Need help, nail Issues

[finchman]

I am in the process of upping my flock count and was wondering; how do those of you with many birds deal with overgrown toenails. I can't stand the thought of them having long curled toenails but can't imagine anyone trimming hundreds of nails. Do the cement perches work well enough to keep them short on their own? Or does them being long not cause any issues? I would think it would cause mating/nesting problems? I hate when I see it either way and would like to eliminate the issue without clipping constantly if possible.

[Sally]

Mine are all in cages, so it isn't such a big deal to catch them up. I do use the concrete perches made by Hagen. I place them by the water tubes, so the birds land on them each time they get a drink of water. However, with some species, even this doesn't stop the nails from growing too long and needing trims.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/living-world-pedi-perch

[Sojourner]

Sally

All of my birds came out of the pet shop with already-too-long-nails. Now they are even more too-long.

My hands are not very dextrous any more and I have a poor sense of where the edges are, which leads to me dropping things or (worse if we're talking about teeny birdies) maybe holding on too hard.

And my vision isn't that great either. I would need to use my Optivisor to be able to see what I'm doing, which is awkward. I am pretty sure I couldn't do this by myself even if I COULD see those tiny nails better.

I have one of those Hagen perches, which I had mounted high on the cage for perching on at night. This worked pretty well for Pyewacket and Molly Brown, they would perch on that all night.

But now with Bambi not having any tail feathers and wanting to roost down in the bottom of the cage, they don't spend as much time up there.

I will have to take your idea of putting the water by that perch and see if that increases the amount of time they spend on it, but right now, the both of them seriously need those nails clipped, and the only person I know who MIGHT (MIGHT, I say, MIGHT) be willing to do it is a local parrot guy who is recovering from surgery. EG he's not up to it for the next several weeks, and I don't KNOW for sure he'd do it even if that weren't the case.

So the only thing I can think to do is risk doing it with the help of my son, who is not going to be enthusiastic about this at all. Frankly I'm not either. I figure I'll hold 'em and he'll snip - if we don't try to snip 'em short, just shortER, hopefully it'll be safe. But I am not liking the way those nails look ATM.

Any suggestions about the tool to use to snip? Because I don't think I want to try to use my nail clippers. They don't cut MY nails all that well, I want something that'll snip clean without twisting.

[lovezebs]

finchman

Some birds do get freakishly long nails.
I find that the Canaries, Parrot finches, and some of the Waxbills, tend to be the worst.

First of all I get everything ready. Baby nail clippers, glasses, some blood stopping powder (just in case), kleenex (if you get pooped on), a chair to sit on, a bright light.

Personally, when I notice a bird with overlong nails, I'll pull my sleeves up, take a deep breath, and reach into the particular flight where this bird happens to be (give everyone a heart attack ) and grab.

If I grab the wrong bird (which happens ), they get their nails cut too.

I am right handed, so I grab the Bird with my right hand. I then transfer the Bird to my left hand, with the back against the palm of my hand. At this point, you should have little legs and feet sticking up in the air. Manouvering each foot between thumb and forefinger hold securely. Hold the bird's nails over the bright light, pick up the clippers, and clip the clear part of the nail. You should be able to see the blood vessel very clearly over the light.

It's really not that difficult once you get the hang of it.

[Sally]

Sojourner

I use cuticle clippers, they seem to do the job OK. Have your son just clip a little bit at a time. You will be surprised how much you can take off before reaching the quick, you can cut them fairly short.

[Sojourner]

Sally

Well, I went out and got a set of cuticle nippers. We'll see how things work out. Their nails are looking pretty awful by now. Bambi in particular, if he'd been seen by an avian vet as the store worker told me, should have had his nails clipped at that time, but they apparently NEVER clip their birds nails no matter how long they stay in the store. There should be someone in every store who can do normal tasks like that, but it seems we're lucky if the store personnel can tell the difference between a zebra finch and a society finch.

