Clipping Your Bird’s Wings
Ceiling fans, boiling pots of water, and the great outdoors – all things that could potentially hurt your bird if he doesn’t have his wings clipped. There have been a number of injuries to birds because their owner didn’t clip their wings. Wing clipping will not completely eliminate these injuries, but it significantly decreases the chances. If you clip their wings correctly, your bird will still be able coast to a landing but will not be able to gain much altitude.
Before you decide to clip your bird’s wings, it’s a good idea to watch your vet do it first. Take notes, ask questions, and make sure you completely understand what to do.
Here are the steps if you are comfortable clipping your bird’s wings yourself.
- Wrap your bird in a towel with one wing fully extended.
- While restraining the bird, remove the ends of the flight feathers (the outer 6-7 feathers) with a sharp scissors aiming the scissors away from your bird’s body. Use the Dorsal major primary coverts for a guide – cut the flight feathers right below the dorsal majors. (See figure)
- If you cut below the dorsal majors, you shouldn’t hit any immature blood feathers that will result in a feather bleeding. If you do hit one, put styptic powder (Kwik-Stop) on it to stop the bleeding.
- Trim both wings and check them monthly for length.
The feathers of a bird are divided into a variety of sections, some of which include the primary, secondary, and tertiary areas. The primary area is where most of the flight feathers are located and also the ones that you trim. Trimming the primaries eliminates most of the forward flight propulsion. The secondary feathers are used for flying as well but are used mostly for lift. Keeping the secondary feathers allows birds to have a soft landing instead of falling to the ground too hard
Make sure you trim all of the primary flight feathers. Some people trim them and choose to leave a few of the flight feathers for aesthetic reasons. They may choose to trim every other feather or leave the first two feathers; however, birds can sometimes still fly if you leave these feathers and can get injured. To keep your bird as safe as possible, keep their wings trimmed!
Aviator bird
Kwik-Stop