Wing Clipping

Clipping wings is personal preference

You're not a bad person, if you do, and you're not a bad person if you don't. It's entirely up to you, as a bird owner, whether you decide to clip wings or not. All of my babies will go home with their wings clipped, I do this when they are young, and I do it for their safety. Parrotlets with clipped wings can still fly, they just lose their upward lift. They are still able to glide safely, and maneuver themselves very well.

Wing clipping is painless

Grown feathers on a bird are much like hair on a human, cutting them is painless, when done properly. A bird with clipped wings will also be more dependent on it's owner, without the ability to fly away, it is much easier to bond with your baby.

The Clip

Primary flight feathers

The primary flight feathers, are the 1st 10 feathers as shown in figure 1. These are the only feathers you will ever cut when wing clipping. Parrotlets are a smaller bird, and usually require more feathers clipped than a larger bird.

5 feather clip

Figure 2 shows the 5 feather clip. Clipping these 1st 5 feathers will still give your bird a lot of mobility, just take away some of their lift. It's always a good idea to start here, and give your bird a test flight.

7 feather clip

The 7 feather clip is the cut I prefer to use in parrotlets. This cut seems to give the best balance between safety & ability. Again, it's always better to start with the 5 feather clip, you can always cut more, but you can't add them.

10 feather clip

All primary flight feathers have been clipped. Never cut any more than these. I like to use this clip when I'm trying to bond with a bird, it keeps them from flying away from me. Not all will require this clip, most do fine with just 5 or 7 feathers clipped, but every now and then one will be a little stronger minded than the others ;)

Primary coverts

The feathers outlines in red in figure 5 are the primary coverts. Be very careful to never cut these feathers. As with any bird, cutting these feather when wing clipping can harm your parrotlet.