How to traumatize a tiny bird 101

sundancekid · Post by **sundancekid** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 3:13 pm

I feel so inept! I made an appointment tomorrow to get Bubbles' beak trimmed because she came from the shelter with sort of a snaggle-tooth going on. I decided that I should figure out the best way to catch her tomorrow so I decided to practice by snagging Blossom and Buttercup for a little nail trim. After giving them a heart attack trying out various catching techniques (net, hands, towel etc), Blossom finally escaped from the cage. The cage is in an extra bedroom with no other furniture and luckily I had the door closed. I panicked slightly, but then found that it was much easier to catch her outside the cage using a towel. I was able to get her nails trimmed with only a few rustled feathers. Back into the cage she went.
On to Buttercup.... she escaped the cage as well and I caught her in the same fashion. That's where everything went differently. She is more of a spitfire than Blossom and was more difficult to handle. She would jerk her legs in suddenly while I was trimming or try to get her head around to bite. Her quicks were also much longer than they appeared. I barely trimmed off both back nails and they started bleeding! I applied some cornstarch, but felt SO bad. I was nervous when I started this venture and my hands were shaking, but not quicking them was the thing I was most confident about.... I've got lots of experience with cats/dogs.

As for Bubbles, the one that I have to catch for the vet tomorrow, she is one smart cookie. She will not fly out of the cage so I can catch her. I guess she watched the other two and saw what happens when you leave the cage! I'm thinking I'll have to snatch her after lights out tonight and keep her in my hospital cage until her appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Poor Blossom and Buttercup are tuckered out and have been napping for a little while. Buttercup seems to have stopped bleeding. I think she must have poked her eye too because she keeps closing only one eye. Either that or she's decided she needs to sleep with one eye open when that crazy human is around!

Ginene · Post by **Ginene** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:10 pm

Catching finches is a difficult task! If they happen to get out of their flight and are flying around the bird room, I use a large fish net (from the pet store) which works really well. If I have to catch them in their flights, I do so right after their bath while they are wet and a bit slower.

Post by **Sally** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:35 pm

You can also slow them down by spraying them with water. Just keep a spray bottle on hand, filled with plain water, and when you have trouble catching a bird, spray it till it is pretty wet, it really slows them down.

sundancekid · Post by **sundancekid** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:34 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try the spray bottle tomorrow. I don't have the heart to try to catch her in the dark. I can only imagine how terrifying that might be. I also don't want her to have to stay in the tiny hospital cage all night and all day tomorrow. Fingers crossed that I can get her to that appointment!!

Post by **lovezebs** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:08 am

sundancekid
Hi. As suggested, damping them down helps. The mid air Ninja catch works too, but you have to be very fast. Catching in the dark, is actually less traumatic, than chasing them all over the place . Have a small flash light handy. Turn off lights. Quickly turn on flash light to spot bird, then turn off, reach into cage and grab. Done.

sundancekid · Post by **sundancekid** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:23 am

I was able to catch her quite easily with my net this morning. Now she's just sitting in the little hospital cage quite indignantly. Thanks for the tips! I'm much more confident now that I've caught each of them once. It's not nearly as scary as it seems.

MiaCarter · Post by **MiaCarter** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:27 am

Indeed, the anticipation of catching them is worse than the actual act. And it also helps if you've tamed a few of them and/or work with the fledglings so you get more used to handling them.

I also use the fabric toss or fish net method.

I'm afraid to use the mid-air ninja catch. I'm afraid I'll close my hand on them too hard or grab them wrong, damaging a wing.

If you use a net inside the cage, I recommend removing the perches if you can't get them to fly out of the cage.
I also find it much easier to simply release them from the cages and catch.

sundancekid · Post by **sundancekid** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 5:42 pm

MiaCarter
I also found it MUCH easier to catch them flying loose in the bird room. Especially since these 3 were living in a small cage for who knows how long before I got them. They tire very quickly.
I was quite curious to see how the doc was planning to trim up her snaggle tooth beak. I've only ever seen hookbills get a beak trim. This doctor knew what he was doing though. He wrapped her up in a paper towel with only the beak sticking out. Then he used what looked like tiny nail clippers to snip off the overgrowth. Then took the teeny tiniest dremmel I've seen in my life and smoothed it all out. The whole thing only took about 5 minutes. I was very impressed! I'm feeling very satisfied now that her beak is trimmed and I clipped all their nails myself

MiaCarter · Post by **MiaCarter** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 7:02 pm

sundancekid -- Ooh, that's talent!
I've done the same, only using a towel, with my husband holding a little piece of cardboard with a C-cutout that fits around the head, sitting over the head in front of the eyes but behind the beak to serve as a little shade so they can't see what's happening. That's the trick my vet taught me.
They tend to stay calm as long as they don't see what's happening!

I have that same tiny dremel.
This is the kit I have:
http://www.amazon.com/PROFESSIONAL-Ligh ... ail+dremel

I actually got it for my nails, as I do my own acrylics. (Or, rather, did when I had the time! LOL)
Now, I use it for EVERYONE! LOL
The dogs nails. The birds' beaks when they need a trim. It's fabulous.
I love the thing. It comes with all of the essential bits (lots of tiny ones that are impossible to find.)
I expected it to be cheap for only $20, but I've been using it for about a year now and it's still working perfectly. Definitely a great investment!

Only trick is to remember to keep it moving and pause every few seconds. Otherwise it gets painfully hot.
I recommend giving yourself a manicure first, as that really helped me to get comfortable with it. (Any excuse for a manicure, right?!)
I tend to use the dremel for the entire beak-icure. I find it easier than snipping; it can take a fair bit of hand strength which I don't have.

Smurf · Post by **Smurf** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 7:05 pm

I found the same with it being easier to catch them after escaping from cage, this way is often traumatic for the poor birds as i would spend so much time trying to catch them using hands in the cage until they finaly escaped and were catchable by net, this often triggered a moult also.

Most nets on market are too big to fit through cage door so i butchered an old fish net and built a new net using a wire coat hanger and a piece of dowel which fits nicely through cage door. As my perches are removable and flight cages have dividers i now cordon off the bird i want, remove the perches and use new net to catch them, it's so much easier and less stressful on the birds

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How to traumatize a tiny bird 101

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