FINCHforum

I have a large aviary, 6ft wide, 5 ft high, 2.5 ft deep.

I dont think I can catch the birds to trim their nails

One bird in particular, his nails on the rear "toe" is so long it curls under every perch and today he got it stuck.

Do I have any options to trim those nails outside of trying to catch em and trim em myself?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

thanks!

I personally think that if they have gotten to the point to where he is getting hung up, the only option is to catch him and trim a little bit once a week. I have a society that I have to catch every 2 to 3 weeks to trim.......she just doesn`t seem to believe in the pediperch

I agree with Janine - if he's getting caught, don't wait for an accident to happen. There are several methods to catching birds from using a net to turning down/off the lights to setting a trap with a cage with a treat inside and the door of the cage set up that when you see him inside the cage - you pull a string and let the door close with him safely inside.

Good luck!

I've resorted a couple of times to letting them have a nice, shallow warm bath on the bottom of the cage.
Much harder for them to fly with soaked feathers

I forgot about soaking em first!

That's what I can do!

Spray the guy with some lukewarm water until he is on the bottom and cant fly!

thanks! I can do that!

just use a regular nail trimmer (the kind I'd use on my own nails?)

will it be obvious where to clip?

I always start by the smallest little bits, always have some cornstarch ready just in case you clip to far.

On the light colored nails you'll be able to see the dark "quick", where the nerves and blood supply are. Be very careful that you Don't cut into that. With dark nails, yep... little bit by little bit. If you look carefully at the trimmed end, you can see a very small core in the centre when you get close to the quick.
With long nails, don't assume that you can trim off a long chunk. That quick can be nearly as long. It takes repeated small trims over a period of time to force the growing blood suply/nerves to recede back close to the toe. Birds are just so small and can bleed out if proper care isn't taken.

I recommend that you put the bird into a "small" cage. That way you don't have to catch it in the BIG cage several times. Then when you get its claws trimmed down, put it back in the big cage.

I have trouble seeing the quick on my birds with dark colored claws. Then I trim no more than 1/4 of the length, wait a week then trim a little bit more, wait another week then trim again.

I use a standard finger nail clipper.
BUT...I have found that not all clippers are the same. Some cut very cleanly, others leave a fiber hanging, and you have to try again to cut that fiber. IOW cheap clippers may work for you fingernails, but not for smaller finch claws.