Painting ducklings toenails??

[DuckLover179]

Okay I heard of people on BYC doing this, and I would totally do it, too, but is it toxic to them? I would be worried about them chewing it off their toes and digesting it, is that usually a problem?

If it's not toxic, how the heck do you get them to stay still?!

 

[tia]

Why? I guess I mean... why would you want to?

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

My daughters use their non toxic sidewalk chalk to color my chickens toes. Its cute. It doesn't last, obviously, but I think its pretty safe, and the chickens act like Hollywood Divas after being all "painted" up.

 

[Bleenie]

I imagine they would Hate the smell, my moms dog completely freaks out if he even gets a whiff of nail polish, sneezes, cries and everything, lol.

 

[The Duck ABC's]

Nail polish just takes to long to dry. I would use an enamel pen. The advantage is quick drying time, so it does not have the time to get into the blood stream. A better choice, for marking, is probably electrical zip ties. These are very cheap, can get set to the right size, and get replaced if the ducks leg is still growing. I used to use plastic bandettes with numbers on my ducks. The problem, the numbers were printed on and rubbed off. Two managed to loose theirs, so I gave up and removed them all.

 

[Alicia G]

I have done that before, but not for style but so I can tell the babies apart. I began to let young 4-hers pick out there own duckling and they would paint there toe nails one color to show that was there bird. And when they came over to work with there animal it was easy for them to go over and find there lil guy.

 

[tonini3059]

I have done that before with chicks but found that it rubs off too quickly, I would also use the zip ties, just make sure to monitor how much their leg grows.

 

[nettie]

I paint Ming Mei's toe nails... But it's completely out of Vanity. lol... If she comes into the room while I'm doing my own toes, she comes over and looks at me. I pick her up, put out all the colors, and she pecks which one she wants. She then usually holds her foot very still and lets me paint them. They do make special polishes for dogs (found at petland pet stores) but I just use the quick drying kind and I use a little fan to blow on her feet until their ready.

 

[nettie]

oh wanted to add- I wouldn't use enamel....

the ingredients they use to make colors like bright orange and green and blue are TOXIC even to people. That's why you should wear gloves when house painting and why I should never put my drink next to my brush cleaner cup while painting. Cyanide is a common ingredient than paint. yeah, no good...

toe nail polish make smell, but if your quick and use only a little and have a little fan blow away fumes, they should be just fine

 

[DuckLover179]

Thanks Nettie! I won't be painting them for indentification, I can tell them apart. I just wanted to paint them because it would make a good spa night addition. I will be painting them when they're older.