Clipping after being flighted.

[jeme3]

Clip them. Don't stress to much about it. They will adjust. You'll be home with them over the weekend to see how they manage.

You'll be home in August, and by September, it'll be like you were never gone.

As Jen said, they are resilient.

 

[AmberMuffinz]

Personally I would keep them flighted in a cage. Even if they are clipped, I would be waaaay too concerned about the opened doors. Clipped birds, especially ones that have been flying for some time before they were clipped, can still easily get out the door and it only takes a second. I would be more concerned about the kids in this situation. If you are worried about them opening the cage doors anyway, get a lock with a key or something to keep the doors locked and give the foster mom a key so she can change toys etc. around. The only danger in this is if they fly out of the cage while she's changing stuff, but if they are in a quarantine room it shouldn't be a problem.

It takes quite a while, at least from what I've noticed, for them to grow back all their flights. Neelix still has one or two left to molt and it's probably been around a year since he was clipped. Then again, his clip was VERY severe. He might've molted that last one too, I haven't checked. But it took around a year for him to grow them all back. But he could still fly really well and really fast even when he only grew back about half his flights.

If it were me in the situation, I would keep them flighted because they can still get out even if they are clipped, and the chances of them escaping a predator or flying back tend to be higher with a flighted bird.

It is definitely a hard decision here, good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[Tangle Elf]

The reality is that they will probably be caged more whether they are clipped or flighted. The change will be stressful no matter what you do, but is only temporary and they'll adapt. If you clip, they might still be clipped for months after they live with you again. They shouldn't be out of the cage unsupervised with the children anyway. I would ask your friend to only take out the tame birds when the children area away or in bed and leave them all flighted. Clipping or leaving them in the cage the whole time seems too drastic. This option seems to be a decent compromise.

I also agree that an environment that is dangerous for a flighted bird is no safer for a clipped bird. It's probably less safe. If they get out of the cage, they will be on the floor with little feet. If they get outside, they will have no defenses. If they try to fly and see dangers they would normally avoid (open toilet, window, stove, etc...) when they're clipped, they may not have as much control over direction to be able to avoid it.

Whichever decision you make, they will bounce back when they're with you again. You'll probably have a harder time with it than they will

 

[kaylayuh]

I think I'm leaning more towards keeping the budgies flighted and caged. While Piper does like to hang out with me, he is hand shy and not easily grabbed. Pigpen is in no way people friendly and wouldn't want to be handled anyway. As they can be kept in a separate room for all three months, I'd feel better knowing they have some defense against little hands and feet if they were to get out. I think clipping the little littles would be too stressful for them, and it likely wouldn't make them any more handlable than they are now (believe me, I've tried!).

CB, however, wouldn't do really well being caged all of the time. He is very social and loves to be with people and other birds. He also doesn't occupy himself with toys very well if he's in the cage and I would rather clip him and let him hang out with people than leave him caged all of the time.

This is a really difficult decision and I wish I didn't have to make it. But the intern house doesn't allow pets and this counts for course credit and gives me field experience, so I don't want to pass it up. Luckily August isn't too far away and they will be back with me relatively soon.

 

[SunUp]

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[suileeka]

Gosh. I think if I were in this situation, I would opt to leave them unclipped and caged while I was away, especially with them being in a stranger's house with small children. The idea of having a small clipped bird roaming around on the floor with a toddler really scares me. I think it's especially depressing for budgies to lose their flight ability. Piper was very upset when I had her clipped so that I could catch her more easily for medication when she was sick.

 

[kaylayuh]

Gosh. I think if I were in this situation, I would opt to leave them unclipped and caged while I was away, especially with them being in a stranger's house with small children. The idea of having a small clipped bird roaming around on the floor with a toddler really scares me. I think it's especially depressing for budgies to lose their flight ability. Piper was very upset when I had her clipped so that I could catch her more easily for medication when she was sick.

That's my thinking with wanting to leave the budgies flighted and caged. I feel badly that they won't have out time, but I'd feel worse if they were out and stepped on by little feet. I've left them in the cage for a while today and they really want to come out, so I'm not so sure I won't feel horribly and just let her have them clipped.

The whole situation kind of sucks.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Any bird I ever had to clip for health reasons went through a pretty marked depression and was much more fearful than when they were flighted. I would make sure my birds were left in their cage for the entire time I was gone rather than have them clipped.

 

[kaylayuh]

Any bird I ever had to clip for health reasons went through a pretty marked depression and was much more fearful than when they were flighted. I would make sure my birds were left in their cage for the entire time I was gone rather than have them clipped.

