For those of you that have fully-flighted birds

[PerfectlyParrot]

Mo and Wally were clipped when they came here. Mo's breeder did a wonderful job. Wally came from a pet store and had a botched job. However, it has not affected either one of their flying ability!!! They will not be clipped again. Einstein came to us fully-flighted and will never be clipped. Wanna see a comedy show? Come to my living room sometime when he decides to take off and I'm running around underneath him trying to be a moving landing pad!!! He is just now figuring out how to "put the thrusters in reverse" so to speak.

 

[Birdlover]

Im really enjoying reading about all your birds. Ive found that mine that cant/wont fly are still emotionally happy and healthy, just lack to confidence to get from A to B with their wings. Cyan thinks Im her personal transport It makes me sad, but they still seem happy.It seems some adjust back & forth with no issue while others seem like they just forget about the fact they ever have. I really wish I could get all my Amazons to fly, but at least some do.

 

[Cydney]

Kai has never been clipped, shipped to me flighted and all. He went through a rough period (as most all lorikeets do!) where he successfully broke most of his flights and couldn't really fly. He absolutely loves the freedom, though. He's getting to be quite the little stunt devil, too. Flies at me at breakneck speed, decides he wants to do another lap, U-turns and bee-lines it back to his cage, happily screaming all the way. lol He's pretty good about coming/going when he's 'told', too. Recall is a wonderful thing!

 

[GG.]

Sugar (GCC) has never been clipped and we have had her since she was around 3 months old - she is 10 years now - she likes to take off thru the house, 'stretching her wings' but is pretty good about staying put after a few minutes or coming back to me

Boogie (CAG) is 13 yrs old and came to us flighted - have no idea of his history and whether he was clipped in his past.

he flies pretty well - a little bit of a heavy bottom - so is a little slow and deliberate. I don't think he has flown much - landings are still hit or miss (but oh so dignified, even when hanging on the stove ventahood like he meant to land there )

and although a bit OT, the ducks are clipped to keep them off the roof of the house

 

[WenM]

Everyone has been clipped at one time or another and sometimes I do clip Kota and Ray in the summer when the door is open a lot and/or Kota goes in the RV with us. Fiona prefers to walk everywhere anyway even though her landing gear is challenged.

 

[Allessa]

Jaden came with a HORRIBLE choppy wing clip. After many bloody tail and wing feathers, they finally grew out in a year. I clipped him once, and wasnt happy with myself. His wings gave him confidence and security..and with that wing clip it was taken away. Ever since then he has grown it out, and is now fully flighted.

I had to clip Mika when he came home because he was a bit wild. But now that hes adjusting, im letting them grow out. Same with Cloud

2/3 tiels here are fully flighted. BJ gets extremely wild and aggressive towards me when hes fully flighted..im not sure why?? So i keep him clipped and hes much better.

The lovies are baby clipped, because otherwise theyll fly into the birdroom and attack the other birds!

 

[Alex]

Fiji came to me clipped as far as I can remember. But that was 5 years ago. She has not been clipped since and is an expert flyer!

Kona was next and she came to me with a horrible clip that we have never really recovered from. I really wish she never was clipped, because she really cant fly to this day.

Tiki was next and I had him from almost 3months old, finishing his handfeeding. I have never clipped him, and for a caique, he is an expert flyer as well.

Pica, I am not sure of yet, we are still working on things. She is flighted though, but hasnt taken flight anywhere.

I love keeping my birds flighted, as well as my vet. She said as long as I can safely do it, to do it because they are so much healthier when they are able to fly!

 

[waterfaller1]

As far as I know, the only birds I have that have never been clipped are Mr. Jeepers and Jada, the Red Legged Honeycreepers.
My dog found Kismet, so I have no idea if he was ever clipped.
Sheba came to me clipped, and I have always had her clipped. I have only recently been reading about what it does to a bird, and how much more confidence and happy they would be if not. So I am letting all of mine grow in. I don't think she's ever known what it means to really fly.
Cochise has mostly grown back. He is learning how to fly. He has been having a problem with a certain feather though, but we have an appt at the CAV week after next. He has flown from his cage all the way out to the playstand recently.
Holly has a horrible clip, and she's just a baby. She will never fledge properly, but I have taught her to wear a harness and she has made a few short flights out side, and I encourage her to flap and exercise her wings. Why clip a baby?
I have been reading as much as I can find about free flight, harnesses, and all that it means and entails.
I want to learn how to teach them recall. I do believe it is a mistake that we have all handed down to each other from the past, when birds were imported wild, and they came from their native homes clipped. I have a friend who refuses to allow a bird to come into their home, to spite that her husband would love to have a bird. Her complaint is it isn't fair to keep birds in cages, and not allow them to fly.

