An interesting question and a topic we feel strongly about….. some people may argue that clipping your bird’s wings will cut down on accidents in the home, eliminate the possibility of your innocent bird flying the coop, or an obscure aid for hand taming.

After 25 years of birdkeeping the team here at Birdtrade.co.uk would NEVER clip a bird’s wings. You wouldn’t buy a puppy and remove a leg to prevent it playing "fetch". So why choose to hack off the one thing your bird relies on?

Over the years we have seen numerous birds with horrific clippings, your parrot can easily harm itself as you’re effectively removing it’s parachute. It’s been proven that a clipped young birds do not develop their flight muscles so they are usually doomed to a life of "climbing".  If you fear your bird has been clipped…… either as a youngster or you have recently bought a bird with clipped wings there are ways to build the flight muscles back up but this is a timely procedure which demands a lot of patience from yourself and your feathered friend.

We will hopefully outline these methods in posts to come so fear not there is NOTHING wrong with your bird, but we advise to allow your birds wings to grow back and encourage flight whenever you can. Even if it’s a foot to your arm for their favorite treat. Make no mistake 50% of birds with their wings clipped escape to the outdoors, the ambition to fly is soon aided by that little thing we call adrenaline.

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