# i feel like the worst mum in the world!



## .mpeg (Oct 6, 2010)

as i expected, my partner freaked at mister's wing being clipped. i don't know why i said yes. neither of us wanted him clipped. 
he's currently doing his first moult, will it grow back quickly? evenly? he's been quiet all afternoon, i think he's depressed, and i don't blame him. he adores flying.


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## Belinda (Oct 9, 2010)

It'll take awhile for the feathers to grow back, I imagine - but at least you know not to do it again! Poor Mister...


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## .mpeg (Oct 6, 2010)

certainly do. i've been earbashed for the last half hour about the various reasons why i shouldn't have done it.. not that i didn't know them already. 
i'm a toopid idiot.


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## Belinda (Oct 9, 2010)

ahhh, hopefully he won't miss them too much. I feel stupid for allowing the breeder to clip Arnie's wing too - then I paid a fortune to have fake wings grafted on :blush: Mister probably feels a bit nakey now.


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## .mpeg (Oct 6, 2010)

i just.. my partner hates me for it. i hate myself for it. mister must just feel absolutely miserable. why was i so stupid? i've put my bird through anything through to 6 months or more of misery because of one stupid moment. and my partner will never forgive me for it. neither will i, come to that. it was one thing we agreed adamantly on.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

All my birds felt sad at first but then it didn't bother them anymore
all of them can fly now and tweety (budgie) will come on our foot to be picked up
i refuse to do it now as she knows she can fly 
i bonded very well with lucky while having her wings clipped


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## HAJiME (Sep 20, 2009)

Woah calm down. 

Cockatiels can still fly with their wings clipped, it just takes more energy and they can't get so much height. That's why I clip the wings of mine. It's for their own good.

When I clip the wings of my two, they hold their wing oddly and behave a bit "depressed" for a short while, but really I think they are just confused and feel odd. A bit like having all your hair cut off I guess? 

At the moment I'm watching mine work out how to get from the floor back to their cage, which is about a foot above the floor. They often fly onto other lower surfaces to get higher. Problem solving!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

my dobby was best he would bite onto the curtains and climb up onto curtain pole or the cage, he surprised me as i didnt know he could get up there like that
was looking all over for him one day and there he was sitting on the curtain pole just preening away lol


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## .mpeg (Oct 6, 2010)

so they can still balance and climb fine and everything? that's a huge relief. i hope mister feels a bit better in the morning. poor baby  he didn't even sing or anything this afternoon  and to make it worse i have to work for 9 hours tomorrow and my partner is at work all day too so we can't even monitor him. brilliant.
anyway thank you all for reassuring me that it's not the end of the world. hopefully that wing hasn't moulted yet and will start fixing itself straight away. so far i *think* i've only seen him drop small feathers.. and there're new feathers coming through on his head/body but not on his wings as far as i've noticed. fingers crossed! i'd feel terrible if he had to wait another 6 months for his next moult to start recovering.
bed time now. night all.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Ah dont feel too bad i did at first but looking back now i glad i done it and now i dont need to do it again . Goodnight


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## Cheryl (Dec 27, 2008)

Wait, was only one wing clipped? That could be dangerous and result in him getting injured. They both should be clipped evenly.
With one wing clipped he should be able to fly. One of my birds only head flight feathers on one wing grow back and she could gain height just fine.
I clip all but one of my birds wings. It doesn't bother them the least bit. They don't seemed phased by it at all!
I think you're being too worried. I'm not sure why your bird has been so depressed..I honestly have never experienced that. I do promise you he will be fine! It really is NO big deal and no where near the end of the world.

I recommend everyone to clip their birds wings, because once your bird flies out the door or window, you will regret you didn't. A proper clipping should still allow your bird to be able to glide, just not gain height. 

If you're that desperate to have his feathers back and if he already molted his flights, you can pull out the feathers yourself and they should grow back right away.
I would believe that is very uncomfortable for the bird though.


