Beak Care

[Monica]

We all occasionally come to a time when one of our birds beak needs trimming or care. Most often times, they do not with proper toys to shred, branches to demolish, cuttlebones to naw, and mineral blocks to chew, or even lava rock or concrete perches to get those beaks into top sawing condition! If there is a beak abnormality, or the beak is just growing too fast, then it is also advisable to take your bird to the vet to make sure that the bird doesn't have one: mites, two: liver or kidney problems, three: improper diet, four: a broken beak/abnormal growth (or any others that there are).

I've only got Noel that needs any beak care, as the rest of the birds do fine on their own. I've provided Noel with various branches (heck, she lives cage-free on a gym made out of apple and elm branches!), toys, etc. She prefers to chew on soft woods however, meaning mainly fresh branches, and toys made of soft wood. The ones that she destroys the most are made out of yucca root. It's not really a type of soft wood, as yucca is a cactus. I should probably buy her more shreddable toys, though I can't always seem to get toys or other items that will help keep her beak in condition (so, anything that must hold on to the side of a cage is out of the question, unless I can hook it up around one of the branches, or hang it from a hook).

I don't have frequent access to an avian vet for one to trim her beak using a dremel tool, so when her beak needs a bit of extra care, I have various 'tools' I can use myself. These include a small pair of wire cutters, emery board, and a rectangular piece of styrofoam meant for nail care. Sometimes included is a pair of tweezers. I know that wire cutters are not ideal for beak trimming, especially with a bird that wont hold still, however Noel trusts me enough that I can easily handle her beak or head (not wings, however) within the palm of my hands or with the tips of my fingers.

The wire cutters are only to trim the tip of Noel's beak, with what would take too long with the emery board. I choose to use the wire cutters since regular nail clippers (for humans) are harder to use and don't open as wide, and I'm not even going to dare try using a pair of cat nail trimmers on her beak (however they work well for bird nails, too). The only part that I can't really trim would be the side edges, however keeping the beak trimmed and looking nice/smooth is something that she atleast allows me to do. The emery board/styrofoam piece are used to keep her beak from excessive flaking, and to keep it smooth, and also used to smoothen out the tip of her beak if it gets a bit too pointy.

Most beak care should be left to the vets, and is not something for most new parronts to try unless they have had guided experience previously.

Anyway, for some beak care advice, check out these links...
http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=2752
http://www.madison.com/communities/f...php_page_set=0

[Skyebirdsmom]

Even vets should not be allowed to cut birds beaks for any reason other than urgent reasons. Point being, many vets used to routinely clip beaks for 'trimming' when clipping nails. Now they know that any opening in the beak is just an opening to infection! No beak should be clipped so it is opened in any way and using any tool which is not sterilized is asking for trouble too. Beware anyone clipping a beak. If a bird of mine had a beak which normally needs tending, buy a Dremel. They aren't that expensive in comparison to vet visits for healing the beak. I've read in numerous areas that if the beak is allowed the proper chewing experiences, no need for trimming. So maybe you should allow more items for chewing.
Good luck,
Linda & Skye~

[carriesb]

When I take my birds in to get them groomed by the vet he just slightly files the beaks sometimes with an emery board to smooth them out a bit they aren't overgrown though.