If you can, it’s best to keep your birds flighted. That’s how they were made, and they tend to be happier and more confident birds when they keep their flying abilities. It’s also better for their health to fly and work those flight muscles. But in some scenarios, clipping may be necessary for the safety of the bird.
Why Clip?
The main reason a bird should ever have its wings clipped is as a safety precaution to the bird. For farm fowl, it may be so your birds are not flying into your garden or flying into the trees at night instead of the coop, or out of your yard. I brought a female goose home for my male, and in a moment of fear (from us) she flew clear into the next yard (we live on 10 acres). We made the decision to clip her wings just the one time. This gave her some time to calm down and get into the flow of things before her feathers grew back. I’ve also done this with some peacocks we had when we first brought them home as peacocks in general are known for wandering.
With parrots, the main reason for clipping wings is so they do not fly away. This should be the owners responsibly to make sure the doors are not wide open, but in some families, there may be several kids who are less conscious about their actions (or their friends). Parrots are expensive and, as pets, mean a lot to their families. You’d hate to have them flying out the door and disappear forever. Again, this more so comes down to being careful about open doors if your parrot is out and about.
A reasonable reason to clip a parrot’s wings (in my opinion) is if the bird is new to your household. Clipping your new birds’ wings can help with the bonding process as the bird becomes more dependent on you for its needs. This also allows the bird time to settle into its new environment and routine without having to worry about the bird getting scared and getting into trouble by flying where it shouldn’t. But once settled in, you should allow the feathers to grow back in so the bird is once again, “flighted”.
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Does It Hurt The Bird?
Clipping feathers does not hurt and is much like clipping your own fingernails. Many dramatic people equate it to lopping off someone’s legs, which is true in the sense that the bird loses that method of locomotion, but it in no way hurts the bird. Just beware of “blood feathers” which can bleed when cut.
Blood Feathers
Blood feathers are new feathers that are growing in. They are pretty easy to spot, you can tell it’s a new feather coming in as it’s generally smaller and the feather shaft is generally darker (because it’s filled with blood). Once a feather has fully grown in, the blood dries up within the feather and is your typical hollow feather. If a bird breaks one of these feathers or your accidentally cut through one it can cause a steady flow of bleeding. Essentially, the feather must be firmly but gently yanked out or it may continue to bleed. If you’re not confident in doing this, you will need to seek an experts or veterinarians help. If you own a parrot, you should always have some quick stop or corn starch around to stop any bleeding if you’re bird has an accident.
How To Clip?
Clipping farm fowls’ wings is different from clipping a parrots” wings in the sense that you’re generally going to be more aggressive about clipping your farm fowl wings. But simply put, all you need are scissors to cut the primary, and possibly the secondary, feathers for farm fowl. Again, watch out for any blood feathers that may be coming in on your bird. Have some quick stop or corn starch nearby in case you do hit one.
Farm Fowl: Birds on the farm tend to be a bit more grounded anyway, so in clipping their wings you are trying to keep them from being able to so much as hop over a fence. Every bird is different as to how determined or talented they will be with the feathers you leave un-clipped. You can try clipping just the primary feathers, if your birds are still getting enough lift to get into trouble then you can also clip the secondary feathers. DO NOT clip into covert feathers or you risk cutting into the bird’s actual wing itself.
Parrots: With parrots, you want to be less aggressive with trimming their feathers. Your goal is make sure they can’t fly away from home, but you don’t want them to drop like a rock or they could seriously injure themselves. You want to clip just enough that they can’t fly away, but they can glide safety down to the ground if they do try to take flight. This means clipping 4-5 of their primary flight feathers. If your parrot can still fly pretty well, cut 1-2 more. You should not have to clip into their secondary feathers at all.
Do I Clip One Or Both Wings?
Both wings, you don’t want to clip just one side. It will cause your birds to spiral out of control and possibly hurt themselves. Trimming both sides gives them some sort of control to get back on the ground safely.
Hope this was useful to someone. Again, a flighted bird is a happier and healthier bird if you can make it happen. Have fun with your feathered friends.
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