BIRD GENERAL CARE

There are really two areas that you really need to be aware of with regard to your bird. The bird's wings and the bird's nails. You should pay close attention to these, as over time they will constantly grow.

You need to make sure the wings are constantly clipped, because if you do not, your bird WILL fly away.

You need to make sure your bird's nails are clipped because if they get too long, they could easily get hooked and caught on something in the cage. There is a blood vessel running through the pink area of the nail, and that vessel could bleed very severely if severed. For some information in either, just click on the links below:

WINGS

If you are going to be taking your bird out of the cage and handling him, it is essential that the bird’s wings are clipped. If your bird’s wings are not clipped, there is a good chance your bird will fly away. There are different ways of going about clipping a bird’s wings. I have seen a lot of different ways and want to give you my take on how this should be done and who should do it.

Understand that the most important thing we are trying to do in the early part of owning any animal is developing a positive relationship built on trust. I think one of the mistakes that new owners make when wanting to clip the bird’s wings, is to actually be involved in the process. Understand that with many birds, in order to clip the wings, the bird needs to be lightly restrained. Although there is no pain involved, just being restrained can be very traumatic. If you are personally involved with this, I really believe that this can really jeopardize your relationship early on. Clipping the wings is done by gently holding the bird in a towel, and having another person clip the wings. If you are the person holding the bird with the towel or the person clipping the wings, remember that the entire time the bird is being retrained he is staring at you.  This is why I recommend having a professional do it.

Just bring your bird to a reputable pet shop or a veterinarian that does this on a regular basis and knows the right way to do this. Yes, this might cost you a little more money to pay someone to do it, but you cannot put a price on developing the trusting relationship you are trying to build.

If this is something you want to try to tackle on your own, I highly recommend you watch someone do it first, and make sure your understand how to do it.

NAILS

I kind of classify the clipping of your birds nails as the same type clipping as your dog's nails. Sometimes it's best to have a professional do it.

If you are taking your bird out on a regular basis, your bird’s nails are going to be needed to be clipped too.  My suggestion would be to get them clipped at the same time the wings are clipped. Again, the bird will need to be restrained for this anyway, so I recommend a pet shop or veterinarian doing this.

One of the reasons that I do not recommend doing this on your own is because all birds have a blood vessel that runs through where their toe nail attaches. If you clip the nail too far down, you can hit this area called the “quick” and your bird can bleed severely. Birds, even the larger ones, don’t have all that much blood they can afford to lose. If you plan on clipping your bird’s toe nails on your own, I do recommend having “Quick Stop” on hand. “Quick Stop” is a powder that you can get at your local pet shop. If you do notice your bird bleeding in a certain area, just put the powder on the spot and lightly compress down. What this does is clot up the blood and stop the bleeding.

But again, my suggestion is to pay to have a professional do it. It's safer, and it is less likely to jeopardize your relationship with your bird.

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