|
Amazon Parrots are good talkers and can be very entertaining. These large birds need daily exercise time outside of their cage. To curtail your Amazon’s flight ability, you will need to trim your bird’s wings. Improper trimming will allow your bird to navigate a short distance, often up into a tree. Properly clipped wings grounds the bird.
You will need:
§ sharp scissors or wire clippers
§ an assistant
Amazon’s are unpredictable and often aggressive once mature. Extra care needs to be taken when trimming their wings. You will need an assistant to hold the bird. Lay the bird on your assistant’s lap on its back. Have your assistant firmly cup the bird’s head with one hand [fingers over the skull and thumb beneath the lower beak] to prevent the bird from turning his head to bite, if agitated, and place the other hand between the feet and over the tail feathers for support.
Span the wing nearest you to examine the feather growth. Pink or dark tinted quills indicated new growth [blood feathers are new feathers being fed by blood vessels]. Do not cut in this area.
You may choose between three cuts: The primary cut, the secondary and inner primary cut, and an alternative secondary and inner primary cut. A primary cut discourages all flight, but leaves the bird with ragged wings when folded. A primary and inner primary cut, which most people choose, leaves the bird with an attractive appearance while discouraging flight [a few skilled birds may still have some flight capability]. Never trim only one wing. An unbalanced amazon could fall to the ground and receive an injury.
To make a primary cut, hold the expanded wing in one hand and with the scissors or wire cutters, trim the feathers on an upward angle from the lower straight row of inner primary feathers, taking off the tips of the primary feathers [the long feathers at the tips of the wings]. Make sure to avoid any new growth blood feathers. Turn the bird around in your assistants lap and repeat on the second wing.
To make the secondary and inner primary cut, hold the stretched wing in one hand and with the scissors or wire cutters, trim all but the outer four primary feathers [the long feathers at the tip of the wings] and all but the last three [nearest to the birds body] inner primary feathers [the lower row of feathers]. Make sure to avoid the new growth blood feathers. Repeat procedure on the second wing.
An alternative secondary and inner primary cut can be applied by cutting every other primary and secondary feather. Begin with the outer primary flight feathers, leave the outer primary flight feather, clip the next, leave the next, etc. Trim approximately 1 inch. Never trim only one wing. An unbalanced amazon could fall to the ground and be injured.
To prevent unexpected escapes, check your amazon regularly for new growth and trim as needed.
| 
