Clipping a bird's wings

Factual Questions
1

On the pond behind my Dad’s girlfriend’s house, there lives a male mallard duck who cannot achieve full flight; he can only skim over the ground or water. Other ducks come and go with the seasons, but he’s always there. His wings appear to be clipped. Dad’s GF speculates somebody clipped his wings to make a pet of him and then abandoned him, who knows why.

What does it mean, to clip a bird’s wings? I thought that meant clipping some of the longer feathers. But feathers grow back, don’t they? They’re shed periodically and replaced by new ones, right? I would have thought clipping a bird’s wings would be a chore you would have to do periodically.

2

We had ducks growing up and you do just take some scissors or special clippers and cut them. It doesnt take all that much to ground a frequent flyer. I don’t know about their feather growth pattern but it definitely takes a while for them to come back. I would an aggressive clipping job might take a year or much more to grow back.

3

Note that I’m not advocating it, but often when a bird’s wings are clipped, only one side is done. This is much like putting a “club” on the steering wheel of a car. They can’t fly even remotely straight, thus can’t really go anywhere.

4

Well, most birds undergo a complete moult in a year, so should be able to deal with even a severe clip job.

5

This page, if I’m reading it right, states that a bird whose wings have been clipped will need to have them redone after each molting, once a year. If he’s been there longer than that, I’d guess he’s been injured.
-Lil

6

If it’s not done properly I do believe you can cut into the blood feathers and I’m sure you could do some permanent damage there. It’s actually why they recommend you take parrots to the vet to get it done.

When a bird’s wings are clipped, an equal number of feathers are taken from each wing. If feathers are clipped from only one wing the bird will lose balance and won’t be able to flutter properly to the ground (possibly resulting in injury). To keep a bird from being fully-flighted, wing clipping must be done after every moult, but it is important to only clip the wings when the feathers have finished growing and avoid cutting “blood feathers”. Many people clip their birds’ wings themselves, although it is a good idea to have an avian veterinarian, pet store employee, or breeder demonstrate the process first before one does it themselves. Wing-clipping of pet birds is also endorsed by most avian veterinarians.

7

Ducks can also be grounded by overfeeding. I bet you that mallard is just fat. (And juicy, but I digress.)

8

My parrot, when I had her, had to be clipped at least once a year, else she was able to achieve take off. Had I left her go, I’m sure she would have been able to achieve real flight eventually. I agree with Paul, it is probably just overweight.

9

He might have been pinioned.

10

Bingo. Clipped primary flight feathers regrow with each molt. Pinioning involves amputation of the distal wing and is permanent.

11

You’re right. When you come home and find that a duck has flown out of their pen, it’s time to do it again. I think the other posters above are right about him not being clipped since it seemed to need redoing every 6-10 months from what I recall of owning ducks.

OTOH, we had some ducks who simply didn’t fly. They were not terribly fat, but apparently just fat enough not to be worth their while to try and fly out.

12

If a bird has been pinioned, is it able to flap at all? The OP said the bird in question can skim across the water which conjures to my mind a bird flapping along, but not acheiving great height. I don’t know much about pinioning, but I don’t think a pinioned bird could do that.

13

Yes. Pinioning a bird’s wing(s) only involves amputation of the distal segment. Imagine chopping off your hand. You are still able to “flap” your arms.