Help! Bird's ID Band is above her knee!

I had Prim out with me today and I noticed she was favouring one leg a bit. I looked at it but it seemed fine, then I noticed her band was gone. I have NO idea how long she has been like this but after pushing around the feathers I saw that the band is lodged up past her knee and it can rotate but it's fairly tight.

I feel really awful, she is only favouring her leg a little but I didn't notice all this time, it could have been a few days or even months, I just stopped thinking about the band.

I don't have an avian vet here but I do have a vet that will see birds. I am calling him right away in the morning but do you think they will have the tools and skills to remove a band from such a tiny leg? I don't want to risk them hurting her permanently... but it's over 6 hours to drive to the nearest avian vet...

Alternatively I am going 4 of those six hours TOWARDS that area next weekend, and I could probably drive up to the avian vet then, we're staying at in-laws so she could go "home" and rest after the stressful journey.

I think I'll bring her to my regular vet and ask their advice, if they aren't confident I may have to wait or rush her the 6 hours if it's dangerous.

Ugh I just feel sick about this.

My husband said we can for sure leave early Friday morning to get to the avian vet if ours isn't confident. But hopefully there is an easy solution to this.

Okay, crisis AVERTED. Thank goodness!! I contacted her breeder and she said to use vegetable or olive oil and see if I can pull it down. It was barely any work! And she seems full of energy now, and oil.

Sorry if I worried anyone!

no worries!, glad everything worked out all right.
keep an eye on that band, it just might happen again

Thank you, I am too.
We certainly will! If I could I would just remove the band after that stress, but it's closed and I certainly don't want people poking sharp tools around there to cut it off unless necessary.

since that band moves, it might not be the correct size for her.
she may not be so lucky next time, if it were my bird(s) I'd have it removed.

Yeah I've been reading up about the bands and it seems like most vets even recommend removing them. I'm still going to call my local vet and see if they've removed bands from any of their other clients. I can't imagine it's comfortable to wear 24/7.

ED, if hubby has a small pair of diagonal cutters in his tool box, he can use those to cut the band...will probably take 2 cuts to remove it, with no harm to Prim.....or.....on the far outside chance he is a model railroad enthusiast and he has a pair of track nippers in his hobby tool kit, those would be the perfect thing & would only take one cut.....

If you know anyone who does pedicures, there is a tool that looks like a pair of electrician's side cutters, that will do the job to, but you might want to use an old pair as cutting the band could dull the blades, even though you would be cutting relatively soft aluminum.....

Good luck.....

Good luck.....

I'm considering getting my bird's band removed because he's so easily identifiable by his coloring, and I'm not breeding him or getting another bird for as long as we're together. My vet recommended removing it because they get stuck in everything and are more dangerous than they are helpful. Next time I take my guy for a nail trim I'm going to ask if my vet will snip it off.

OMG, I am so glad it was resolved so easily.
Good job. I am glad the poor thing is fine.
You might want to consider a microchip implanted instead.
It's very helpful in case the bird gets lost.
I agree, these bands are just like ticking bombs....
My both birds have no bands, but one of them has a paper trail starting from her certificate of hatch and the other bird has a microchip. I am thinking to implant a chip in the one that doesn't have it as she is a flying bird.

everdusk said:

Okay, crisis AVERTED. Thank goodness!! I contacted her breeder and she said to use vegetable or olive oil and see if I can pull it down. It was barely any work! And she seems full of energy now, and oil.

Sorry if I worried anyone!

Click to expand...

I was just about to suggest vegetable or olive oil to lubricate it down but I'm glad you got the solution you needed from your breeder. And yes I would also suggest in removing that leg band as well if it's giving you issues like that. I'm not a fan of leg bands.....

My husband wanted to cut it off himself, but after looking at her tiny leg our metal wire clippers seemed enormous, we don't have the precision to cut it off... So I called my local vet and they won't do it either (they don't have the tools). So I might be making a trip to Halifax at some point now... It's stayed down on her leg so far which is good but I do ultimately want the darned thing removed.

There is a vet 4 hours from here who is willing to look at her. She wants me to e-mail some pictures.

She may have to use a dremmel because it's hard to get snips in such a small space so we may have to anaesthetize her, which is scary... but it would be worse to cut into her leg so we'll have to discuss it further after she meets Prim.

I'm not sure if I'll get to see her this weekend but we'll make an appointment for some time in the future once we have a plan of action.

everdusk said:

There is a vet 4 hours from here who is willing to look at her. She wants me to e-mail some pictures.

She may have to use a dremmel because it's hard to get snips in such a small space so we may have to anaesthetize her, which is scary... but it would be worse to cut into her leg so we'll have to discuss it further after she meets Prim.

I'm not sure if I'll get to see her this weekend but we'll make an appointment for some time in the future once we have a plan of action.

Click to expand...

The only thing I would not recommend is anaesthetizing your bird. When such small birds are anaesthetized, it is very easy for them to stay asleep, permanently (meaning they can easily pass away). So I would only ever recommend it if your birds life was literally on the line/or close to it.

My husband and I have removed leg-rings before. He has an engraving tool/small dremmel and while the bird has a towel or something over it's head and back/wings (so as to not stress it out) I will usually gently hold the leg/s out so that the bird can't squirm, and my husband carefully, bit by bit, will make the leg band weak enough to just gently take apart.

If you don't know what your doing then NEVER do this yourself. But yes, there are ways to get it off without putting your bird to sleep and risking death. To me, it's far too much of a risk.

Had my bourke parakeet anesthetized for surgery. Wasn't a life or death situation, but thought it might help her live a more comfortable life. At the time, she was around 14 years old, give or take, and that was 3 years ago. The vet office thought she was 9 for some reason... Expected lifespan is 11-15 years.


Someone had a finch that had a 'hysterectomy' done so she couldn't lay eggs. Finches are even smaller! But she was a young bird, and in her case, it kind of was a life or death situation.


Just saying that it can indeed be done, even on tiny birds, but there will always be potential dangers to any bird being anesthetized.