Grooming
Wing Trimming | Bathing | Nail Clipping |
Wing clipping, nail trimming, and bathing. These are all important aspects of owning a pet bird. How often will your bird need his wings trimmed? What is the proper way to clip? Clipping nails- he will never let me towel him! Bathing- does my bird bathe enough? He doesn't seem to like water.
All these questions answered, and much more.
Wing Trimming
There are various ways to clip your birds wings. Here we will discuss what is considered the safest and most commonly used clip.
<-- A diagram of a wing trim. The first five to ten flight feathers are trimmed to restrict flight. Caiques usually require five to seven flights trimmed.
WING CLIPPING:
WHY, WHEN & HOW
by Carol Highfill
Bird owners are often advised to clip the wings of their birds. A common first reaction is that it is a cruel thing to do. After all, birds are meant to fly. However, there are valid reasons for clipping. First and foremost is the bird's safety, but there are other reasons as well. Safety - Unclipped birds can easily panic and fly into windows, glass doors, or mirrors, injuring themselves. They can fly into kitchens and land on hot stoves, burners, and pans. They can fly into overhead ceiling fans or dangerous electrical appliances. Small birds, able to get into smaller spaces, have flown into open cupboards and drawers and been locked in or have gotten trapped behind refrigerators. Others have drowned in open toilet bowls.
We have all heard that 'Curiosity killed the cat'. This old adage applies to your birds too. There are many things around our homes that are toxic or dangerous to birds, lead paint, household cleaners, etc. A flighted bird can reach such items more easily. There is no end to the number of dangerous and lethal items that your bird may find attractive, edible and/or perchable.
Loss Prevention - For most of us, losing our bird would be a very painful thing. It would be even worse if the loss could have been prevented. An open door or window is an invitation to an unclipped bird. No matter how tame, birds will fly out and may be lost forever. Some of us take our birds out in the sun or transport them to the vet or take them with us on a trip. In all these situations, no matter how careful we are, an opportunity to fly away may present itself. Clipping a bird's wings is an easy way to reduce the possibility of such a loss.
Training - Birds, like children, must be taught where they are allowed and where they are not allowed. They should be trained to stay, when placed on a gym or other permissable area. A bird with clipped wings will be more likely to stay where you place him.
Behavior - Some birds are more aggressive and difficult to train. Many people find that clipping a bird's wings diminishes aggressiveness and makes a bird easier to work and play with. Our wild caught cockatoo used to fly up to the beams in our cathedral ceiling when scared by a flock of birds outside our den window. Since his wings have been clipped, he has become accustomed to outside activity and now screeches back at the "intruders".
Protecting Your Home - Before we began clipping our birds' wings, we had thousands of dollars worth of damage to our home. Our two innocent little conures, successfully destroyed the wooden window frames, screens, doorframes, and doors in our bedroom. Our cockatoos have taken huge chunks out of a few window and door frames as well. One of our cockatoo's favorite joys is making holes in vacuum cleaner hoses. Now that the birds' wings are clipped, the daily piles of wood shavings have disappeared from our bedroom floor.
Breeding - In some species the male has been known to attack the female. Clipping the male's wings while leaving the female fully flighted can help protect the female by enabling her to more easily escape an attack.
The First Clipping
Baby birds should not be clipped until they have learned to fly. Learning to fly gives birds confidence, enables them to properly develop their chest muscles, teaches them balance and enables them to learn how to turn and to land safely. Being able to manuever and land properly is very important. Birds have very light, fragile bones which can easily be injured by a clumsy landing or a fall.
When to Clip
Birds should be clipped when their feathers have grown back enough so that they can fly more than a few feet. This is usually after a molt and for most birds about once a year. If clipping is done during a molt, then some of the clipped feathers may still continue to grow out. New feathers may also grow in as well. If you wait until the molt is complete there should be a need for only one clipping. However, if your bird is flying, you may not be able to wait and can do multiple clippings.
