Goffins nail trimming, help???

[dolphin3212]

I've had Chloe for about a month now, she is already close to me and she is finally getting use to having a mist bath so a lot of the nicotine and tar is finally off her feathers her nails are overdue for a trim, this is the condition I bought her in, NOT my fault so no negative comments please, she came from a very HEAVILY smoking household that had 3 people smoking, she didn't have a lot of time out of her cage and was not use to getting fruits or veggies(she is starting to try some things now and LOVES bananas ) her nails are not horrible but need trimmed, I am asking for advice on doing it because I haven't before and I don't want to hurt her, Thanks....also, she has fluffy feathers on the bottom of her cage, is that normal?

 

[riddick07]

If she is not molting then the fluffy feathers are probably her plucking or twisting her feathers or over preening. With the smoking and no time out this would not be surprising. I'm surprised she has any feathers left.

I would take her to the vet to get her nails done! Do you have an avian vet?

 

[jenphilly]

If you can feel under her wings, see if you feel little knots... Ivory had the same bad habit, but after settling in and lots of toys and other things to distract her, she is a soft fluffy ball of feathers including under her wings. If the feathers look almost like round fluff balls, that definitely sounds like under wing down. Being happy and settling in with you will definitely help on its own, but offer her lots of soft chew, easily destructible toys like paper, cardboard, egg cartons, soft wood, kabob chew toys you can buy... if you check under the DIY section, there is a great post just yesterday about carnations you can make from cupcake liners, they are a perfect option for Chloe, put a treat in the center, give her something extra to work for!

For her first nail trim, I would also vote to take her to the vet or find a groomer in the area that is bird experienced. Many birds resent having their nails done under the best of circumstances, you don't want to have her resent you. I joke to my vet that I bring Ivory in so she can hate her instead of me!!!

Good luck!!!

 

[dolphin3212]

the only vet that will see her is an hour away and she got car sick when I brought her home, but that was a 2 hour drive, I will call the vet and get her an appointment, she does look better since having several mist baths and I'm glad I was able to rescue her from an environment she wasn't happy in, thank you for all the info

 

[jenphilly]

If you have a good bird store in the area, they usually offer nail trim services too. But you can do a search to see if you have a bird experienced pet groomer, some are even mobile and come to you!!

I am very happy that you were able to give Chloe a good home and get her out of the bad situation she was in!!! Big hugs to you for taking on the responsibility of a rehomed too

 

[Kiwibird]

If the AV is over an hour away, I would reserve those trips for emergencies. Any local vet, avian specialized or not, can give a bird a nail trim. Heck, some pet stores even offer the service. The fluffy feathers could be her molting, or they may just be some down feathers she's releasing because the weather's warming up. They aren't really cold weather animals, but they do grow a little extra down in the winter. Down doesn't really look like a feather though, more like a spindly pompom (don't really know how to describe them but they always seem to have millions of them to release and get everywhere lol). Or it is possible given her past, she is having a super molt to get all those nicotine soaked feathers out now that she's in a cleaner environment. Glad she's found a new home and is trying new foods! She's the one eating broccoli in the POTM contest right? Our Kiwi apparently never got veggies either before we had him (refused to eat them), but now broccoli is one he loves, so are bananas, pineapple and squash. Keep giving her new foods, and she will surely find some she likes!

 

[DustytheDusky]

I trim my Conure's nails at home with human nail clippers. Although I work with an exotic vet at the animal hospital I work at that swears by using a dremmel on any bird nail trim she does. There is less risk of cutting the nail too short and the nails come our with a smoother edge.

 

[riddick07]

If you really want to do it at home you can clip the ends and then use a good steel or glass nail file to make them shorter. The nail file makes it easier to not feel like you are about to cut their whole toe off

 

[GIJoe]

We just trimmed Squiggy's nails two days ago... It wasn't a horrible experience, although we Did have to towel her and I clipped two too short and caused bleeding... (I had styptic powder at the ready, no worries there!)
Poor thing... She was all sorts of flustered after that.

I am curious as to how long is acceptable?
also, how often to trim in order to allow the quick to recede back away from the tip? I'd like to get them a little shorter than they are now...

Thanks y'all!!

 

[Scott]

As a preface, I consider nail-trimming to be optional. Some birds have very sharp nails that need to be trimmed for owner comfort during handling, others have "out of control" nails that will curl if left unchecked. Behavioral or genetic??

Owner trimming of the nails depends on the bird's personality! I have 5 Goffins; 2 well socialized parents and 3 hand-fed offspring, now adult. Won't attempt the parents or youngest, and the middle baby will oblige the clippers only occasionally. The oldest and sweetest baby well tolerates clipping, but we make it a cuddle-fest before, during, and after. To avoid bleeding, trimming is very conservative, just to take the edge off the sharpness.

I generally let the nails of my other birds grow naturally, but one Moluccan has a tendency toward curling of nails.