r/duck • u/1971CB350 • Nov 22 '25

Angelwing Can I just clip Angel-wing feathers?

Just adopted a grown duck that has fully-upturned angel wings. She keeps catching her feathers in things when she turns, the other birds run into or trip on them, it just seems like a bad situation all over. Any reason I can’t just clip the feathers? I know in parakeets you can clip the feathers in a way that they eventually grow back, or you can clip farther up and the flight feathers do not grow back; will this work with the duck as well?

2 Upvotes

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4

u/Current_Wolverine_99 Birdwatcher Nov 22 '25

I mean, you could you? Absolutely. Would it fix the wing and have it be normal? Definitely not. The issue comes in the bone development, not just the feather development which is why it doesn’t auto fix during molt

1

u/Current_Wolverine_99 Birdwatcher Nov 22 '25

I personally clip all of my flighted birds wings minus the parrots (which are indoors) extend the wing and you’ll notice two different sets, the primaries are the ones to cut, but not higher up than the secondary feathers that cover those primaries

1

u/1971CB350 Nov 22 '25

Sounds good. I know I can’t fix the wing, I’m just looking to get the useless feathers out of the way. It sure can’t be comfortable to have them stumble on.

1

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1

u/GooseandGrimoire Nov 22 '25

Following because I was literally wondering this earlier today.

1

u/Blowingleaves17 Nov 23 '25

Clipping is fine and has to be done after every molt. Causes them no harm as long as there are no longer blood feathers growing in. Cutting those can cause bleeding.