a couple outside feathers for looks. However, wing feathers protect each other. A couple of straggling primary feathers can be easily damaged.

About Blood Feathers

There is another potential problem with clipping your own bird’s wings. You must be able to recognize and identify new, growing feathers. These are called ‘blood feathers,’ and with good reason. The shaft of the feather is filled with blood vessels, which nourish the growing feather.

When the feather is mature, the blood vessels disappear, leaving a strong, flexible flight surface behind. A blood feather shaft will be dark bluish or reddish in color, quite different in appearance from a mature quill.

Cutting a blood feather can be traumatic for the bird and possibly more so for the owner. I always recommend having a styptic powder on hand, for clipping claws, wings or beak can result in bleeding. Honestly, I would only advise those with bird handling experience to undertake this task. If you are handy to a vet, a bird store or a pet store which offers bird grooming services, you have fewer considerations.

Should I Use A Groomer?

Your main concern with having a groomer do the work is cleanliness. Are the instruments sterilized between clippings? Do they use a clean, fresh towel every time?

There are many blood-borne diseases which can be spread through a vector such as wing and nail clipping. Make sure that proper safety precautions are employed by your groomer.

Okay, your bird is now clipped. It should be safe to take it outside now, right?
Wrong!

Parrots Startle Easily – Learn Why

Birds which live in flocks have evolved a ‘startle factor,’ which any parrot owner has seen. The reason behind it is, if you have a large group, and one bird spots a hazard and startles, the entire flock will mindlessly take off, without even knowing the threat!

“Oh, stop it!� You tell your bird. “There’s nothing to be scared of!� But, the goofy bird keeps startling. From your point of view, there’s no reason behind this spasmodic leaping off perches or shoulders. Evolutionarily, there’s a good reason. You don’t have to realize and identify a threat. In the wild, you only need to escape it. Humans have a tendency to spot, identify and classify a threat before reacting to it, otherwise we feel stupid. Birds don’t have that characteristic. It’s always “go time!�

Dangers Outdoors

How many times have you seen somebody walking their parrot in public? It surely does attract attention! I used to think it was good to get the birds out and about, but they don’t seem to enjoy the dogs, the traffic, frisbees, seagulls, unexpected loud noises, and strange people. A car backfiring sent the well-clipped Casanova across the street in front of a tour bus. That was the last untethered outdoor venture for him!

Another time, I spent three hours staring at a Clorox bottle on the roof next door to my 7th story loft, as my Clorox-bottle-sized clipped cockatoo got wafted up and away on a breeze, landing way down below on Market Street. Happily, a parrot person scooped her up and returned her the next day. You cannot rely solely on wing clipping to keep your bird secure outdoors.

You will never remove the startle factor through training; it is hardwired into their little brains.

Outdoor Solutions – The Bad and The Good

What solutions are there? You have several choices. You can risk taking your bird outdoors. You can keep your bird at home. Or, you can try to find a satisfactory restraint method.

You can buy a leg ring and chain setup at pet stores. The ring is secured by a bolt; the whole thing looks torturous and medieval. There are many things I don’t like about this method. First, the metal ring would certainly chafe if the parrot launched wearing it.
Second, restraining only one leg can cause injury. A parrot’s launch is a powerful force. Being yanked back by a single leg ring can pull the leg right out of the hip socket. And third, even the small rings are too heavy for most birds.

Falconers use soft leather straps to restrain their birds. We use two straps, or jesses, for the reason given above. Unfortunately for parrot owners, these hookbills make short work of leather straps. I once put jesses on a cockatiel. They lasted less than a minute!

If Only There Were…

What we need, is a substance which can withstand the beaks of parrots. I was wondering what material might possibly resist the cutting and gouging a parrot would inflict. A fabric like Kevlar might be a possibility. Ideally, it would be thin, lightweight, and poo resistant. Modern falconers use grommets to permanently attach bracelets to the legs, through which the jesses are attached. When the bird is flown free, the straps are removed, so as not to entangle an escaped or lost hawk in branches. Straps are narrow enough to be drawn through the grommet on the bracelet, so it isn’t much effort to attach the jesses. This method would work very well with Psittacines, if only we had the right material.

I found a company, which manufactures “flight suits� for parrots, basically a Lycra lightweight jacket with holes for the wings. There’s a poop pouch under the tail which works quite well. It wasn’t difficult to persuade my birds to wear the suits; Casanova has a rainbow suit, and Pennywise looks nice in yellow.

However, neither bird seemed to enjoy the experience. They acted stiff and uncomfortable when suited up, and weren’t all that happy to go outside wearing clothes. There is a ring on the suit, which allows you to clip a leash to the bird. http://www.birddiaper.com/

Other Things to Think About

Is it worth all the risk and effort to take your bird outside? With the spread of West Nile virus and Bird Flu, I would be very leery of putting my birds in jeopardy by letting them come into contact with wild bird droppings, such as on picnic tables and public benches.

Portable perches are a good idea, bring your own. That way, you know where it’s been and who has been perching on it.

These are some of the things to consider when keeping a pet bird. Your own lifestyle factors in as well. A parrot might not be happy about being out on a busy urban environment, but completely comfortable walking through a quiet neighborhood. There are many options, but you want to select the ones best for your bird.