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Clipping my birds nails

Budgiessss

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Hi guys, so I have a lot of birds and sooner or later they need their nails trimmed. I have been watching a lot of videos on trimming their nails and have been googling a lot. Do you think I can trim their nails with a bird nail trimmer from petco?

Thanks! :)
 
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FeatheredM

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I'm wondering about something similar, how do you tell if your budgie needs a beak trim? I need to trim my birds nails, I'm just waiting for that stuff you put on the nail in case it bleeds.
 

WikiWaz

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I trim my bird's nails with cuticle clippers. That's what I saw an avian vet use when I watched a youtube video of nail trimming.
 

Budgiessss

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I'm wondering about something similar, how do you tell if your budgie needs a beak trim? I need to trim my birds nails, I'm just waiting for that stuff you put on the nail in case it bleeds.
Oh, I was planning on using cornstarch if it bleed.
 

Budgiessss

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I was thinking of wrapping the tame ones in a towel, and trimming their nails.
 

javi

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So a healthy bird should not need a beak trim. If you have an overgrown beak that the bird cannot manage by themselves there could be something more serious going on. You can file a beak if you want but a bird will naturally take care of that. I know people that want to trim a beak because they say it makes bites less painful. Well that is a lie.
I trim nails with a small human nail clipper and use quikstop on any bleeders. If you are nervous about trimming nails yourself try to find a local bird club. The members can show you how and they usually offer it at their meetings.
 

FeatheredM

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I saw somewhere that using nail clippers can fracture the nail, for me it's just safer to use cat nail clippers. If I can use cornstarch, then I'll use that instead of the stuff on Amazon, maybe @Zara could help?
 

FeatheredM

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@FeatheredM , don't know if you did but you should also start a thread with all the images of your birdies. Would love to see them!
I'll go do that! I have some threads with some pictures of my birds, but I guess I should make a thread for just some random pictures of my flock! Thank you:D
 

Zara

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Quikstop for bleeds. Cornstarch can be used if you don´t have/can´t get quikstop.
 

FeatheredM

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Quikstop for bleeds. Cornstarch can be used if you don´t have/can´t get quikstop.
I guess I'll use that, thank you zara
 

Kori

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Does anyone use an electric nail trimmer / grinder? I get so anxious that I'm going to cut too deep so maybe it's easier to avoid that with an electric one?
 

Shezbug

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Does anyone use an electric nail trimmer / grinder? I get so anxious that I'm going to cut too deep so maybe it's easier to avoid that with an electric one?
Many people use a dremel.
 

fashionfobie

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In theory if your bird has a lot of natural wood branches and bark to land on their nails should naturally wear on the wood. Especially if you have some perches on steep angles or a vertical perch.

I personally do not need to clip my parrotlets nor my plumhead since they wear their nails naturally. When I took Pi to the vet I asked if they could trim his nails, and they advised against it since he seemed to have good condition and natural wear.

Some bird do need trimming, there is no doubt. This is just what works for my birds and now I am a big advocate of a few perches being at steep angles or vertical. Parrots can easily climb these, and birds like finches can perch on them without issue. :) Hope it helps
 

Laurie

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That's the word I was looking for! I've seen them used on bigger birds but not with budgies... should be ok though?
I think you can use most anything for a budgie since their nails are thin and small. The bigger the bird the bigger the tool needed. Also birds have rounded nails so round tools like cat nail clippers work better birds bigger than the smallest birds. I have caiques which are smaller than many parrots but much bigger than a budgie and I use rounded clippers. When I had parrotlets I rarely trimmed their nails but when I did regular human clippers where fine for the tiny tips and cuticle clippers were fine for the rest.
 
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