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Post by guinevere on Jan 14, 2006 9:36:55 GMT 10
First bird of mine to fly away and I'm kicking myself so hard at the moment. Its been about 14 hours, and I'm just wondering *truthfully* what are the chances of it coming back?
My friend had one come back after a week....but I'm not sure if thats just a rare case or what?
Any suggestions on how to increase his chances of coming back? Im keeping my other budgie outside and she keeps calling...I'm hoping that will help
Thanks
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 14, 2006 15:57:24 GMT 10
i have never got a cockatiel back when I have lost them. But always got my galah back. She was missing for 1 whole week once - I put an ad in the paper and the people who had her rang me up. I think the only reason I did keep getting her back is because she required a larger cage than a budgie or tiel and most people do not have access to one.
Go door to door, put an ad in the paper put flyers around and let everybody know you have lost your bird. That is what I did.........like I said I never got my smaller birds back, but always my galah.
What you are doing with your other bird is good too, if the lost one is still around he just might come back to the call.
Good luck.
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Post by guinevere on Jan 14, 2006 23:43:32 GMT 10
I got told exactly the same thing at the petstore today!! That if it was a galah or a larger bird the chances of me getting it back would be higher. But people tend to keep budgies....especially tame ones. But I still notified the local pet shops *just* incase someone brings her in. I'm still gonna keep my eye out and just pray that someone has found her and given her a good home. I got major guilt trips about not clipping the budgie's wings, from the pet stores*sigh* Thanks for the reply  |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 15, 2006 8:40:54 GMT 10
All of my cockatiels were clipped when I lost them, some may have needed to be trimed but some did not and they still flew away. It was mostly on windy days and they got caught in a gust of wind. I know that one of my 'tiels got a home at the end of our street (20 years ago) but they denied having him, but I could hear him whistle the weetbix ad. They denied it and said he was probably in a tree somewhere outside. Not much I could do then.
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Post by guinevere on Jan 15, 2006 9:47:29 GMT 10
Yes I've heard that with wings still clipped, they can get away. My other budgie has always been able to fly, and would never forgive me if i clipped her wing. And I couldn't et one budgie fly and not the other, even tho he wasn't as tame. Guess it would have been a bittersweet circumstance, knowing your tiel was ok...but in the hands of such dishonest people  Out of interest, do you clip one wing or both wings of your tame birds? |
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Post by petiel on Jan 15, 2006 10:51:46 GMT 10
I always tell people who buy birds from me, that clipping a birds wing doesn't mean the bird will not fly away. All it needs is one windy day and the bird gets a fright the bird is off. I clip 2 wings about 7 each side on a cockatiel and about 5 on bigger parrots. Clipping a baby birds wings you are training is the safest way to train a bird, the bird doesn't fly into the walls and windows and hurt themselves, they will only flutter to the ground. It is up to the owner if they would like to grow the wings out so the bird can fly. |After you have trained a bird they are happy to fly to you and sit still on your shoulder. Make sure you are inside only.
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 15, 2006 18:42:23 GMT 10
I always tell people who buy birds from me, that clipping a birds wing doesn't mean the bird will not fly away. All it needs is one windy day and the bird gets a fright the bird is off. I clip 2 wings about 7 each side on a cockatiel and about 5 on bigger parrots. Clipping a baby birds wings you are training is the safest way to train a bird, the bird doesn't fly into the walls and windows and hurt themselves, they will only flutter to the ground. It is up to the owner if they would like to grow the wings out so the bird can fly. |After you have trained a bird they are happy to fly to you and sit still on your shoulder. Make sure you are inside only. exactly ;D I have always clipped my birds until recently and only 1 wing also until recently..............although Skye still only has one lightly clipped wing, just have not gotten around to clipping the other one yet. I did allow Skye to grow her wing out and taught her to fly to me on command (picture in my signature) but she also developed a big "attitude" and was flying into the kitchen and we had to always remember to turn the fan off and shut doors and with 6 people in the house and non think of anyone else but themselves (the teenagers I am specifically talking about......  ) I decided it was better to clip her. The reason I have clipped both Rani's wings is because when I took another bird (Kumar for those who remember that story) to an avian vet for a beak trim and a second opinion, he told me I should trim both wings and he showed me how to do it. I was doing it properly just not both wings. Personally I have not had any problems with only triming one wing, they normally still cannot fly and can flutter safely down to the ground. But I can understand why he said both wings should be done..................basically for balance. |
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Post by petiel on Jan 15, 2006 20:42:07 GMT 10
Thats right Tracey, Clipping one wing throws the bird off balance, and babies fall hard on the ground and sometimes will do a lot of damage to their breast bone. I have seen many cockatiels with split chest and split backsides from only having one wing clipped. Vets will always tell you to clip both wings it is much safer.
