Amazon with lower cracked beak?

[LoveOfallAnimals]

I volunteer at a local animal shelter. They called me today in regard to a case of animal hoarding. These people had it all ponies, dogs, cats, miniature donkeys, birds, potbellied pigs. All living inside a house in deplorable conditions. There is a double yellow headed amazon parrot that has what seems to be an old split bottom beak.
Does anyone have any advice or experience with this? The shelter's vet looked at her, however he is not an avian vet. She seems to be able to eat small pellets and chop. Any advice on how to feed her or if you have experienced a bird with this would be greatly appreciated. I currently have her at my house as for whatever reason she took a liken to me and I just couldn't leave her there in what is mainly a dog and cat pound. I will be calling my vet in the morning.

 

[HeatherG]

I thought people used to do this to large parrots to keep them from biting. Is that true?

 

[LoveOfallAnimals]

I thought people used to do this to large parrots to keep them from biting. Is that true?

OMG! I have never heard of such a thing. I pray it isn't true regarding this bird.

 

[HeatherG]

I read that people did that but it could be very long ago or false. It sounds terrible. (It’s not false; I saw a photo in a textbook.)

Either way a cracked lower beak would make it hard to eat. The bird would have to tongue the food in.

Maybe the split is not that bad? I had a rescued conure who had a chunk broken out of the side of his beak. He could eat ok though it must have hurt a lot when it happened.

 

[ravvlet]

If I had to hazard a guess I’d say a split like that would probably be due to an old injury; the piercing part of the beak is the upper mandible - the bottom is for crushing and is smaller. If it was a hoarding situation it’s entirely possible the injury was inflicted by another animal in the house unfortunately.

It’s great to hear they can eat; that would have been a huge hurdle otherwise. If it’s old and healed - and to be clear you absolutely should get them into a CAV anyway - it’s probable there is not much they can do. With fresh injuries they can usually glue it back together; and maybe since it’s the lower beak there’s something they can do here - but they may be stuck with it for the rest of their lives.

Bless you for taking them in! If they at any point seem to be struggling to eat, it never hurts to keep hand feeding parrot formula on hand as a ready source of easy calories for them until the vet can direct you otherwise. You can also use a food processor to make their veggies easier to consume.

 

[wrench13]

Vet visit is absolutely the first thing to do. Have the crack properly diagnosed - new or old, crack or congenital beak defect, and so on. Is it cracked clear through or just the outer layers? Yeah, it may be an idea to actually glue the crack closed, but I would have a CAV do that, if it is indicated. If its because of an actual birth defect, I think you would have to live with it, but if it was cracked by some outside cause, fighting or trying crack a too hard nut or other, well beaks are like fingernails and hair, they keep growing and this might disappear eventually.

Soft foods are the best way to get nutrition into him. Foods like mashed up cooked sweet taters, carrots and other root type veggies, a really finely processed version of "chop" and soft fruits like banana etc (not too much tho). I would think seeds and nuts are not a good idea.

I would have concern that the soft foods might fill in the crack and start to rot and decompose, so in essence require cleaning out with a soft toothbrush. But that should be discussed with a Certified Avian Vet (CAV).

Good on ya for taking this guy in!!