FINCHforum

Can someone tell me the mthod and tools they use to cut the nails of my society finches. They are really long and the have 5 babies in their nest. I am worried they might get hurt and all. Sould I leave their nails like this for now and cut them after the babies leave the nest or should I do it now? I a m worried they might not like being handled and then they might throw their chicks out the nest or something.

Hello there,
For my birds i just use fingernail clippers. I hold the bird in my hand backwards (see picture) tail up. I use my free hand to grab the leg and place it between my thumb and index finger to hold it still. Actually you can hold the foot between your fingers to hold it still while you trim the nail. Be caruful not to trim too close to the blood vessel in the nail. You should be able to see it, and have some kwik stop styptic powder handy in case it does bleed. I couldn't really tell you about the babies, I guess it depends on how old they are. I have zebras that I have handled when they had chicks, to band the chicks when they were little, but I suppose it depends on the pair.
Disclaimer: No birds were tourtured in the making of this post. Lynx needed to have his medicine anyway. However, fingers were bitten!

if you don't have any quik stop or you cannot find it you can use ordinary all purpose flour to stop the bleeding. If the nails are quite long the quick (blood vessel) may be longer than normal, so a number of nail trims may be needed to get the nails back to a normal length.

Very good demo Finchlet!

Clipping the nails of any birds you wish to breed on the day you give them a nest, is a good habit to establish.


Societies are usually tolerant of nest checks and the like. I would guess they would be okay with having their nails clipped.

You know your birds better than we do. If you feel they need trimmed, and they will tolerate the intrusion, then go ahead.

Finchlet....Look at the expression in that finch's eyes! Oh evil finchy face!

I post on a board where the majority of people have the big birds and sometimes they are surprised when I tell them of the personalities of my little finch friends.

LOL He is definately the onryest of the finches. Check out these pics of him. He is definately giving me the evil eye! He is the only one that tries to bite.

That is to cute!

Oh man, I love that second picture! That's a definite "don't mess with ME" pic!

He's great! What a funny little bird! heh heh.

thats definately a travis bickle look!

ken

plantsandbirds wrote: He's great! What a funny little bird! heh heh.

Funny-ha ha or funny-strange
I can't quite make up my mind.

I emailed Lynx's photo to a friend who is an outdoor birder and bird lover. She said, "ack! that little bird looks possessed!"

I think he looks like he's saying, "Come a little closer, you, and I'll peck your nose".

Thats hilarious! He probably would too! He sure can bite hard for such a little tiny guy!