 

[birdlady]

I have clipped wings due to our living situation, but am making changes etc...Dozer is flighted yet does not fly anywhere. Kiwi is flighted and zips around like crazy! Apollo is now flighted yet does not fly.

The five conures are pretty much flighted now and have been keeping me on my toes!!!!

If Nani will let her flights grow out, I will keep her flighted too.

 

[Anne & Gang]

Samantha was clipped when she came from the breeders at 3 months old..however she has never been clipped since I would never consider it..she loves to fly...she loves it ..it brings so much joy to her life...on the other hand we keep baby boy blue clipped as he is so little and we are scared he will get into trouble.

 

[Artagiel]

Noodle came clipped from the pet store, because of my living arrangements I kept her that way until I had my own apartment. She is fully flighted now and since she has started to realize this and fly she has become an entirely different bird than she was clipped, she is active and self assured where she used to almost be a little decoration, sitting where I put her and not interacting with the world around her unless I happened to be holding something for her. Seeing the difference made me vow to never clip again.

Abby and Elvis have never been clipped, they came fully flighted and I was a little worried about being able to handle and bond with flighted birds but all my fears were proved false as even bonded to one another they have made leaps and bounds with interacting with me in the few months i have had them as part of the family. I did briefly wonder if it would be safer to clip Abby as she startled easily and had a few bad landings but as they have begun calming down considerably I am glad I didn't, I worry that she would not be moving forward as well as she has if i took that away from her.

 

[Cape Cod Bird Man]

Our Sun Conure is flighted. I shudder to think what she would do if she was clipped. She loves to fly up and down the hallway. The Duskys we got recently were clipped, but we haven't done it since. The Lovies get clipped sometimes; just depends. Our Slender Billed Conure has been clipped, but he hates to get out of the cage -- Oh, He will when he gets the nerve. And the 'Tiels are not either, except for Mickey. Since he lost his toes he has a hard time landing evenly, which about the only thing that changed since he lost them. Our other Lovebird with just 2 toes on one foot is not hampered at all.

 

[Kimba]

Eve and poe are full flighted. Clay (grey) is too but can not fly. Poe was clipped once and she started to chew her feathers, she has never been clipped. eve MUST be clipped towards the end of breeding season cause he head hunts. But this happens when he starts to moult so he only remains clipped for about a month......Clipping a vasa however, does not ground them. That is impossible, fully clipped they can still out fly most birds. So the clip just slows him down enough and lessens his desire to head hunt.

 

[Carol S.]

Georgia came to me clipped but I think she was allowed to fully fledge and fly well before the first clip. She is now fully flighted and flies very well. Once a day at least she zooms around the entire house at a pretty fast clip. Dive bombing, making fast changes in direction etc. Chloe came to me fully flighted and I don't know if she was ever clipped. She was a clumsy flier at first because she was overweight. She is a stronger flier now with a good diet and freedom to use her wings if she wants. Fannie came with a horrible clip and drops like a rock. It has been a huge concern for me. She is clipped to heavily and very uneven see picture below

 

[Spinderella]

Im curious how many have never been clipped vs those that have been clipped and allowed to become full-flight again. All of my birds are fully flighted but for the most part, have been clipped in their life (Im not sure how long most remained this way as they were primarily second-hand birds).

Cassius, my little goofy Hawkhead Parrot has never been clipped. I also had my boy Rasta (goffin cockatoo) full flight the whole time, I cant remember if he came to me clipped or not, but I dont think he was. Those two are/were the most FANTASTIC ariel artists They seem so much more confident than the ones Ive had that re-learned how to fly.

My other three Goffins are flighted too but I think have been clipped at some point, though they are all also imports and I dont know much about their life before they came here. Those three also fly very well.

The rest (amazons and sennies) have all been clipped and some have absolutely no idea how to fly. Some have learned how but still would rather travel by foot

For birds that had been clipped and learned to fly, did they all regain that confidence or do you think they are not quite what they could have been if never clipped?

When I brought Sparx home, she was clipped. So I imagine she had been clipped for her entire life up until that point. I let her feathers grow in right away, and she picked up flying very quickly. She has been fully flighted since then (4 years, now) and she flies like a pro!

I am not sure whether the fact that she hadn't been clipped very long (I would guess only 6 months-1 year) for it to permanently affect her flying ability, or if it's just that Quakers are naturally really good fliers; but she picked up flying right away and never even so much as crashed into a wall or window.

