To Clip or not to clip?

[angelicvampyre]

Ok I have had my King Parrot Elmo since September and we still have our ups and downs but we are getting on well. Currently he is sitting up on the top of my bookshelf eating my posters and having a sand bath in the box of sand I put up there for him.

In December I am going away for two weeks and he is going to be boarded at the pet shop that I bought him from. When I got him he had clipped wings, i have not bothered to clip them again but they have said that for safety reasons they need to clip them.

But it got me thinking, at the moment Elmo flys around the study with little to no issues, his wings are not 100% back in but enough for the space that he is out in. I am planning on taking the Budgie out of the room (we have issues if I handle the Budgie, Elmo becomes agressive and possessive and as the Budgie is not mine so he has to go) and I am getting a Large free standing play gym for Elmo when he is out, I was also planning on converting the top of the bookshelf to a sort of play gym. At the moment there is a sand bath up there for him and some wicker (sp?) baskets that he likes to climb in and out of and cardboard folders for him to destroy.

I have a little worry that someone would open the door and he could fly out or the dogs could run in but most people in the household know when the door is closed it means that Elmo is out and are pretty good so should I re clipp his wings when i get back from holidays or let them grow out again?

I have not clipped them to date cause i could not be bothered more then anything else, I understand the reasons for having them clipped while he is being boarded and I am not against clipping (as I do it with my budgies) however just wondering what others do with larger birds.

I know this is a personal thing for each person so just want to get some ideas and thoughts.

[Karen]

I have only clipped my birds' wings for training purposes and/or safety.
My budgie has only been clipped twice - once for safety and the second time for training.
I think if he knows your room he doesn't need to be clipped for safety. If you clip his wings after he's had the "freedom of flight" in your room he won't understand and it could upset him alot. If you'd never let him have the freedom of flight it would be a different matter entirely as he wouldn't know what he'd been missing out on.
Maybe you should harness train him. I'm also pretty sure there is a harness you can get with a long flight cord where you could take him outside and give him, say 10 metre's of flight cord and he could fly in loops, circles or whatever up to the 10 metre's or whatever length you wish. That of course would be a long time off yet, after the harness training.

This is my opinion only.

[Jane]

I'm anti-clipping because birds are naturally flighted it's what they do and if you take away their flight you are taking a fundmental part of their being. Not to mention loss of activity/excercise and their confidence. But that is of course just my opinion.

[angelicvampyre]

Thanks guys. I am coming back to the idea of letting his wings grow out after I get him back from being boarded. They reason they have to is that he will be out of the cage and he could fly out the door. If they did not clip his wings then he can't come out of the cage which I know he would hate. Going to look into harness training him in the future.

[robert]

This is very difficult topic. While all parrots and small birds have their predators.It is especially the smaller or even medium birds that are more likely to get eaten by predators.Precious is very tame.It scares me if he got outside,and he was fully flighted. At the moment his wings are clipped. I plan to let him grow them back. To make where I live,safer in regard to this,I will be buying a screen door to put on my back door and another one where my laundry is. It is important to make the place escape proof. Thanks also for the comments above. from Robert and Precious

[zoey]

This topic is open depending on what situation you have to spend time with your bird... for one and if the bird is clipped like my Mylo for her safety, she see's more of Melbourne were l live compared to my avairy bird's who can fly thou they have the same view everyday.
I would love to take all my birds out for a venture thou l can't because it will look like a crowded... indian train..lol..
So all in all... what lifestyle the person has must be considered and then how much time you can spend, for if you can't spend time... an avairy were it can fly is ideal..clipped taking out to see the city/town they live in a must.

[courtzrocks]

Yeah its a hard one, whatever suits your situation...mine are clipped because they come to work with me everyday and get to socialise with other birds but my aviary birds are all flighted of course, inside birds are clipped...i have learnt it is too dangerous for me to have them flighted...my alex is addicted to metal and making herself sick and we have like open rafter things that possums and pythons live in so if they get up there they could be a goner...but thats just my situation, my alex was flighted for 7 months and both my alex and gcc can fly a little, just not too high.