# Pull or Cut Wing Feathers ?



## peristeria (Sep 9, 2010)

Which method do you prefer and why ?


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

Neither, unless it is absolutely nessesary for the birds safety or well being.
And by that I dont mean for keeping it captive for ones enjoyment.
I am currently looking after a pigeon who for some reason had had its wings clipped. When found in the pouring rain, it was in a pretty sorry state.
It is a feral, but for some reason I think someone was keeping it & It had obviously escaped. Without its full primaries it could not fly properly and had no way of escaping predators or getting proper shelter.
If one has to stop it flying, then probably the least stresfull to the bird would be clipping, but this means the feathers will not regrow untill the next moult.
If the feathers are pulled, they will regrow faster, and although i'm told the pulling process doesent actually hurt the bird, It still puts it under more stress.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

peristeria said:


> Which method do you prefer and why ?


why would you want to do either?


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## Flapdoodle (Nov 8, 2009)

If you are talking about racing pigeons it is or should be common practice to go through all your youngbirds the months leading up to your race series and check all your flights. If you had a flight that was damaged it would make sense to pull that flight early enough so it will grow back before the races. A bird is handicapped without all it's flights and won't fly as well. 

In my club the top flyers have their birds on lights from the time they hatch. They pull the last two flights a few months before the series. The thinking there is a bird with a full wing will out fly a bird that has a missing flight. Of those that pull flights some will cut the flight 1/4 - 1/2 inch or so a few weeks before they pull it. They say it drys out the base of the feather or quil and they pull out easier.

A bird with missing flights can not fly at it's best. In my area there are a lot of hawks. If I am goint to fly birds I would prefer to fly them when they had all their flights.


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## peristeria (Sep 9, 2010)

spirit wings said:


> why would you want to do either?


Maybe i am not correct but when you bring new birds there are two things you can do.Cut/pull/tape wing feathers if you want them to come outside the loft or keep them closed in the loft for some time.


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## peristeria (Sep 9, 2010)

Quazar said:


> Neither, unless it is absolutely nessesary for the birds safety or well being.
> And by that I dont mean for keeping it captive for ones enjoyment.
> I am currently looking after a pigeon who for some reason had had its wings clipped. When found in the pouring rain, it was in a pretty sorry state.
> It is a feral, but for some reason I think someone was keeping it & It had obviously escaped. Without its full primaries it could not fly properly and had no way of escaping predators or getting proper shelter.
> ...


Thank you Quazar i have not consider the stress factor.


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## peristeria (Sep 9, 2010)

Flapdoodle said:


> If you are talking about racing pigeons it is or should be common practice to go through all your youngbirds the months leading up to your race series and check all your flights. If you had a flight that was damaged it would make sense to pull that flight early enough so it will grow back before the races. A bird is handicapped without all it's flights and won't fly as well.
> 
> In my club the top flyers have their birds on lights from the time they hatch. They pull the last two flights a few months before the series. The thinking there is a bird with a full wing will out fly a bird that has a missing flight. Of those that pull flights some will cut the flight 1/4 - 1/2 inch or so a few weeks before they pull it. They say it drys out the base of the feather or quil and they pull out easier.
> 
> A bird with missing flights can not fly at it's best. In my area there are a lot of hawks. If I am goint to fly birds I would prefer to fly them when they had all their flights.


Thank you Flapdoodle. I have heard that it is not good to pull the last 1 or two feathers cause somethimes they do not grow back to normal size(smaller). Whats your experience?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

peristeria said:


> Maybe i am not correct but when you bring new birds there are two things you can do.Cut/pull/tape wing feathers if you want them to come outside the loft or keep them closed in the loft for some time.



I understand pulling flights for racing... as far as new birds, I suppose if one gets them too late and they are a bit older than what you should settle them for then I have heard of people doing all you stated above.. I do not agree with any of them, unless your location is 100% bird of prey free.. otherwise they are sitting targets IMO... one should get the sqeakers at 30 to 40 days old and then trap train and then let them out at about 7 to 8 weeks of age, or get breeders and hatch your own young birds. they can fly.. perhaps not as good as an older bird, but at least they CAN get away from a hawk because they have their wings..


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## Flapdoodle (Nov 8, 2009)

peristeria said:


> Thank you Flapdoodle. I have heard that it is not good to pull the last 1 or two feathers cause somethimes they do not grow back to normal size(smaller). Whats your experience?


I have never pulled flights to get the bird in a better race position. I have had a bird that damaged a flight and it was pulled so a new feather could grow back in without any problems. 

The last two flights are the ones that are pulled. Pulling flights is done among top racers in YB. Check out this video that I first saw posted in another thread here in the forum. 

http://www.cbspigeon.com/video/vd18.html



peristeria said:


> Maybe i am not correct but when you bring new birds there are two things you can do.Cut/pull/tape wing feathers if you want them to come outside the loft or keep them closed in the loft for some time.


I agree with spirit wings on that point. I think it would be a bad idea to cut/pull/tape a wing while settling birds. I have heard about soaping a wing but never tried it. That seems to me to be a little better then the other options you list. However, you have the same problem with the birds being very vulnerable. Just last week I was at another loft picking up my training crates. While I was less then ten feet away from the trap board a coopers hawk came flying in to catch a bird. It missed but whatever fear it had of us was over shadowed by its hunger. Be very cautious if you are inhibiting a bird somehow from flying. Here is a video on soaping wings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPReyZgHzWYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPReyZgHzWY


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