Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by Catherine Tobsing

Is it wrong to trim a baby budgies toe nails?

 

If it is wrong, then why is it wrong to trim a baby budgies toe nails?

 

This is my answer to a question on Quora.

 

Editor’s note: Another answer about trimming a budgie’s toenails had advised against clipping their toes to avoid bloodshed.

 

By using a Rotary trimmer you can avoid cutting any birds nails to the quick by having total control in conjunction along with knowing proper restraint for small birds.

Video on trimming a birds toenails using a Rotary trimmer by Windy City Parrot

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9pHFBzVPm0

 

 

 

The bigger question is your motivation for wanting to trim the birds nails.

 

If it is self-serving as are the birds nails get stuck on clothing when it’s perching on you?, I would advocate wearing clothing with a tighter weave.

 

I specifically wear heavyweight cotton tees that birds can easily release should they feel they need to fly elsewhere.

 

The bigger problem with trimming a bird’s toenails is their stability on perches, especially on smooth wooden dowel perches and plastic perches including thermo perches.

 

If your bird’s wings are clipped, you are introducing a balancing problem because birds use their wings not only to fly but to balance when walking.

 

Video on the parrot and small bird restraint by LafeberVet

 

 

 

Thus by trimming both your parakeets nails and their wings you are upping the chances exponentially of the bird falling off a sleeping perch in the middle of the night flapping wildly while falling and injuring itself.

 

This is especially true if you’re not using a soft rope perch for the bird to sleep on which provides more traction or grab-ability if you will, for the birds’ safety and foot comfort.

 

New answer about budgie birdcage perch placement

 

Dear Karen

 

The article about perch placement for parakeets was brought about due to that the parakeet had been put into a cage set up for a cockatiel.

 

Cockatiels are princesses in my view, they do not like to have to climb around the bars to reach anything. They prefer to sit on a steady perch that can reach the item they want, be it food or toys.

So the cage had a number of perches that wound around and enabled access to food, toys, treats, etc.

 

When we put the parakeet in the cage that our cockatiel no longer used (she passed from cancer a few months earlier) the parakeet had plenty of perches, more than needed as the keet can fly and hop about easier.

We found the keet preferred to sit only at the horizontal spots on the ropes and did not use the rest of the perch even if it led to food or toys.

So we adjusted the perch level and created a video explaining this.

 

Canaries would use a similar arrangement as a parakeet.

If the cage is large enough, a canary can fly from perch to perch, thus requiring even less perches.

If the cage is a small one, they may not be able to fly so much as hop or flit from perch to perch.

 

What may make a perch arrangement adjustment important for canaries is if one of the canaries is aggressive to its cage mate. (Same for finches)

In this situation having several small perches around the top, left and right sides of the cage allow the less aggressive canary a chance to sit away from its partner.

In more aggressive situations dangling a small toy or some plastic ivy or even a piece of cardboard hooked above to hide the small perches somewhat so the weaker canary can get some rest and hide from the more aggressive canary.

 

If it is even more aggressive or the cage is too small to create these hideaways then the two birds should be separated into separate cages.

 

Thank you

Catherine Tobsing

 

Ad from 8/31/1983

 

New answer about budgie lighting – Someone left the light on all night, (from Quora)

 

by mistake, in the room where my new baby budgie is kept.

I only recently bought this budgie yesterday.

Please, what should I do now, to help him recover from the light being on all night?

 

He is 7-9 weeks.

 

There’s nothing to worry about, your bird will be fine.

Budgies were terrific for the past I don’t know a hundred million years without humans, having only their feathers beaks, and feet to protect them.

 

To avoid this in the future simply place a light over the cage with a timer providing 12 hours of full-spectrum light and 12 hours of darkness.

 

This is because where budgies are from in Australia near the equator, and equatorial lighting is typically 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

 

It’s best to ensure that the bird is in the cage when the light comes on and when the light turns off for the night signaling to the bird the beginning and the end of the day.

 

 

Birds take light information through something called the pineal gland just behind the right eye.

 

The pineal gland produces melatonin.

Melatonin cells literally vibrate like microscopic metronomes keeping time for birds.

 

Your bird can keep time as accurately as a Rolex.

 

Budgies are also one of the smartest and best talking species of birds.