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## Cheryl (Dec 27, 2008)

double post.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Thats what i really want to do is do it again incase they fly away BUT they are happy flying around so its really hard. I take extra care as rabbit run when i open living room door but there has been times when visitors dont care and its so annoying


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## HAJiME (Sep 20, 2009)

Since my mother has been with her current boyfriend my 'tiels have been out significantly less because he cannot be trusted with leaving doors and windows open. His type of work means he's in and out all day. At the moment I'm working from home on uni stuff so my tiels are in my room and have been out a fair bit, but my room isn't a safe place for tiel's to be flying about because I have a lot of models on shelves and posters which they try and land on and eugh. In clipping their wings they can be out and I don't have to worry about them trying to land on shelves and toppling everything down and hurting themselves and, in the event doors and windows are left open, they are unlikely to get out because they find it harder to fly very high or for very long.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

My birds are clipped for their own safety, to slow them down so they don't get killed flying into windows. It's a light clip though and they can still fly a couple of laps around the room before gravity starts to assert itself.


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## Lilly (Dec 2, 2010)

I had to clip Aggro's wings because he kept flying into windows and places he shouldn't be. I cut off the first 4 or 5 feathers and he can still fly, just not as fast or far. Now it's a lot harder for him to hurt himself. Lilly can't fly at all, though. She jumps and then flutters backwards. It's just too dangerous for a bird to fly at full speed in our house as there are just so many windows!


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## Lilly (Dec 2, 2010)

I had to clip Aggro's wings because he kept flying into windows and places he shouldn't be. I cut off the first 4 or 5 feathers and he can still fly, just not as fast or far. Now it's a lot harder for him to hurt himself. Lilly can't fly at all, though. She jumps and then flutters backwards. It's too dangerous for a bird to fly at full speed in our house as there are just so many windows!


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## LilyLynn (Oct 6, 2010)

i agree, dont feel bad! they grow back pretty quickly.. i sometimes have to clip mine because one likes to fly onto the fireplace mantle, entertainment system, etc because he likes to chew EVERYTHING- wood, brick, fake plants, fabric! The other I do because she isnt very tame and when she takes off flying often hits the walls. Its a stressful thing for them and they get confused like "what the heck, why cant i fly" lol, but after a few hours they get over it.


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## Avalon_Princess (Feb 13, 2008)

I'm currently watching with amusement as Echo examines every room in the house for my mother, he's been in flight for a good ten minutes and still hasn't found her (shes outside). However the thing is Echo has EVERY flight feather clipped, there is not one flight feather on his wings, he looks a bit stupid but it's essential as he's perfectly capable of doing the speeding bullet into a window thing the next time he freaks out if he has wings. At least this way he'll still hit the window but he has time to see it and throw the brakes on. Normally we let him keep a feather or so per wing but since moving to a smaller house that he's unfamiliar with there's just no way it would be safe.

Echo stays clipped year round, and he always sulks for a day or two after a clip as he absolutely loathes being handled on anything but his terms.

Moral of this rather long story is though that cockatiels are one of the strongest fliers in the bird world and are perfectly capable of getting about sans flight feathers and it can be essential for their own safety to clip. You shouldn't feel bad he'll sulk for a day or two and then forget and soon (i.e like four days) he'll be up and flying again.


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## HAJiME (Sep 20, 2009)

Where do other people clip to? I clip till they line up, when closed, with the rest of the wing. I don't clip any more than that because they don't like being handled and I can't open up the wing to do it. Also, i'd be scarred of cutting a live part.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Lucky will fly at top speed around the living room and when the rug come she went straight into the window, hope she don't do it again


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

My hubby clips our bird's wings. Fuzzy can't fly very well, he just glides and he takes forever to grow flight wings back. But it's better for them, just in case of a night fright or something, they can't get very high. I like that they can fly, and I'm hoping once we move and they have their own room we won't have to cut them as much, but with our place now it's pretty much essential. Don't worry, mister will adjust and be just fine, he just won't be able to get up as high as before.


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## .mpeg (Oct 6, 2010)

okay, so next question.
when enough feathers regrow that he can fly again, will he have to refledge, to a degree? will his muscles have weakened? or will he be immediately back to his previous flying standard? i don't want, on top of this, to have him hurt himself 'cause he's forgotten how to fly.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Don't worry, he won't forget how to fly. I've heard of larger parrots that give up trying to fly when they're clipped but I've never heard of a small bird (tiel or budgie) doing this. They'll keep trying to fly whether they can get anywhere or not.

As several people have mentioned, tiels can often cover quite a bit of distance even when they're clipped. But they don't get as much lift from their wings so they have to put more effort into flapping, which can actually make their muscles stronger.


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