My Birds Care
Hand Feeding I start hand feeding the chicks when they are about two to three weeks old. This ensures they grow up to be socialized with humans. The chicks stay with their parents until they are weaned at around six to seven weeks. The weaning process can take up to two months. After they are weaned the chicks will be places into my large cage to ensure they are socialized with other birds.
Wing clipping Wing clipping Is a way to keep your birds safe. I clip my birds wings to keep them from flying around my house while they are out. Some birds are not great at flying and can injure themselves by flying into things such as windows. The flight feather or primary feathers are the longest feathers on the birds wing. Only the first five to seven flight feathers need to be trimmed. Wing clipping can be done easily at home or at the veterinarians.
Blood feathers A blood feather is a feather that is filled with blood. You can tell if your bird has a blood feather by looking at the underside of the birds wing. The shaft of all the feathers should be clear. If the feather is filled with blood you have a blood feather. This is a normal part of feather growth. Some birds develop blood feathers more than others. You should never try to clip or pluck this feather from your bird. This could lead to serious blood loss and death. If a blood feather is broken or damaged you need to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. After the wound has stopped bleeding place the bird in a quiet place to keep them from fluttering. If bleeding doesn't stop I would rush the bird in to the veterinarians. They will probably pluck what is left of the feather.
Nail Clipping Nail clipping is mostly for the comfort of the birds owner. When birds nails become long they also become sharp and handling the birds may lead to scratching of the skin. Nail clipping can be done at home or at the veterinarians. There are two ways of clipping your birds nail. You can use nail clippers or use a nail file. The only downfall of cutting the nail with clippers is cutting it to short. This can lead to small amounts blood loss and rarely death. If you cut the nail to short you need to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. After the wound has stopped bleeding place the bird in a quiet place it rest. If you use a nail file the risk of filing them to short is slim to none. At the veterinarians they will use a tool much like a grinder. This will be much like filing the nail and will file small layers of nail off at a time.
Beak Clipping I have had some birds in the past that develop beak overgrowth. I want to make this clear that beak clipping is not a routine for most birds. I wouldn't advise my clients to clip the birds beak unless the bird has a history of beak overgrowth. If this is the cause I will ask them to take a visit to their veterinarians to have the beak clipped. Cuddle bones can be used to minimize beak overgrowth. The veterinarian has a special device much like a grinding tool. This takes off small increments of the beak off at a time. This technique is much safer than using nail clippers.
