I have never had Lukah's nails trimmed by anyone by me and kind of just... decided to do it! Anyway, besides one major mishap early on, I haven't had any troubles and so consider myself pretty good at it. But don't feel bad. It is hard work- all it takes is one move of their foot or one slightly misplaced clip and theyre bleeding like crazy!
Here's how I do it and hopefully it will help you!!
First of all, what kind of clipper do you have? I went to the petstore and they advertised one like this as a "bird nail clipper" http://www.wag.com/dog/p/jw-pet-gripsoft-nail-trimmer-106187?site=CA&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc_W&utm_term=JWP-016&utm_campaign=GooglePLA&CAWELAID=1323887506&utm_content=pla&ca_sku=JWP-016&ca_gpa=pla&ca_kw={keyword} I, personally would never even attempt to trim LUkah's nails with one of these. The visibility is bad and its too easy to make a mistake. I got one like this that was labeled as "for dogs" and much cheaper
https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...ei=Dj1XUqXQJ6jSyAGP6oCIDg&ved=0CKEBEPMCMAU4Cg It gives you WAY more control and visibility as to exactly where you're cutting and exactly when you're cutting it.
Second, I'm not a firm believer in the whole "hold them in a towel upside down and grab their foot" method. Lukah hates when I grab him and, if done right, nail clipping really shouldn't be something for him to fear, so grabbing the bird, putting it out of its comfort zone and then coming at it with an object its not used to and possibly cutting too deep are all things I think would make the experience way more dramatic than it needs to be.
I also have baking powder on hand (a separate one that I only use for Lukah) in case I do cut too deep because it helps to stop the bleeding. I know that styptic powder works as well but I've heard its bad for them to digest and that it can burn. However, if I were you I would have both on hand so that if it's too much blood to stop with baking powder and pressure, you can use the styptic powder. But again, I wouldn't use it for just a small cut- more unneeded pain/fear.
All that being said, here's my method-
I have Lukah step on to my index finger. I use my thumb of the same hand to press down on the toe I am going to cut and hold it in place. You want to make sure that you are holding it in the right spot that he/she can't move the nail or toe around and that you have it tightly enough otherwise they could move while you're cutting and result in the need for that styptic powder! After I have his toe secure, I clip off a TINY TINY bit of the end of the nail. Sometimes it seems like you're barely clipping anything off. But basically if his nails are overgrown, so is the quick. So if you cut it according to where pictures say to cut, it will sometimes bleed because your birds quick might not be in the same place as the pictures. Snip snip and you're done with one nail. Take a breath, give your bird a treat and then wait a little while. When your bird is over the "super dramatic trimming of his nail" (lukah always lets out a screech like he's been mortally wounded even though he isn't hurt at all) go ahead and do another one.
Okay so sounds simple but here's the thing... your bird is not going to like having their foot held in place... I'm lucky and lukah rarely bites me hard unless he is really afraid or trapped so he usually just flaps like crazy while I keep one foot on my finger. However, the trick is to get fast at it so that they don't have much time to freak out. This requires practice. Try just holding the toe for a seconds every now and then a few times a day without doing and cuts. Once your bird is more used to it, then you can move on to cutting. Lukah is now very used to having his feet handled, but even he still doesnt like when I hold his toe in place.
Option two:
If your bird likes standing on flat surfaces (lukah hates it. he's all about fingers and perches) then this is probably a good way to do it! (This is how I do Lukah's back nails. DO NOT use the way I said above for the back nails- I tried it once and it ended in disaster and blood) [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsrkKMTHyz4]Trimming Jessie's Nails - YouTube[/ame]
