Swan wing pinion

[ObsessedwithChicken]

I am hatching 2 black swans and I would like everyone’s opinions or experience with wing pinion. I really don’t want to but breeders are telling me I should. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be irresponsible but I feel it is inhumane. Thank you!

 

[Goosebaby]

There’s surgical pinioning, which I don’t know too much about, then there’s clipping the flight feathers to pinion them. The second option will need to be redone every year after the feathers are developed enough and will prevent flight but it doesn’t require surgical means.

 

[ObsessedwithChicken]

There’s surgical pinioning, which I don’t know too much about, then there’s clipping the flight feathers to pinion them. The second option will need to be redone every year after the feathers are developed enough and will prevent flight but it doesn’t require surgical means.

The breeder says I should cut the end of the wing so you don’t have to do the feathers every year but I find it inhumane to take away the swan’s ability to fly but I also don’t want I also don’t want them to fly away and starve or get eaten.

 

[Goosebaby]

The breeder says I should cut the end of the wing so you don’t have to do the feathers every year but I find it inhumane to take away the swan’s ability to fly but I also don’t want I also don’t want them to fly away and starve or get eaten.

If the swans are well socialized and bonded to you, where you can hold them and trim their wing feathers then that’s the most humane option, it doesn’t take much to trim off the feathers once a year with a pair of shears.

If they’re not tolerant of being handled having to capture them to trim their wings is not going to be easy with such a large bird, in that case I would advise pinioning the wings surgically for their own well-being, black swans I’ve heard don’t tend to be big travelers but they can fly and who knows what they might end up doing. Definitely have an avian veterinarian do it so it can be done with proper anesthesia. Anesthesia is tricky in birds compared to mammals.

 

[ObsessedwithChicken]

Thank you for your reply and insight, I greatly appreciate it.

 

[MGG]

You shouldn't need a vet to pinion them as babies. You just snip off the end of the wing while they're still only a couple days old. It's pretty common and really doesn't hurt them at all. They don't even bleed most of the time. The key here is a very sharp pair of scissors. If you don't want to you don't have to, but it's usually a good idea to keep them from spooking and flying off/getting lost. Pinioning is very different from wing clipping and those words aren't used interchangeabley. Wing clipping anything bigger than a goose is not easy and I'd never recommend it. It stresses them out badly and they can get hurt or hurt you. It is not inhumane to pinion them "taking away their ability to fly". It's responsible and protecting them and other birds. We see feral ones all the time at parks and on ponds that flew off and the owners could never recatch, which usually starve and die in the winter since they don't know to migrate.
Make sure no matter what you tame them and work hard to keep them friendly. A tame bird is so much easier and more enjoyable than a skittish one.

 

[ObsessedwithChicken]

You shouldn't need a vet to pinion them as babies. You just snip off the end of the wing while they're still only a couple days old. It's pretty common and really doesn't hurt them at all. They don't even bleed most of the time. The key here is a very sharp pair of scissors. If you don't want to you don't have to, but it's usually a good idea to keep them from spooking and flying off/getting lost. Pinioning is very different from wing clipping and those words aren't used interchangeabley. Wing clipping anything bigger than a goose is not easy and I'd never recommend it. It stresses them out badly and they can get hurt or hurt you. It is not inhumane to pinion them "taking away their ability to fly". It's responsible and protecting them and other birds. We see feral ones all the time at parks and on ponds that flew off and the owners could never recatch, which usually starve and die in the winter since they don't know to migrate.
Make sure no matter what you tame them and work hard to keep them friendly. A tame bird is so much easier and more enjoyable than a skittish one.

Thank you for your reply. I think I have decided to let the breeder do it. I can’t find a vet who is taking swans. It seems anyone who has swans pinions.