Taming socity finches

Question
Can socity finches become tame enough to sit on a hand?

Is wing clipping in finches (to tame them) crule?  

Answer
Without being hand-fed, I'd say it's possible to tame a society finch to the point where it'll sit on your hand, but probably not worth it.  It'd take a lot of patience, it'd be stressful for the bird, and they'd probably never really enjoy it.  You'd probably always be the big scary mammal in their eyes!  If you can find a hand-fed bird, that's a different matter - then they recognize you as part of the flock, so to speak.

And, I've always thought it a bit cruel to clip birds other than parrots, because they don't climb.  If they don't climb, they have no way to get around but for flying.  You could do a very light clip (just two-three flight feathers on either side) - that would leave them with a little flying ability and still make them easier to tame.

You could certainly try a light clip and taming a society finch, but I'd only try for a few weeks and see if it was getting anywhere - if so, then keep going, but if the bird just seems scared and stressed, I'd leave it be and let the wings grow back.

- Lara
psitta@yahoo.com