FINCHforum

is it difficult to trim nails? I made the mistake of going into a pet store today and ended up coming out with a very lonely gouldian and a pair of spice finches. The place was dirty and I would have bought all the birds if I had a place for them

Anyway the spice finches' nails are way too long and need to be trimmed. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Sansmail
Missouri

Here is a complete article on trimming nails, plus a link to a video. There is a lot of good information at the Finch Information Center, linked at left.

http://www.finchinfo.com/health/trimmin ... _beaks.php

The 4 Spice Finches I bought have very long nails to. The hardest part I find is catching the little devils.... Just don't cut into the red. Its kind of hard to see it on my Spice Finches cause their legs are grey.

A bright light to shine at the BACK of the claw, which will hopefully show the quick backlighted.
A magnifier if you have middle-age eyes like me.
A GOOD finger nail clipper.
An a jar of "blood clotting" powder, just in case you cut the quick.

If I have a bird with very overgrown claws, I will trim it several times, maybe 20% each time, at least a week apart. That give the quick time to receed before the next trimming.

read the links and watch the video
take your time and be CAREFUL.

The first time I trimmed a claw I was probably more scared than the bird. I had trouble holding my hand steady. But now, after doing it so often it is not hard. The hardest part is catching the bird.

I found that nail trimming my gouldians was pretty easy. Not sure if it's going to be the same with spice finches. Just avoid the red line in the toes and you're good to go. Snip little by little and work your way up. I just use a nail clipper and it was a piece of cake!

About 6-7 weeks ago I switched to pottery containers as a seed/food bowl. I use the bottom piece/tray that goes under a unglazed flower pot. Picked a couple dozen of different sizes at a garage sale. The lady thought it was kinda strange that I didnt want the pots with them. They are kinda rough like terracota. All of my birds nails are now about half as long as they were. I thought it was a great idea and have been very pleased with the outcome. It took about a month before I started to notice the difference in nail length.

Oh also it god rid of the little pointy ends of their beaks also as they peck at their food. Beats having to catch them and do it by hand!!!

great idea!

I did a similar thing with my finches by putting a rock type stone in each cage. They love to sit on them and eat their meal worms or carrot strips! I love their nails and beaks getting natural trims. Cool.