wing clippings

[vietchicky]

http://www3.sympatico.ca/davehansen/wingclip.jpg

i thought that this image is very helpful, its new to me i thought the correct way was to just cut 3 or 4 of the first few feathers...

like in this image....

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/pics/noclose.jpg

but really it leaves birds irritated and we should be using like a cat nail clipper

my question is if you cut only the secondary... does that really stop them from height flying?

[enborgle]

This is not the proper way to clip Parrotlet wings, as far as I am concerned. I have never even seen a bird with this clip before, lol! I'm not sure whether it would even disable flight.

My fids have the first 5-7 outermost primary feathers clipped. On a rare occasion you will see a bird with the outer two intact and the next 5 primaries clipped and this is called a "beauty clip" or a "show clip" because it leaves the colour visible on the wings when they are folded and then appears unclipped until the wings are open - this makes it easy to damage those first two though, since they are out there unsupported by the rest, and the risk of a broken feather is increased significantly.

[jodeg]

I absolutely agree with enborgle. My Parrotlet book shows the first 5-7 outermost primary feathers being clipped, and that's the way I've done it with my 3 (well 2, actually, because Kiwi plucks herself!). I only had to clip the first 5 on Angelina, but Kermit had to have 7 clipped. I gave each of them a little "test flight" on the bed to see if more needed to be clipped. I'm not an expert, by any means, but this worked just fine for me. They can still fly a little, but low to the ground and not too far.

Maybe it's different with budgies???, but none of my P'let books show it this way. I've also just read my Conure book to prepare for Libby's homecoming, and it also shows the first 5-7 feathers being clipped.

[Jinx n Noodle]

I would agree with everybody regarding the wing clip. I've never seen that description before. I had budgies/parakeets in the past and never had that kind of
clip done either.

PS. I can't see the 2nd picture so I don't know what that one is of.

[Evelyn]

I just clipped Noels this evening and I only clip the first 6...that picture looks kind of drastic clipping..

[michiganlet]

When I lived in the Detroit area the avian bird vet clipped my parrotlets like the picture.
I really liked the clip because it allowed those pretty feathers to show and also kept them from flying.

[skthurley]

I would strongly advise against clipping this way. It's very dangerous for the birds to be clipped in this manner. It also says to clip the flight feathers on one wing, which is very dangerous. The first 5 to 8 flight feathers should be clipped, nothing more.