 

[Big Blues]

All of our birds came to us clipped and now all are fully flighted. I don't know the history of all of our rehomes and rescues whether or not they have ever been flighted before now. Some fly, and some just quick jump from their cage to playgyms flapping along the way.

 

[Bokkapooh]

All of our birds came to us clipped, except Bokka I think.

Bokka(U2) was force weaned and never fledged, and clipped early on in his life.

Louie(U2) was clipped, and he came to me molting and growing in his flights

Reo(U2) came to me clipped, he is now fully flighted

Opa(U2) came ot be clipped, and now fully flighted. He was clipped at 3 months of age, and didnt learn to fly.. Now he flies like a champ, Im so proud of him

Gra(Scarlet macaw, rip) was never clipped, but then she had her first wing clip at the bird store, and then when she came to me, she was never clipped again and she became my first recalled trained flight trained bird

Pua(RLA)..wait.. She was NEVER clipped in her life, supposely, from what her former owners told me almost 3 years ago. She just was caged a lot when she was younger, so she never expressed much empathy for flight. But when she came to live with me, she learned to fly and loved it

Sydney(Rip, YNA), came to me fully flighted, I do not know if he was ever clipped. He hardly showed much interested in flying at all

The quakers cam eto us clipped, and still get seasonal clippings, but they can still fly.

The exz breeder cockatiels, are semi clipped, to allow easy catching when they are put back into the cage.

My mom's lovie and pet tiels, are semi clipped, they can still fly, but not buzz all over the place out of control like whenever they want.

Beeba (M2) is a habitual barberer

 

[Sharpie]

All of my birds came to me clipped except Kelp (budgie) who has a poorly healed wing break and can't really fly anyway.

Now, all the adult budgies are flighted. Last night I actually did cut some feathers off them (other than Kelp) because they seem to go through phases where they decide they Do Not want to go back in their cages when it's time for me to leave. I leave the outer three flights and then cut the next three under the coverts. They can still fly about like amazing little helicopters, but not for quite as long before becoming tired, so they're more willing to just step up and go home when I need them to. I don't really notice a change in most of their personalities, except for Sun. She's a right little brat when fully flighted (biting, refusing to step-up, etc) but not when she's clipped so that she's really got to work to gain altitude, so I do clip her some. She was abused in her previous home though, so I do think that a lot of it stems from that, not the 'clipped/not clipped' issue.

The oldest baby budgie made her very first flight this morning, at 31 days old! She landed on my head. I was so happy! I will clip them if the new homes want me to, since I would rather do it myself so it's done right than refuse and have their wings butchered, but I'd be thrilled if the new homes would keep them flighted.

Jasper (YNA) has been clipped for 24 years. No idea if he ever fledged. He's growing them out now and has all but two on his left wing and ONLY two on his right wing, so it's pretty unbalanced, but he's been doing a lot more flapping and playing in his cage as they've grown, and then we also do flapping exercise several times a week that he finds very exciting, so I'm hopeful that he'll eventually be able to fly.

Him being willing to fly is going to be another issue though- he's barely willing to move from wherever he's put. It's like he doesn't know it's okay and I WANT him to decide things and do them for himself. He'll look sad on a perch on my coffee table and beg for me to get him rather than climb down eight inches and walk over to me. I sincerely hope that having his full flights will help his confidence, since I'm not sure he'll ever be willing to fly on his own otherwise.

I know I'm working against over two decades of not flying and small caging, but I still am hopeful.

 

[Patrick]

All of mine have been clipped at some point in their lives but I've been thinking about leaving them flighted when their flights grow back in.
Skittles',my sun, flights are almost all grown back in and he seems much more confident now.

I think I've turned over a new leaf.....

 

[Gen120]

All of my fids have been flighted and clipped at some point in their lives.

Sammy:

She came to be with a servere wing clip, it took her 2 year to grow her flights back in. She is flighted now, and has been since 2 years ago. She is a lot more confident since she was flighted.

The tiels: They have been flighted, but are now clipped, because they fly too fast, and I am afraid they will get out, or they will slam into the birdroom window/wall, so I keep them clipped for their safety. They are in the birdroom, and the door is closed all the time, but I am paranoid about them getting outside, so I take extra percausion, LOL!

The conures: Mango was flighted for a good year or so, but I had to clip him because he tries to over rule me, when I try to get him to put him up, he flies all over the birdroom, and does not let me catch him, so I decided to clip him, plus he tends to not want to step up, etc, when he is flighted.

Pepper: She was flighted for a long time, but I had to clip her, because she gets really agressive and mean when she is flighted, kind of like Mango, she gets grumpy easily, and tries to bite/fly away from me.