Home » Almost full flighted
Posted by karen on Mon, 08/23/2004 - 16:44 :: Companion Birds

Chico was clipped about 8 months ago. He's almost full flighted again now. His wings were clipped much shorter than the cut feather you see in the picture. That feather was in the process of growing in and continued to grow after the clip (no there wasn't any bleeding... the part of the feather with blood only goes about as far as the coverts and he was clipped just below the coverts).
He finally molted that last clipped feather today.
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Posted by NateW on Tue, 08/24/2004 - 20:29.
Congratulations to Chico on his new set of feathers. :-) Great photo, too, it really shows off those colors. I'm pretty sure that one of Phoebe's was growing in when it was clipped too. It's about a half-inch longer than the others.

Did you notice any pattern to the way they grew back in? Like, from the inside out, or from the tips inward?

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA
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Posted by karen on Wed, 08/25/2004 - 12:46.
They just grew in randomly - usually in pairs, although for awhile he had more feathers on one wing than the other.
He had one feather on each wing growing in when he was clipped and luckily the next set of flight feathers to grow in were right next to these, so the longer feathers provided support to the new ones. I was glad of that.



Karen and Chico (greencheek conure) and Pippin (budgie)
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Posted by jtholley03 on Fri, 08/27/2004 - 07:18.
Let the fun begin.
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Posted by karen on Tue, 01/31/2006 - 15:37.
About 2 years ago, Chico was clipped 'accidentally' (he was in for a claw trim only); he had been flighted for years. Needless to say, after flying for so long, he was a wreck, very nervous and frightened. It wasn't til his wings had grown in this much that he even began attempting short flights again (I think he'd lost a lot of muscle tone). A year after being clipped he was full feathered and able to fly just as well as before, but was still nervous of flying. Now more than 2 years later he is back to his old self but still tends to hesitate before flying.

Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI
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Posted by barb E on Wed, 02/01/2006 - 08:47.
Karen,
Thank you so much for this post!!!

My husband and I go back and forth about clipping Buddy. One of the things I always worry about is his self confidence going down the toilet.

The only reason we even consider a slight clip is because almost everyone I talk to about his attacks on my son say we should "take his attitude down a notch through clipping".
I'm not convinced that a clip would do this and so we go back and forth on it.
We've tried working with Buddy on the attacking behaviour but it's very hard with a fully flighted bird that's stubborn/protective of his mates and territory.
Also part of the problem is my son is away at school all day and away from the flock after school often as well.

Anyway, as much as I love my son and hate when Buddy attacks him, I can't bring myself to take away Buddy's free flight. It offers him so many benefits and I think his self-confidence actually keeps him from biting less!
I'm hoping that with continued guidance and maturity Buddy will eventually give up the behaviour.

One other BIG problem with a fully flighted parrot is finding someone to come to our house to sit when we want to go away.
The only other option is taking Buddy out to a sitters house but then he'd be stuck in a cage all day - something he's not used to now.

Thanks for the post about Chico.
Do Pippin and Chico preen each other?
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