Pinioning

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Pinioning is the act of surgically removing the pinion joint, the joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body, to prevent flight. The bones removed when pinioning a bird are akin to removing a person's hand just beyond the wrist (through the metacarpals). Like declawing, the morality of modifying an animal to suit human needs is debated.

Pinioning is often done to waterfowl and poultry. It is not typically done to companion bird species such as parrots.

The website Jubilee Acres gives a description of how to pinion a wing in their larger article on pinioning:

"We use a sharp pair of docking scissors. You take one wing (we do the same one on all birds). Extend the wing; on the end of the wing there is a joint. There are two pieces of wing attached at this joint. One piece is very small and the other a lot bigger. You need to cut off the larger piece at the joint, leaving the smaller piece in tact (sic). We cauterize all cuts as that stops any bleeding and the birds recover much faster."

"We pinion our Egyptian Geese - otherwise they would not stick around very long. It is best to do this before they are four days old. We have done one at a few weeks of age but it is more stressful on the bird and they tend to bleed more and defiantly (sic) need to be cauterized."

A non-surgical alternative is clipping the feathers, though it only lasts until feathers are replaced during the moult.