Kili Senegal Parrot - Cutting Nails & Filing Beak and Nails

I simply made a video to show how I cut Kili's nails and file her beak. This is not meant as a guide so please, if you do not know what you are doing, take your bird to a vet or professional to get it done. I'm showing this just so other folks who are aware of all the dangers of cutting parrot nails can compare techniques and see if this helps them out at all.

WARNING - cutting your parrots nails incorrectly can result in bleeding so do not attempt to cut them yourself without experience and proper supplies.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• How
• to
• cut
• senegal
• parrot
• nails
• talons
• trim
• trimming
• file
• filing
• shorten
• reduce
• beak
• scratch

[AvialaeEnrichment]

I don't get why you didn't train her to do this volountarily with positive reinforcement? She clearly doesn't like it very much, and it's not like it would be a difficult behaviour for someone like you to train. I also don't agree that a bird needs to be hungry to accept treats. Read up on psycological hunger.

[kiliparrot]

@AvialaeEnrichment I guess you didn't watch cause I offer her oatmeal. I don't specifically go out of the way to train this except when I'm doing it so it's a longer/slower process. Yes she doesn't like it much but reinforcement wouldn't maker her dislike it any less, it would just give her justification to tolerate it. I don't have to do it that often and this works well enough. Also she loves getting her beak filed and scratched so I save that for the end.

[AvialaeEnrichment]

@kiliparrot

I've trained parrots to volunteer for blood draws even; nail trims is a walk in the park compared to that. The good thing with the bird enjoying it is that you can do it more often and therefore less extensively.

[kiliparrot]

@AvialaeEnrichment I don't think the bird can ever "enjoy it." It can enjoy the treats, scratches, and attention so they justify it. But this does not mean that the bird is outright receiving pleasure from discomforting things. While I don't think nail clipping hurts them, I do think it causes enough discomfort. I grab Kili like that all the time no problem, it's just the moment of clipping that she dislikes. This never stopped her from being held or flying away so its ok.

[Vicki5280]

You, Kili, and Truman have taught me so much! My fib's are already better off because of what I've learned from the three of you. Interestingly, this is one of the first videos I saw of yours (which eventually led me to the website and forum). My lingering question is what are you rewarding Kili with in this video? I'm having a hard time finding something my QP will work for, and am ready to start grasping at straws... or videos!

Thanks for all you do!!!

[kiliparrot]

@Vicki5280 I keep explaining to everyone that it does not matter what I am feeding to Kili. What matters is that you find something that YOUR bird enjoys. I explained in my Taming/Training guide on my blog about how to find out what foods your parrot enjoys and how to set up some basic food management. Simple fact is that if your bird just ate a ton of food in the cage, it's not going to want the treats. So it's about making sure the bird is hungry and wants it. I used oatmeal in this video.

[lemurfan123]

@eligeti89 Nah, it's just it feels a bit weird and strange to them. It only hurts if the owner clips too far and hits a blood vessel, then of course the nail bleeds and is quite painful to the bird.

[eligeti89]

does it hurt when you clip the nails for kili? looks like she is reacting to it when you clip it off...

[AvialaeEnrichment]

@kiliparrot

They might not actively "enjoy" the precise moment when you clip, they do however learn to enjoy the situation as a whole since they know they have control over it. Sometimes they don't even notice the clip as they're too caught up in the training.

But she doesn't try to get away like that when you grab her at other times, right? The combination of discomfort and force is what is making it unpleasant, knowing they can't get away from it.

[AvialaeEnrichment]

@kiliparrot

Offering a treat for her being held in a firm grip without giving a choice as to if she wants to participate or not really doesn't classify as training though.

Of course you can get them to like it. The part they don't enjoy is more often than not the lack of control. If you train it using shaping it's pretty easy to get a bird that eagerly offers it's foot.

Yes, this works, but it isn't very fun. I bet you could train it in like three days if you put your mind to it.

[eligeti89]

oh i remember watching this video and i ended up watching all your videos one night .... i wish i had a bird too...

your parrots are adorable! They are lucky to have you....:)