Grumpy neighbor, advice welcome.

[ruthhope]

It's supposed to set the bird off balance.

That is unnecessary if the wings are clipped properly. My local avian expert clipped my little girl's wings soon after I got her, as she flew over the side gate and I found her on the lam crossing the road. Within a week she flew up 8 ft to land on my plum tree. The rehabber who gave me the duck, came round and held her, and I took another 1" of the clipped feathers on both wings. She hasn't got out again, and actually has moved to live with my son's ducks. There she loves to tear up and down the back yard flapping her wings. I wouldn't like her to be off balance and unable to do that!

It's some sort of territorial behavior -- she suddenly shoots out of the wading pool, scattering the other ducks, tears round in a circle and jumps back in the pool. She sometimes does this 2 or 3 times. She was a timid rescue who had been bullied. She is now happy and growing confident and assertive with the other ducks. Such a pleasure to see her development. While she was being bullied, she was very needy, always staying close to me when I was working in the garden, pulling the back of my clothes if I didn't give her enough attention, and coming and sitting by me on my back steps tapping me on the shoulder to demand attention. She has stopped all that now -- she runs up to me when I visit her, and tells me all about it, but she is happy with her ducky friends and not needing human attention all the time

 

[Miss Lydia]

I only clip one wing on my Muscovy females.

 

[Isadora]

That is unnecessary if the wings are clipped properly. My local avian expert clipped my little girl's wings soon after I got her, as she flew over the side gate and I found her on the lam crossing the road. Within a week she flew up 8 ft to land on my plum tree. The rehabber who gave me the duck, came round and held her, and I took another 1" of the clipped feathers on both wings. She hasn't got out again, and actually has moved to live with my son's ducks. There she loves to tear up and down the back yard flapping her wings. I wouldn't like her to be off balance and unable to do that!

It's some sort of territorial behavior -- she suddenly shoots out of the wading pool, scattering the other ducks, tears round in a circle and jumps back in the pool. She sometimes does this 2 or 3 times. She was a timid rescue who had been bullied. She is now happy and growing confident and assertive with the other ducks. Such a pleasure to see her development. While she was being bullied, she was very needy, always staying close to me when I was working in the garden, pulling the back of my clothes if I didn't give her enough attention, and coming and sitting by me on my back steps tapping me on the shoulder to demand attention. She has stopped all that now -- she runs up to me when I visit her, and tells me all about it, but she is happy with her ducky friends and not needing human attention all the time

You asked why people do it, so I told you why.
I know plenty of people clip the one wing and it works just fine. Doesn't seem to bother the birds.
If clipping both wings works for you, great.
More than one way to skin a cat, as they say.

 

[addctd2plnts]

Why is it important to clip only one wing? My local avian expert [who clipped my muscovy's wings first time and taught me how to do it myself] clips both wings.

Because clipping one wing throws them off balance and discourages flying. I've never clipped both wings but some say if you clip both they are more balanced and may be able to fly, despite the clipping.

Have no idea why an avian expert would clip both wings. I'd be interested in hearing what their reasoning is. Maybe their experience is different than ours?

 

[ruthhope]

Because clipping one wing throws them off balance and discourages flying. I've never clipped both wings but some say if you clip both they are more balanced and may be able to fly, despite the clipping.

Have no idea why an avian expert would clip both wings. I'd be interested in hearing what their reasoning is. Maybe their experience is different than ours?

I asked the guy and he said that if you only clip one wing and a feather grow back, the duck may be able to fly. I asked him because so many folks in this group only clip one wing.

I trust his judgment totally: he cares for all the birds that are taken into our county rehab facility [and also cares for ducks at rehabbers homes]. He provides so much help without charge -- we don't have a vet in our county who will see ducks and the only "exotic animal" vet in Duval county to the north is exorbitantly expensive, so he gets lots of birds brought down from Duval too. He cares for Ospreys and has even had Florida Wildlife Commission bring a bald eagle to rehabilitate. He is a local treasure.

I agree folks should use what works for them and their ducks. I asked why someone said it was important to only clip one wing to understand why they said that. "Its important to only clip one wing" is very different from using what works for you and your ducks

 

[Quatie]

For clipping one wing, some birds can learn to adjust to with both wings being clipped and can still fly. They can't fly as well with both wings but still can potentially. If they learn to fly with two wings clipped, not much you can do at that point. While with one they are off balanced and cannot use that to it's advantage to get over fences. So for chicken and duck owners, you will see them clip one wing.

One reason people will recommend 2 wings, is the birds can still control flight so they will not crash. So they are preventing the bird from getting hurt when coming down.