Complete Psittacine by Eb Cravens
It saddens me whenever I see a mature older psittacine that never had the opportunity to develop proficient flying techniques. There was a period of time when wing clipping in the pet parrot industry was the rule, often at a very young or fledgling stage. Many such parrots, having now grown into middle or advanced age still have no access to flight exercise, either because of the environment in which they are kept, or because they never learned how to do it!
Wing feather cutting was often rationalised as being a ‘safety precaution’ for the welfare of the birds. However, as a long time exotic bird shoppe employee, I found it more likely to be a ‘convenience decision’ for the breeders or pet shoppes handling these birds.
Many of us own or have owned such psittacines, and it is not difficult to observe the effects of such naive treatment. Mentally and physically, these parrots are forced to live with handicaps, some for the whole of their lives. Over the years, I developed a multi-faceted method to cope with such limited flight skill so that the pet could improve its health and well-being.