Has anyone else heard this theory?

[lissydoll]

I just got my first GCC a little under a month ago, and I've been looking into getting his wings and nails done. I'm not new to birds at all, but I prefer to have someone else do the nail trimmings. Anyways. A pet store in my area told me that you should never trim your own birds nails or wings, as they will never forgive you for it, and will bear a grudge against you forever. I've never heard that before, and I haven't found much on the internet in the way of that idea. Does anyone else believe/know that to be true?

 

[henpecked]

Yes and No. If the bird is new to you ,i'd have someone else do it. If you have a good relationship with a bird that is bonded to you, no issue doing it yourself. Clipping wings doesn't hurt the bird as long as the feathers are mature. Nails can be more traumatic and should be cut beyond the quick so as not to bleed or cause pain. I clip only one nail at a time, maybe one every couple of days. My birds still love me. New bird,new relationship, i'd let the vet do it the first time. Don't do something that might cause distrust with a new bird.Wait till you can handle the bird with no issues.

 

[Akraya]

I've never heard that, they might pretend to snob you for an hour? But I've clipped my birds wings before and they've been fine, maybe a little disgruntled and being man handled but thats it!

Try to get wings and nails done apart, they need one to get used to balance before you take both away

 

[lissydoll]

Yeah, I thought it was sort of weird. The sales person said their manager didn't even trim their own birds they've had for years and what not. I wasn't sure if they were just trying to get my money or not with that, but it made me worry a little bit so I thought i'd ask. Doing wings don't worry me at all, but I know the nails are easy to mess up.

 

[emsbear2002]

i did both the wings and nails, and tiko has even looked at me, so yes they do get mad, i had them done at a bird shop. so next time i will get wings done separately, and it also has a calming effect on the bird, which was good as he was biter. so i will give him time to trust me again.

 

[Boogie]

In my experience, clipping nails yourself (unless you are very experienced) is frought with danger! Not to mention pain and anxiety for your bird if you clip to high and into the blood vain...I have never been game enough to do my male eckies nails, as they are black and impossible to see where the blood vein ends...I take him to my vet for both wing and nail. Clips...it's well worth the money spent for peice of mind.

 

[Amandastander]

My sister in law does her little budgies wings and nails, and the 1 day I have no idea what they did and they took nunus nail clean off his toe!!! I was horrified! They called me to calm him down as he was frantic! He lost a lot of blood and I was so angry with them! I told them to stop fussing over him cause the more he moves the more its gonna bleed, I let him perch on my shoulder and left the room with him, as he calmed down and sat still the bleeding stopped! He still bites them today and this was almost a year ago. He loves me to bits though! I take my budgies and my irns to the petstore to have theirs done

 

[MikeyTN]

I agree with Henpecked, IF it's a new bird, I will not attempt it cause it will harm your new relationship. IF it's a existing bird, they can hold grudge IF you ever hurt them. But I've been doing my own and having a bird friend over helping me hold Willie to get his done. I used to take them to the vet, but I had to search for new vets all the time and I'm tired of doing that this time after my vet quit. I'm picky which vet I'll allow to do my bird's nails. When the lady vet did it, Willie was nice to her at first and step up for her. BUT after she clipped his nails, he wouldn't have it and screamed at her and try to attack her so she backed off real quick. Since I did it myself, he's been fine with me. But we've been around him for years so I don't have much of an issue clipping their nails. The easiest one to do it to is my U2 Java as he sticks his foot out of the cage and allows me to hold them and he lets me clip them. So it really depends on how well your relationship is with your bird and how confident you are on clipping them.

 

[BarkleyLoves]

I don't clip my birds nails or wings. Not because I'm worried they'll hate me. I worked at a vet and did nail trims all the time. However, I have no one I could trust to safely hold them for the nail clipping. I could hold them, but then do I really want my dad doing it when he knows nothing about it? Not really. So I take them to the vet. I'd let a new bird get used to you before attempting to trim nails/wings.