Trimming and Clipping large breeds safely?

[Kimamelia]

In the past, I've always trimmed and clipped my feathery friends myself. I've been shown how by a retired specialist who is a friend of the family, a vet, and a technician at a rescue. Each of them had their own methods for taming or holding the birds while getting things done and I've never had a problem before.

Our Mitred Conure Milo still hates to be touched at all, so he struggled but I was able to avoid any vicious bites fairly easily. Our little Green Cheek just lays there and takes it now that I've been doing it so long and he knows he can't escape. He expresses his displeasure by splashing me, throwing food at me and refusing play time with me for a few hours. Nothing less than expected. XD

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can clip and trim Angel and Shorties wings and nails (the cockatoos) and manage to avoid anymore deep cuts? My fingers are finally mostly healed!! I would like to keep them all that way. Haha. It is however, quite expensive to haul them to the avaian specialist and quite the ordeal for them as well, just to get clipped and trimmed. And Shorties claws are like Needles. Our play time suffers because I can't handle how sharp he gets them and throwing a towel over my shoulder like I do with Angel does not work with him as towels tend to be a trigger of some sort, resulting in bad behavior and biting every time they are handled around him. I would wear gloves, but I've been warned againt using gloves many times while handling them and I need to work around this problem.

Thanks for any info.

[Harpmaker]

I hear you on the needle-sharp claws. My little Meyer's hates having her claws blunted. I've never had the heart to actually cut them because she screams like she's being murdered any time I put clippers or scissors near her feet.

I touch her feet a lot to get her used to the fact that it doesn't always mean a trim. When the time has come I use an emery board to blunt the tip. She "chews" on me, but no longer draws blood. She is less gentle with the emery board. A big treat afterwards helps reconcile her. I tried a treat after each claw, but she is too focused on what I'm doing to accept it.

I did try a sand impregnated perch, being sure it had a smooth top for her feet, but it actually seemed to sharpen the darn things.

Local AVs will do a free trim if you are there for an appointment, but I'd rather have a healthy bird with claws than sick one.

The Parrot Wizard has a video in which he trims the claws of one of his birds, but I couldn't find it for you.

I can't help you with wings because I don't clip my bird's wings. She'd be a "sitting parrot" for my cats if I did.

[Wolf]

since I do not clip either, I can't be any help on this.

[Pajarita]

I also don't clip wings or trim nails. All my birds are flighted and need their claws for perching and landing safely. I will be the first to admit that the cockatoos claws are sharp and that they can hurt when they hang on real tight to your hand or fingers but they both have a safety pediperch (the kind with the soft top) for roosting and it works just fine to dull the points so, although it's still a bit uncomfortable for me, I prefer to keep things as nature intended.