How Do You Clip A Parakeets Wing?

A common question asked by bird owners is – how do you clip a parakeets wing?

This procedure can be done at home but we recommend that you take your bird to a vet or pet store and have them show you how to do it before you try it yourself.

Clipping a parakeets wings is usually done to aid in initial training so the bird does not fly away from you or so that he doesn’t fly away if he is outside, but you might want to consider leaving his wings intact so that he can get the exercise he needs. Of course, you wouldn’t want him to fly away outside but most people keep their birds inside and it is really neat to have them fly over to you once they are trained. I had a parakeet years ago that I kept the cage open all the time and he would fly over to me and sit on my glasses then fly back into the cage when he was done hanging around with me!

How do you clip a parakeets wing?

Be very gentle with your bird. You will only be able to do this with a tame bird so if you need to clip the wings before taming take him to a professional. If your bird trusts you enough to let you hold him, then spread out his wing (you probably need 2 people for this). Trim the longest layer of feather (the last layer) halfway up from the bottom of the wing in an even line parallel with the wing. You can use regular scissors for this and your bird does not have any feeling in the ends of his feathers so it does not hurt him.