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Viraba
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Posts: 145
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Post by Viraba on Jan 15, 2006 21:52:14 GMT 10
Has anybody heard of taping wings ? I came across a large breeder the other day who doesn't clip wings but tapes the end of the main flight feathers together with surgical tape. Seems to work. The reason he does it is because a number of people that he sells his birds to have refused to take them because they've had clipped wings. He does both sides, about 2 centimetres from each wing tip.
Has anybody else seen this done ?
CHeers
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Post by AcaciaWattle on Jan 15, 2006 23:20:20 GMT 10
I have and if you can get the bird to sit still long enough while you do it all the more to you I've tried it and failed....the bird just pulled it off but I most probably did it wrong |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 16, 2006 7:47:48 GMT 10
I have never heard of taping wings.............you learn something every day ;D but I have to say I cannot see me doing it either. I prefer to clip the wings while they are babies, so I can better train and tame them and then I can let them grow back if I want to. It is like a bad haircut................it will always grow out. If I saw a bird I really wanted and it had clipped wings, it would not really bother me as i would just work with it and let the wings grow out. if I wanted it to have free flight. |
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Post by AussieBirds on Jan 16, 2006 11:50:21 GMT 10
I have heard of taping wings and a couple of years ago it was all the rage, you don't see much of it these days so that tells you how successful it was  I always wondered how you got the tape off the wing without hurting the bird.  John |
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Eagle
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Post by Eagle on Jan 16, 2006 13:43:46 GMT 10
surgical tape is desined to be removed easly
so my guess would be to peel it off slowly it should not affect the bird at all!!
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tori
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Post by tori on Jan 16, 2006 14:24:26 GMT 10
hi guys i tolk my quazy to the bird vet not to long ago and he just cut one wing (to show me) which do you think is better or safer one or two wings ? |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 16, 2006 15:12:15 GMT 10
well as i said before, i have always for over 30 years only clipped one with no problems, but the avian vet I went to a couple of months ago suggested it would be better to clip both that way they are better balanced. So Rani is clipped on both wings, I just need to get around to clipping Skye's other wing. I must say it did not affect Skye the other day when I had them out on the verandah and cleaning the cages. Skye got out and I was not too worried about it, but she decided to jump off.............it is a high story house. My staffy was downstairs and I was "SCREAMING" at Summa (the staffy) just in case she did take after Skye, but she didn't and Skye gently flapped down without hurting herself................but I almost needed resucitation thinking I had lost my bird to either flying off or to my staffy. |
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Post by AussieBirds on Jan 16, 2006 18:39:42 GMT 10
Personally i clip both wings the rational behind this is two fold firstly when you clip the wings the bird should be still able to have some elevation when they take of to enable them to "get out of trouble" but not be able to fly long distances so the birds is still going to use both wings and if only one is clipped then one side of the chest muscles will be working harder than the other the other reason is as Tracey has found out to enable soft landings and prevent cracked breast bones.
John
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Post by budgiedcockatiels on Jan 17, 2006 10:21:16 GMT 10
Also taping wings is worse than just clipping one wing because the tape means the bird cant even stretch out its wing to get a bit of balance if it is taped up. Wherefore if the wing is just clipped it can still put it out to gain a bit of control
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Post by ozquaker on Jan 17, 2006 19:07:56 GMT 10
To return this post to guinevere (it appears to have been hijacked), the chance of getting a budgie back is pretty slim. Mainly because by the time the bird decides its time to stop flying, home is out of sight and it is simply lost. Someone would probably give it a good (?)home if it is caught. Having said that, I did have a budgie that escaped the aviary. But it did come back a few days later looking for food - it could also hear the other budgies. It became a 'free range' bird after that - I'd let it out every now and then and it would return. Right about the same time, I also came across a book that described a budgie breeder in the UK (I think) who had a flock of free range budgies. He provided information about how this was achieved, but the details escape my memory. So perhaps there is some small hope that you may see your budgie again one day |
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Post by guinevere on Jan 24, 2006 18:27:59 GMT 10
Well, I asked a question...and got a discussion on clipped wings! but I did find out some good info
Aslong as my budgie has a good home I'll be happy. It just sucks not knowing
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 24, 2006 20:01:05 GMT 10
That is exactly how I console myself, hoping they found a good home.
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) I decided it was better to clip her.
I always wondered how you got the tape off the wing without hurting the bird. 
