Re: help
Posted by GreyLady on 9/25/12
On 9/23/12, sarah wrote:
> i am planning on getting a adult male cockatiel but i dont
> want to clip his wings because when i had my last birds
> wings clipped he tried to fly and broke his blood feather
> and i couldnt stop the bleeding ..the next morning he
> passed away. anyway if i dont clipp the birds wings will
> he or can i train him to stay on my shoulder instead of
> flying all around the room . any help is appreciated
> thanks. sarah
A bird is going to fly, it is their nature and not something
you can train them not to do. It sounds like the other bird
had a clip done by someone who did not know what they were
doing. A proper clip does not, nor should it, prevent a bird
from flying. It only prevents them from gaining altitude. A
properly clipped bird can glide 15-20 feet, gradually losing
altitude, remaining in complete control and can make a smooth
balanced landing. If your bird fell like that, he was likely
way over clipped, the clip was not matching on both sides, or
both. If you want your bird clipped, take it to an Avian vet
or to a very reputable bird groomer. However, since any
bird, clipped or not, can break a blood feather at any time,
you need to learn how to handle it if it should happen
again. When a blood feather is broken, it acts like a
syphon, allowing the blood to keep flowing until the bird
bleeds out, as you unfortunately saw. It's basically a
hollow tube with a full blood supply coming into it. A broken
blood feather needs to be pulled out immediately and some
corn starch 1st choice, or flour, put on the area until the
bleeding stops. If you will do a search for "blood feathers"
or "broken blood feathers", you can find detailed
instructions on handling it. Good luck.