 

In nature, circadian rhythms will tell birds when it’s time to rise and when it’s time to sleep.

 

When it’s time to molt when it’s time to breed and with migratory birds when it’s time to migrate.

 

By not having direct lighting over their birdcage, circadian rhythms get out of sync triggering everything from bad hormonal behavior up to and including prolific egg laying.

 

At Windy City Parrot we have learned over the years from experience we can have an enormous control of the health of the bird just by regulating their lighting.

 

We can reduce or end bad hormonal behavior and eliminate egg laying.

 

Our 72 to 168 hour consistent light therapy not only works but is supported by veterinarians including Dr Gregory Harrison, the founder of Harrison’s bird food pellets one of finest commercially available pellets made.

 

Harrison’s bird food is certified organic and GMO free.

 

HARI, the Hagen Avicultural Research Institute and the University at Guelph Ontario school of veterinary medicine endorse light therapy as well.

 

Someone with budgies mentioned something about seeking an “affordable yet effective” air purifier for their budgie aviary.

 

Here’s a video (below) from MIT (Dr. Jeffrey E. Terrell, director of the Michigan Sinus Center,) with instructions on how to make an air purifier for about $25 that’s about as efficient as an $800 HEPA air purifier – enjoy!

 

 

New Budgie Subject

 

Adela O replied – Mar 21, 5:04pm

People make mistakes with children too.

 

I have a scar on my forehead because I fell against the sharp edge of a table when I was learning to stand up and walk.

 

My father was right there but didn’t realize it could happen.

 

And I know of a puppy – a motherless stray that some people were trying to help – they gave it water in a can.

 

Her head got stuck and there was no mom to get her out and the people weren’t around.

This was not in the US – in a poor country where there wasn’t the possibility of taking her to a shelter.

 

The birds I have now are a different pair.

 

The bird that died was by himself and I wanted to get him a partner as you did with your budgie, Bacon.

 

My bird was flying around the supermarket on Christmas Day and was eventually captured by the guy behind the deli counter.

 

A rather unpleasant man wanted to take him, but I prevailed, as I had some bird-sitting experience and had a good idea how to keep him alive – what do you do with a bird on Christmas evening?

 

I also had a friend who helped that day with an emergency cage and some seeds.

 

A few weeks later we had 25 inches of snow in NYC and he wouldn’t have survived outside.

 

We had a warm Christmas that year and I assume he was someone’s Christmas present that escaped through a carelessly opened window – he was pretty young.

 

I named him Noel.

 

It was a nice Christmas story, but alas had a bad ending.

 

By the way – in Brooklyn New York there is the Sean Casey Animal Rescue organization.

 

They rescue any pet animal – dogs, cats, rodents, snakes, lizards but also birds and they rehabilitate them if they are ill or injured.

 

They take in pets that have been abandoned by their owners, some of which have been left behind by tenants who were evicted.

 

Animal rescue in NY only tries to find homes for dogs and cats, so these animals would probably be put down without this adoption service.

 

This is where I got my present two parakeets.

 

It’s a good place to send people who want to help a bird in need of a break in life.

 

The two I have now clearly had a rough time wherever they came from but are now stronger and hopefully happy.

 

One tries to take care.

 

All the best,

 

Adela

 

Hi Adela

 

Ironically I was 4, while at a family gathering when I put on a pair of my uncle shoes and started to walk

​

​I naturally tripped with my face hitting the edge of  a l glass table.

 

Dr. Mike my pediatrician literally lived across the street.

 

He was summoned.

 

He laid me down on the dining room table like a thanksgiving turkey.

​

​He said it would be hurt a lot to inject the area with painkillers so he just put in the two stitches and the scar is barely visible today.

 

I love your Christmas story and the parakeets name Noel.

 

The difference between the mistakes that people make with children and birds is that children grow up and generally learn that fire is hot and  you will always trip wearing a pair of shoes five sizes too large.

 

Birds never grow up.

 

They never understand the meaning of no.

 

Will never figure out that a candle flame is hot.

 

We are their guardians forever.

 

I have heard of Sean Casey Animal Rescue organization and understand they are a highly reputable organization.

 

New York is lucky to have them.

 

best

 

mitchr