[Nhcoll-l] Keeping bills shut

[Rachel Alsheikh]

Hi everyone,

I haven’t seen this one mentioned yet. It doesn’t work for all bills, but
for a lot of smaller birds orthodontics elastics work great to keep the
bill shut while the specimen dries:
Then they just slip right off when the specimen is dry. Pretty
cost-effective too. I think our curator thought of it when his daughter had
braces.

Happy prepping,
Rachel

Museum Specialist
Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
University of California, Davis


On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 6:22 PM Mariana Di Giacomo <maru.digi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Nina and everyone,
>
> I would recommend not using any glues or adhesives for this task, as no
> adhesive is 100% reversible at the microscopic level. These are research
> specimens and their potential could be diminished by this addition. As an
> example, proteomic studies get severely impacted by the presence of
> adhesives, no matter how much you dissolve them because they are still
> present at the molecular level.
>
> I would try some of the great non-adhesive tips shared here, so you
> prepare the specimens for the analytical techniques of the future.
> Best of luck,
> Mariana
>
> *Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD*
> *Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum*
> Member at Large; Associate Editor (Collection Forum), SPNHC
>
>
>
>
> El jue, 20 nov 2025 a las 21:03, Symcha Gillette (<sgillette at alaska.edu>)
> escribió:
>
>> In addition to tying them shut with thread, I usually use a pin to secure
>> the bill and prevent the lower mandible from sliding backward. See attached
>> photos. Unlike an adhesive, it's not guaranteed to always keep the bill
>> tightly closed once the thread and pin are removed, but it generally does
>> the job.
>>
>> -Symcha Gillette
>> Research Affiliate, University of Alaska Museum
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 20, 2025, 5:57 AM Black, Nina <npblack at fas.harvard.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> Does anyone have advice for an archival glue that can be used to keep
>>> bills closed when preparing bird skins, or perhaps can suggest a good
>>> method for this? We always tie them shut with string through the nostrils,
>>> but for some birds that have long bills or oddly shaped ones it is hard to
>>> keep it closed. Some colleagues have used regular super glue, but I am not
>>> so keen on this idea
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Nina
>>>
>>> *Nina Black*
>>> Curatorial Assistant
>>> Ornithology & Mammalogy
>>> Museum of Comparative Zoology
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> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
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