When can I let her wings grow?

[Sarah Rose]

Around 2 1/2 months ago I adopted my cockatiel from a local bird rescue. They had pre-clipped her and suggested that I wait at least a year before I allow her to be flighted so she can get used to my house. She is currently clipped but I can tell that she likes to fly. I let her fly short distances (only about 1 foot) to her training perch and cage. When can I let her wings grow out? When she is flighted I plan to recall train her and make necessary precautions to my house like putting decals on windows and doors, etc. We do have a dog so I want to make sure she can safely escape should the incident happen where my dog goes after her. Should I wait a year before I let her wings grow or can I let them grow now? If I should wait a year what kind of exercises can I have her do so she can stay healthy with clipped wings?

 

[TikiMyn]

Let them grow now She obviously knows how to fly and will navigate her own way I have never heard of that argument. Some people do clip their birds when bringing them home but never heard the part about keeping them that way for a year.

 

[Mizzely]

I never reclipped any bird

 

[taxidermynerd]

Always! Always let your bird's wings grow! She'll be happier and healthier for it

 

[Gazimon]

As others have said, since she is already comfortable at home and you do have a dog, do let her grow her wings out so that she can also be more assured in her own ability to get around. Now's your best time to bond with her and get her to do recall training, even if its short hops or along a table she's playing on.

If you clip her again, you run the risk of damaging the self-confidence that she is starting to build up as she grows her feathers back. When going from flighted to partial or non-flighted, the trauma of dropping out of the air ( instead of landing at their intended location ) can shatter a bird's belief in their own ability to fly. Also the added stress can affect your relationship with her. There are others on the forum who are facing the issue of trying to get their birds to fly, and building their self-confidence up again baby steps at a time. Its heartbreaking to have a bird that is ( ironically ) too scared to fly because its primary mode of movement was impaired. Its also healthier to have a flighted bird than one whose muscles atrophy and do not have enough exercise, especially since many bird seed mixes also have high-fat seeds. When allowing her to fly, do remember to close all windows and doors and turn off moving parts [eg ceiling fan].

Since the lifespan of tiels is 10 to 20 years, waiting 1 year is like preventing a bird from flying for 10% of their lifetime. Or making a human not be able to walk for 8 years.

Have you named her? If its the tiel in your icon, she looks really sweet!

 

[Sarah Rose]

Thanks for all the replies! Her name is Clover. I will let her wings grow out, as you all suggest.

 

[Porter]

The only time I clip is when I'm moving and even then its a adjusted clip just three inner flights.

Moving tends to trigger a massive molt when it comes to my flock so they get their flights pretty quickly.

Now my lil idiots speed about my room and stare out the windows.

I'd let her have her flights as Soon as she grows them back c:.

 

[Lady Jane]

Here is a exert from a writing that will express my thoughts:

Parrots have unique needs that other pets like cats and dogs do not have. They need to fly. Few other creatures can truly fly. Even humans cannot without the aid of some other equipment. Birds, however, are designed, created and skillfully engineered for flight. Everything about a bird, from their skeleton, to the muscles to their amazing feather system is created with a high priority on efficiency. This is one reason they are so fragile – they don’t have all the compensatory systems we humans have because they are made to be able to do one thing very well: fly. How can we justify taking that away from them? I understand that many people feel it’s a question of safety but there are plenty of ways to minimize risk. A bird that is handicapped by having clipped wings may not suffer the same risks of a flighted bird; however there are other risks that are exclusive to lacking the ability to fly. The inability to escape predators is a huge risk of a clipped bird. The inability to safely return if startled into a panic flight is another huge risk, and we’ve found this to happen more often than people would like to believe. I know someone whose bird was crippled for life after breaking his back when falling from a very tall tree that it managed to fly up into when spooked. The bird had clipped wings. We advocated unclipped wings, forging a strong relationship, and training your bird to recall to you along with reinforcing that training regularly. We just took in a darling little Quaker that accidentally flew outdoors twice. The bird was not clipped. Though he flew off, he returned to the person he loved when she presented his favorite toy, a little bell.