To Clip Or Not To Clip….

    Yesterday I came to a very difficult decision. I’ve had my cockatiels for over three weeks now, and I have deeply thought about whether or not I should clip their wings. It was a subject that I had mixed feelings about, and it was a hard decision to make. Their wings are now clipped.

    I always felt like birds were special and were given the gift of flight for a reason, and I hate to take that away from any bird, even if it is temporary. But I also love my tiels’ and I want them to be safe, no matter the cost. I talked to many people who had more experience than I, and almost everyone agreed that a domesticated pet bird should have their wings clipped.

    In my house, the dangers to my birds are minimum, but they do exist. They have their own room, and whenever they were allowed out of the cage, which was almost all day, the door was closed to prevent them from flying into another room where it isn’t as safe. And I have no other pets in the house. I have also read that having their wings clipped will help with the bonding stage because they are more dependent on me.

    It was a fairly easy process, and took only a minute. I talked with my vet before hand and also asked for some tips from my friends at talkcockatiels.com. I used a small white t-shirt to cover them and keep them calm, and with a pair of sharp scissors, I cut their first 10 flight feathers. From the look of their flight feathers, I am pretty sure that they have been clipped before, most likely by their previous owner before she was sick. Once I clipped both of their wings, I spent a little time talking to them and playing with them, to make sure they weren’t too mad at me! They figured out pretty fast that they couldn’t fly anymore.

    I felt a little sad for them, but also a little relieved. They are my family, and I would be destroyed if something happened to them that could have been prevented. I can now open the two windows in their room without the fear of them busting through the screen and flying away outside. And when they are out of the cage, I don’t have to close their door and worry about them flying into another room where we will likely have a ceiling fan on.

    If you are someone struggling with the decision on whether or not to clip your birds wings, I understand your hesitation. But think about their safety and weigh your options. If they spend all their time indoors, and there are no other pets that they may possibly need to fly away from, the benefit of clipped wings out-weigh the risks in my opinion. But I feel that it is a personal decision for every bird owner, and whatever decision one comes to, it should be respected. No one should be told how to raise their pets, and what may be right for one, doesn’t mean its right for all.