This is what I'm leaning towards with the budgies. Pigpen is already incredibly fearful of humans, but she will interact with me on occasions that she feels in control and Piper is nearby. I don't want to reinforce the idea that she should always be fearful of people. Piper really dislikes hands coming at him or grabbing him, but will step up if he knows he can easily get away. I just feel really badly that they're going to be caged for three months.

 

[kaylayuh]

I got CB clipped this morning so I could watch and make sure he adjusts okay. My poor baby now hates me and refuses to step up. He runs and hides behind the cage if he's sitting on top when I approach him or hides in the corner if he's in the cage.

 

[unicornlady7]

Awe... I'm sure CB will come around...

 

[kaylayuh]

Awe... I'm sure CB will come around...

I hope so! He's started growling at me.. and I've never heard him do that before.

 

[wonderb]

I'm sorry Kaela! I'm sure part of it is the stress of being restrained. He will adjust, I promise! I had to towel Olive 2 times a day for 3 weeks and she hated me. Now that its over we are back to normal. CB deserves lots of treats tonight

 

[kaylayuh]

I'm sorry Kaela! I'm sure part of it is the stress of being restrained. He will adjust, I promise! I had to towel Olive 2 times a day for 3 weeks and she hated me. Now that its over we are back to normal. CB deserves lots of treats tonight

He normally is all about cuddles and getting loved on..even after I manhandle him to put on his harness. I would've thought that putting on the harness would be more traumatic for him, especially given that I literally need to flip him every which way because he refuses to cooperate. But clipping his wings seems to really have affected him in ways I wasn't expecting. He's eating and drinking, but he's refusing anything that isn't in his dish. He won't take his favorite treats from my hand and just seems generally really angry with me.

Does anyone know how long it will take to grow in a set of flights again? I'm really hoping not long and that he'll be flighted when I am able to bring him home in August. I feel really very guilty about how sad he looks and would hate it to continue even after he's able to be back with me.

 

[Tangle Elf]

Remember that you're upset about clipping him. A portion of his behavior is probably a reaction to your anxiety and not directly about being clipped.

 

[Ziggymon]

Ziggy came to me clipped. It took about a year for all of his clipped feathers to be replaced.

 

[kaylayuh]

Well, he's stopped growling and hissing at me finally. He's still mostly backing away from my hands when I ask him to step up, and I'm not so sure I want to push the issue right now. I was able to bribe him into stepping up with some millet this morning, though.

This will definitely be the only time I ever clip. It was the first and is the last. I can understand why people do it, but it is not for me at all. I dislike feeling as though I took his freedom away for convenience. Luckily, when I move into my own place after the internship, I will be able to keep them flighted. As I live by myself, I'm the only person I have to "train" to be around flighted birds, and I find it to be common sense anyway.

He hasn't molted a flight feather in a while, so I'm hoping he'll be molted into a few new flights when I'm able to bring him home with me.

Also: Someone told me if I pluck his flight feathers out, they'd grow back more quickly. I'm assuming they meant for me to pull the feathers out instead of cut them. This sounds exceptionally mean to me and like a really very bad idea. Thoughts?

 

[JackDele]

How many feathers did they cut on each wing? From his reaction, I'm guessing a few too many . And yes, you will have to wait for him to moult them naturally. Plucking feathers is painful and can permanently damage the feather follicle.

 

[kaylayuh]

How many feathers did they cut on each wing? From his reaction, I'm guessing a few too many . And yes, you will have to wait for him to moult them naturally. Plucking feathers is painful and can permanently damage the feather follicle.

The lady who clipped him did six on each side. I'm not sure exactly how many is too many, but he can still glide from the cage to the floor. He was even able to get from the cage to the window, so hopefully it's not too bad.

And yeah, I was pretty shocked about the plucking suggestion. Clearly we all know that a plucking bird = bad. I can't imagine why anyone would think plucking out the feathers yourself would be okay. Just more uneducated people with birds, I guess. I couldn't even pull out some feathers for the Avian Biotech DNA testing. I decided I didn't really care if he was male or female enough to do it. Maybe one day I'll have our vet do the blood test, but sex is really low on the totem pole for things I'm worried about with them.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Sometimes plucking flight feathers is a necessary. All depends on circumstances. It's always a good idea to talk with your avian vet about the concept. There is a lot of misleading information spread by mouth on the topic. And there will be those who out right dislike it. I suppose its controversial.