Wing Clipping
Hi EB, I want to ask you if is better to clip or not the wings. I have a baby Congo African Grey and I didn’t clip his wings. He is 18 weeks. He is flying a lot and is so happy. Please tell me what it is best for him.
Regards,
Oana
Oana, Except in the cases of medical necessity or behavior safety (ie. mate killing, etc.) it is always more proper to leave parrots with flight feathers.
It increases their aerobic and athletic health, makes them safer from falls and attacks by animals, increases self confidence and alertness, decreases problems like egg binding, and basically makes birds like your Grey “happier” in a natural way.
There are some dangers with flight—glass windows, parrots that have not been taught to come to an arm or fly down can escape the house, aggressive and jealous species may take to “buzzing” humans they do not like, and so forth.
Also in limited indoor spaces, it is sometimes appropriate to trim two or three of the outermost primary feathers at the front of the wing (one feather at a time over a two week period!) to increase flapping exercise in parrots that seem to be lazy flyers or only have room to glide and land….
Cheers,
EB