|
Home
Bird Care Articles Message Board Q & A Bird Links Photo Gallery Online Web Contest Photo of the Month About Me E-mail Me My Awards Win My Award |
You're probably hearing constant nags about your bird's safety. It's all over the place - books, websites, magazines. However, do you actually take these warnings seriously? Have you ever actually thought about the possiblity of your bird flying into a closing door, up a chimney, or into a revolving ceiling fan? If you've ever had a close call with your birds, you know what I mean. Sadly, a close call with your own bird is probably the only way you'd change your ways, when you should be taking the necessary precautions ALL the time.
One of the biggest issues that goes along with safety is wing clipping. To clip, or not to clip - that's quite a question, and has been a well known heated discussion all over the place, especially at the message board I visit, Tailfeathers. In the end of all the debating and show of points, it was very final that we all had our own opinions to the situation. It all came down to your own household and what kind of environment your bird is provided with. In my opinion, wing clipping is important for the prevention of many accidents - getting caught in doors, flying into windows, up chimneys, and generally into all kinds of trouble. I myself have done several "experiments" with letting my bird's wings go long, and has resulted in unfavorable results. Pablo, my budgie upon almost 2 years, found himself in a close call with the kitchen sink and since has never strayed far from cage veiw. Ollie, who is fairly new to the family, found herself down the hall much to her suprise! However wing clipping is NOT, by a long shot, the only way to protect your bird from accidents. I asked the members at our ChirpieBird message board what they did to protect their birds and got some new ideas of what precautions everyone should be taking! "George is free in my room, so all wires are hidden," Says member ratty41. "There's a sign on the door and everyone knows never to enter if a window is upstairs (informing the rest of the family on hazardous movements/foods/objects is a MUST!)." He also said a little about his other birds and their limits. "When Charlie and Ben come out," He states, "the fire place gets blocked and the front door gets locked with the key left in so no one can get in unless I open it. Floors left as clear as possible and underneath sofas etc is blocked off." So is that all? No way... the best way to make sure your house is bird safe is to walk around your house with your bird in mind. Keep a lookout for the following:
Hopefully you've been reading this with the notion that you've been taking all the right precautions all along! If that's not your case, it's ok, and it's NEVER too late to start taking precautions. Doing so today can save your bird's life tomarrow! |