Hello again Judy. I don't advocate ever tapping on cages or anything similar to that. I don't think I would try to force her to fly if she doesn't want to. If she hit the floor hard enough to make her afraid, you don't want to try to push her into doing anything she doesn't want to do. If and when she decides she wants to fly, she will do it on her own. It's hard for us to do, especially those of us who do have very tame and loving birds that want to cuddle with us, that they are not really pets. They are still wild animals and we have to always keep that in mind. I am going to give you an option to consider though, for the taming/training period. First I want to clarify that I pretty much never try to advise a person whether to have a trim of flight feathers done or not because in my opinion, it's a very personal choice all make for our own birds and that decision has to based on many factors. Few of which are exactly the same for any two of us. However, that said, I do know that a proper and safe trim can be a tremendous help during the taming process. It not only makes the bird more dependent on you, it also makes them easier to catch and return to the cage. The trick is finding someone who truly knows what they are doing or learning exactly how to do it properly ourselves. You are probably going to be surprised at just how complex this can be when it sounds like it should be so simple and straighforward. You are probably not going to be surprised when I tell you that if you have never done it before, it's best, for your bird's health and even life, if you have a well qualified Avian Vet, or a reputable bird groomer show you how the first time. There are two very dangerous situations you might encounter in doing it yourself. One is cutting a blood feather without realizing it was a blood feather, the other is over clipping to the point of causing the bird to fall like a rock. Dangerous for any bird. Particularly dangerous for a bird with long tail feathers since they always land tail first. An over clipped bird, hitting the floor too hard with those stiff tail feathers, will almost always, split the skin open near their vent and that's an emergency that he will die from, if he is not in the hands of a good vet, literally within minutes. Okay, all those warnings behind us, the first thing you have to understand is that trimming flight feathers is not meant to prevent the bird from flying and it should not. The only thing it should do is prevent him from gaining altitude. A properly trimmed bird will be able to fly/glide 15-20 feet, gradually losing altitude and be able to execute a perfectly balanced landing, completely under control. When trimming any bird, we always start with one or two flights, each side, on the leading edge of the wing. First you have to recognize those dangerous blood feathers. Those are feathers that still have an active blood supply entering the shaft. On light colored feathers, it's pretty apparent. On darker feathers, it can be almost invisible. If one is accidentally cut, the stub must be safely, correctly, and instantly, removed or it will act as a siphon and the bird will bleed out and die, in as little as a few minutes, depending on the thickness of the feather shaft. You will not ever, ever, cut more than one flight at a time on each side, making sure to keep them exactly balanced in length. Think about trying to fly an airplane with one wing longer than the other. You must make the cut an an angle so there are no sharpe edges to rub against his ribs making open sores. The cut end needs to be protected by the two layers of coverts. Budgies can be some of the best flyers of all the pet birds and parrots and usually need more primary flights trimmed than other species. But still, you will work with only a few feathers, each side, at a time and do a "test fly" in between. I'd suggest starting with only the first three flights on each wing. Take him to your bedroom so you can have that test fly over the bed or some other soft, safe surface. Release him from about waist high and observe his ability to gain altitude, or not, and his control of his landing. If he can still gain altitude, trim only one more on each side and re-test. Continue, one feather at a time, per wing, until you have achieved that fly/glide 15-20 feet optimum. I'm going to give you links to some charts and pictures and to information about the blood feathers. If, after seeing all that is involved to do it properly and keep your bird safe, if you still want to proceed, be sure to have all the proper supplies ready. Most important will be the sterlized needle nosed pliers for blood feather stub extraction, and a clotting agent. Do not use a commercial clotting agent. They all sting, no matter what they say. The best and safest clotting agent you will have at home will be; 1st choice, cornstarch, 2nd best, flour. If there is any bleeding, get that stub out imediately, apply a few seconds of gentle pressure and coat it thickly with the cornstarch or flour. And don't worry about cleaning if off again. It's harmless to the bird and to remove it too soon might start the bleeding again. Ideally, this is a two person job. You need someone who knows exactly how to safely and properly restrain the bird. Many times a bird dies from a wing trim because of improper restraint and not from the trim itself. Birds must be restrained with a very, very loose grip. They do not have diaphrams like we do. They must be able to expand and contract their entire body, twice to take one breath. Birds are suffocated everyday by improper and too tight restraint. Okay, I think I have covered everything. I urge you to study all the information before beginning. If anything is unclear or if you have any questions at all, just let me know. Keep in mind that if you make a mistake, your bird could bleed to death and if you over clip, it could be close to a year before that mistake is corrected by new growth. I'm adding (you guessed it, even more links) to helpful information. Some of this is about Tiels but no matter, the information applies just the same. Let me know if you need anything else. Patricia
Click here: Cockatiels, Blood Feathers, Broken Blood Feathers,How to Pull a Broken Blood Feather from a Bird, What is a Blood
Click here: NCS - Clipping Cockatiel Wings, Nails and Beaks
Click here: Wing Clipping Techniques for Parrots
Click here: Standardization of Wing Clipping for Psittacines
http://www.petparrot.com/ParrotCareWingClipping.htm
These two have a picture of a blood feather.
Click here: Birds Online - Health and diseases - Broken blood feathers
Click here: Blood Feathers
Edited by Patricia on November 2 2007 at 5:13 PM
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