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

My favorite Pet Shop, actually has a tech, who cuts birds nails, and clips hook bills nails. It's a free service, you just need to book ahead.

Have you made the chopping attempt yet???

[Sojourner]

Not yet - still too askeert, LOL! But soon. SOOOOOOOON.

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

Come on my good man, be brave

I have every confidence in you!

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

A bleeding nail can sometimes take hours to stop. I keep some "blood stop powder" on hand just in case. Here's the link:

BLOOD STOP POWDER is a hemostatic styptic powder used to stop bleeding ...

http://www.stuff4birds.com

I'm told that flour works well too.

In a large flight, with plenty of different types of perches, I find that all the finch species I have will maintain pretty short nails on their own - while canaries that are 2 years or older do need a trim. Mine get a physical, a quick preventive spray for mites and a trim before setting them up in selective breeding cages in March. The older "retired" birds get the same treatment and maybe some SCATT before releasing back to the open flight.

Easiest way (for me) to catch birds in an open flight is with a trap. I usually withhold food and treats in the main flight for a few hours while setting up a cage/trap - placing their favorite foods inside a smaller cage with a string to let the door down from a distance when the birds go inside.
The actual transfer to a carrier or a breeder cage is done in the darkened garage using a small flashlight and a remote control switch for the overhead lights. Cutting the light off creates the least amount of stress and commotion when hand catching birds. I'll be setting up 14 pairs of Red Factors this way on the 17th.

Best of luck with your trimming

Paul

[Sojourner]

<snippage>

In a large flight, with plenty of different types of perches, I find that all the finch species I have will maintain pretty short nails on their own - while canaries that are 2 years or older do need a trim.

<further snippage>

Well I hope that this turns out to be the case, that once I get their nail trimmed it'll be a loooong time before I have to do it again. Mine came out of the pet stores with already too long nails, and they only had dowel perches there.

Their cage here has only natural perches in it and a couple of the perches that are supposed to help wear them down, like the Hagen one.

lovezebs

I still haven't trimmed Pye's nails. And my son is now out of town for 2 weeks, LOL! PLUS - I just sent off an order to GlamGouldians and FORGOT TO GET STYPTIC POWDER. Dang me! Now I'll have to find some somewhere else.

She's never gonna get her nails done, poor thing.

Sally

I did move my perch to where the water is - and now they won't perch on it at all! They will grab onto the cage wires over the top of the silo and bend down to get water instead!!! WHAT???? They perched on it just fine before, just not for very long. And my first pair used to roost on it all night, in preference to the other up-high perch.

Oh well. I will put it back where it came from, at least they perched on it there SOMETIMES, LOL!

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

I just caught, and did a nail trim on four Canaries, two Parrotfinches, and one Gouldian, day before yesterday. No bleeding, no hassle, no problems whatsoever .

It can be done.

If you were close, I'd gladly snip your birdies nails for you.

[Sojourner]

Sojourner
If you were close, I'd gladly snip your birdies nails for you.

If you were close, I'd LET you, LOL!

However I do actually realize I need to get over it and do it. I have 4 birds now!!! I'm pretty sure I've not taken in my last rescue bird.

The odd thing is that I can remember doing this as a kid for my mom's birds. I didn't, at first - its not something I've thought much about in the past many decades. These are pretty dusty memories, LOL!

I don't remember having any particular problem with it. It's not like I've unburied a deeply repressed traumatic memory about bird-nail-clipping that would explain my current reluctance. I was apparently pretty good at catching the birds without much fuss. I either held the bird, and someone else clipped, or someone else held the bird and I clipped. Mostly I held the bird, but I do remember clipping at least a few times.

But that was 50 years ago and I'm nowhere near so brave as all that any more.

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

You can do it

[peter121378]

Sojourner

So has the task been completed? I stumbled across this post searching for tips on trimming nails since my 2 Gouldians need it asap. I'm planning on taking lovezebs advice and just doing it this week. Hoping all goes well