To Trim or Not to Trim

As with every other aspect of bird care, there are 2 views on whether wings should be trimmed. If there is any way for your bird to escape the house the wings should be trimmed – period. While visiting in Wilmington, NC I came across a baby African grey playing on a stand near the checkout at the back of the store. It was a Harley shop that also carried clothing – you get the picture – basically one large room. They had both front doors wide open. I could not keep silent. I approached the owners and started a conversation about the bird. I mentioned that they should be very careful about keeping the bird’s wings trimmed due to people constantly entering and leaving the store. The owners assured me that their bird would never escape. Two weeks after I returned home my friends called to say that the little grey had flown out the open doors of the store, and the owners were heartbroken. All it takes is one second for that bird to be gone – any scare and they take flight. Once outside they get lost, found by someone who keeps them or taken as prey by a hawk.


Okay, so why do I let some of my birds’ wings grow? When the birds were in the living room the wings were trimmed regularly. The door to the outside was right there, and even with a screen door it was just too dangerous. Now they are in a large room upstairs that has no direct access to the outdoors. There is a balcony off the bird room, but it’s screened in so they can enjoy it without worry. There is also a set of French doors between their room and the TV room that can be closed if necessary.

With the likelihood of escape lessened drastically, the decision to trim hinges on other factors. It really comes down to the individual bird. Spike does not fly because she now wears an Elizabethan collar due to her plucking, so she does not get trimmed. Peeper has to have her wings clipped because she has a tendency to fly to the other cages and I’m terrified she will be hurt or killed by the other (much larger) birds. Rani doesn’t bother to fly either, but I trim her wings because they get so ragged when she plays with her toys. Classy had to have his wings clipped when he came to live with us because after a week he became bonded to me and began flying to the other birds’ cages to attack them! Gideon and Alex get to keep their flight feathers because they don’t bother the other birds and are skillful fliers. Emelio also has his wings trimmed.

Last year I decided that maybe Emelio should learn to fly. He is extremely skittish and I thought it would give him confidence (and I hated to trim his wings because he disliked it so much). He was doing well, learning to control his landings and acting proud when I praised him about it. The bird room is about 24 feet long; it goes from the front of the house to the back. Emelio’s cage is the 2nd from the back of the house, and he liked to fly to the counter at the front, so he had some room to practice. In November he was sitting on the perch on the top of his cage when something scared him. He flew to the counter, but instead of landing he made a u-turn and headed for the sliding glass doors at full speed. He hit the glass and dropped like a rock. He was unconscious for a few seconds. Mark called me (I was downstairs, Mark was feeding the birds – we never let them out if one of us isn’t upstairs).

When Emelio came to, his head looked like it was going in circles. That only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like forever. Oh my God, I was so scared he wasn’t going to be all right. I held him for quite a while to be sure he was ok, and then we wrapped him in a towel and trimmed his wings. Like it or not, he will get trimmed regularly. I never want that to happen again. Yes, it probably can happen with any of them, but it hasn’t and they aren’t as skittish. Looking back, I can see that Emelio was just fine without learning to fly. He is quite happy to be carried to where he wants to go, and actually seems a little more confident now than when he was flying. Live and learn . . .

Cathy