What's the best way to clip a doves wings?
I don't want to cut too much off.
Thanks,

No No No. Jay, why do you want to clip the wings? It isn't necessary if you devote enough time to training. Even the tail should only be trimmed occasionally just to neaten it up.

This is older dove I recently acquired. Dave, the dove I got from you was great. He imprinted on me and I had no problems with it. This dove is not yet trained and I don't want him to take off on me.

Jay, practice with it in a confined room so if it does fly off, it won't have anywhere to do. You can spray cold water under it's wings to retard the flying as well. Clipping doesn't prevent it from flying off either. It just makes it uncomfortable and may cause it to drop to the floor or fly into something.

While I don't condone wing clipping, you clip off no more than an inch on every other feather on both wings but again, this isn't going to stop it from flying. The best solution is training.

Hi, Jay!
Most of us here will give you the advice to train rather than clip.

If you insist on clipping, however, check to see if there's a bird shop in your area (one in my neighborhood, for example, is a pet store that specializes in parrots and the like). They often have groomers there on certain days of the week. You can have your dove professionally safely groomed (including wings) for a very small fee.

I was under the impression that one of the main reasons doves are used is because they don't like to keep flying; but prefer to land on the nearest "safe" perch. I don't yet own any doves. Just have a non-performing cockatiel who thinks she is human. If you go slow in the trust building, I don't think you will need to clip either.

Doves will almost always fly to the highest perch but the point is to keep it from flying off that perch unless they have been trained to do so. Clipping the wings will prevent that from happening, eliminate the possibility of doing the toss out and reduces their ability to excercise

All I can bring to the table is: I know how to trim wings the WRONG way! (No, I didn't hurt my dove.....I'll just leave it as a mystery!!)

There is no right or wrong way, just something that shouldn't and doesn't need to be done.

The dove harness I use allows me to cross the dove's wing tips in the harness. He cannot get loose to fly until I slide the harness off. I have him well set by then.

You might want to use a Silkie Dove instead. They cannot fly away.
http://pet-doves.com/petdoves/Silkies.htm

Not all doves are the same level of trainable. Only cut and tape one side. Don't cut the outboard 3 or 4 feathers. Only the ones on the inside, closer to the bird's body. Use tape on the uncut feathers, if necessary. Test the bird over a bed to make sure that it can protect itself by flying to the surface, and not just falling. Even clipped and taped, they can STILL fly away with a strong enough gust of wind. My saying is,"you don't train the birds... they train you". As you become more experienced, you will know how to hold, distract and move a bird to discourage flight. Some birds will require more disabling than others. Mark your birds specifically for their intended part in the show.

I don't know. In my career, I've raised and used over 60 doves and never had to clip or tape a wing. Granted, some took a little longer to train but with attention, they all worked out just fine.

I do agree with marking them however for their particular effect. A little dab of nail polish distinguished them from each other.

A friend trained his doves quite easily. He works with them in a room without windows. If the dove flies, he turns out the lights.

I start training in the corner of the room so the dove has no where to go. Gradually I increase the distance between myself and the corner. This is extremely helpful when training the dove to fly out and return. They do have a good memory and if they don't have anything to land on, they'll return. After about 6 weeks, the walls aren't necessary and they remember to fly out, turn and return. Not every dove is used for a toss out but the corner method strengthens their feeling of safety and will remain with me after a production.

I used three doves in my act many years ago. Never clipped their wings, just took my time training them. Even when I did the act outdoors or in a huge shopping center or theatre, they never looked like they wanted to fly away. Those huge white wings were gorgeous and always got a huge response.