What and How Much to Clip
After clipping a bird should still be able to fly a few feet. This enables him to protect himself from a fall, by giving him enough lift to land safely. If clipped too drastically, he won't be able to maneuver to avoid hitting something dangerous or to break his fall. As a result he may injure his beak, breastbone or wings or even break a leg as he plummets to the ground.
The only feathers which should be clipped are the primary flight feathers. These are the ten long feathers on the outermost part of the wing. Start at the 10th primary (the one furthest from the body) and progress inward. How many primaries you need to clip varies by species and bird.
Feathers should be trimmed back so that the cut end is just under the major coverts. The coverts will thus surround the rough edges and help prevent them from irritating the skin. This is very important, as birds may begin feather plucking if the trimmed feathers are irritating.
Don't clip the feathers on only one wing. This can cause problems with balance, resulting in injury when trying to fly or land.
For aesthetic reasons, some people leave the last one or two outside primaries and clip the ones closer to the body. This is not recommended for two reasons. First, a bird may be able to get a lot of lift from these primaries, especially if he gets loose outside and finds a gust of wind. Second, these feathers will have little support from surrounding feathers and are more likely to break.
Experienced people have a good idea of how many feathers to remove. If in doubt, clip a few feathers. If your bird still retains too much flight capability, then clip a few more. Repeat this process until your bird can fly only a few feet.
Some species of birds require clipping of more feathers than others. In general the more aerodynamic the species, the more feathers need to be trimmed. Conures and macaws are very aerodynamic. Amazons and Greys are not as aerodynamic, so fewer feathers need to be clipped. Even within bird families, species requirements vary. We own both a green cheek and a dusky conure. We clip all ten primaries of our green cheek, while our dusky is fine with a clip of eight or nine primaries.
Be very careful when clipping, not to trim a blood feather, a feather that is still growing and receiving a blood supply from the body. You can recognize a blood feather by the blood in the shaft. If cut they will bleed and can become an emergency situation.
How to Clip
Your vet will clip your bird's wings. If you wish to learn how to do it yourself, then ask your vet or an experienced person to show you how.
Source- Winged Wisdom E-Zine
Recognizing Blood Feathers
Before attempting to groom your bird, make sure you know how to recognize bloodfeathers- also called pin feathers.
When birds are growing new feathers they first come in as what are called pin feathers. The new feathers are incased in a hard shell made of keratin to protect them while growing in (quill). Once these feathers are completely in, the bird will preen the feather and remove the outer casing. This can cause what looks like birdie dandruff. The ones on the backs of their head that can t be reached can be gently pinched and then flaked off by a trusted human. The feather must be ready to be preened off, or it will be painful for the bird. You can usually tell the feather is ready when the tip of the feather is visible and the casing is white.
New feathers are supplied with blood to make them grow. The pin feather is supplied with blood by a vein until it is fully grown in. As the feather grows the vein retracts and the white keratine sheath flakes off. If these new feathers are broken by a fall, chewing, or bumping them on the cage etc. they can start to bleed. The feather shaft acts almost like a straw allowing the blood to flow out. Birds cannot risk loosing much blood, so it is very important that it is stopped quickly. The most common feathers to have this happen are the flight and tail feathers. The best way to stop the bleeding is to pull the entire feather. This can be accomplished best by holding the bird correctly in a towel, and using a pair of needle nosed pliers or hemostats to firmly grip the bleeding feather closely to the base and pulling it straight out quickly. If the follicle bleeds, apply pressure for one minute with thumb and index finger.
If you are not comfortable doing this, do not try it. You can try to stop the bleeding temporarily with corn starch or flour and applying pressure. It is recommended that you do not use styptic powder on birds because if ingested it can harm them and is suggested that damage can be caused to the feather follicle. If you can not get the bleeding to stop or if you cannot pull the feather please see a qualified veterinarian immediately. Frequently once a feather is damaged, if not pulled it may bleed again if only slightly bumped. Thank you to black headed caique Rosie for modeling this picture.