Odor coming from the beak

[20brio19]

My Pionus smells lovely except for the area around or on his beak, or perhaps his breath. I thought that this was because of the formula I was giving him but he has fully weaned recently and although it seems less, he still has a slight odor coming from there. It doesn't seem like a big deal but I just want to make sure it's nothing bad, my breeder is on vacation right now so I'm just asking here instead.

 

[Laurasea]

If my birds have just eaten I can smell what they are. Otherwise no odor. I'd worry about a sour crop , an infection...
How are poops? Please go to this excellent site for great info
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/crop-infections-in-birds

 

[Kiwibird]

What kind of odor? I believe pionus are somewhat related to amazons and amazons produce a light musty odor when happy/content. Most people would describe that odor as pleasant even a little sweet. Any strong or distinctly foul odor should be looked into by the vet as it can be a sign of infection. Parrots should never stink.

 

[WakaWaka]

Several months after Arika came home we noticed a "sour" smell from her breath. Smelled like sour milk.
We took her to her vet immediately. They performed a crop sample and also checked her droppings. She was on medication (cannot remember what off the top of my head) for about a 10 days and has not had a recurrence. Her vet also recommended a probiotic twice a week and suggested avian Bene-Bac.

I would suggest getting him to CAV as soon as possible and also inquire about a probiotic.
Please keep us updated.

 

[20brio19]

What kind of odor? I believe pionus are somewhat related to amazons and amazons produce a light musty odor when happy/content. Most people would describe that odor as pleasant even a little sweet. Any strong or distinctly foul odor should be looked into by the vet as it can be a sign of infection. Parrots should never stink.

I guess like some sort of food gone bad. I don't see any changes in behavior or other health signs, and the stool seems to be good, the only thing I notice is that he turns his head and puts it on his back when sleeping which some say is a bad sign. In any case there is an avian vet very nearby here and I plan on getting a check up this week.

 

[HannahandSunny]

Sunny had a funny, not very nice odour from his beak when he had an infection

 

[Tami2]

Sounds like it could be a yeast infection. I agree w/ the of the above, get him in to see the Vet.

"Sour crop is a term used to denote any infection in the crop. The infection causes the crop to "shut down", and the food contents in the crop become sour. Crop infections can be caused by bacteria and sometimes yeast, especially Candida species."

 

[20brio19]

I guess I caught it early because I can't find any other symptoms, he seems to be doing fine. We'll see this upcoming week when he's checked out.

Is it true that birds that were hand reared from hatch are more susceptible to infections because they never got their parents' crop food?
https://thebestbirdfood.com/blogs/g...lk-about-yeast-infections-in-our-exotic-birds

 

[20brio19]

I went to the vet who has pionus birds himself. He checked Brio and didn't find anything wrong with him including his smell/breath and gave him deworming medicine. I'm gonna trust his judgement, keep in mind this is my first parrot and my inexperience could be at play with these issues. Thanks for the help though, appriciate it.

 

[WakaWaka]

I went to the vet who has pionus birds himself. He checked Brio and didn't find anything wrong with him including his smell/breath and gave him deworming medicine. I'm gonna trust his judgement, keep in mind this is my first parrot and my inexperience could be at play with these issues. Thanks for the help though, appriciate it.

Did you take him to a Certified Avian Vet (CAV) ?
Exactly what medicine did the vet give him for "de-worming"?
As far as I know, de-worming is not necessary for birds.
That sets off a lot of alarm bells to me.

 

[20brio19]

Did you take him to a Certified Avian Vet (CAV) ?
Exactly what medicine did the vet give him for "de-worming"?
As far as I know, de-worming is not necessary for birds.
That sets off a lot of alarm bells to me.

I meant 'worming' pardon me. I'm not an expert, I went to one(yes CAV) who checked my bird and he reassured everything is fine and the bird seems fine. I don't know what else to do.

 

[Laurasea]

I went to the vet who has pionus birds himself. He checked Brio and didn't find anything wrong with him including his smell/breath and gave him deworming medicine. I'm gonna trust his judgement, keep in mind this is my first parrot and my inexperience could be at play with these issues. Thanks for the help though, appriciate it.

Did you take him to a Certified Avian Vet (CAV) ?
Exactly what medicine did the vet give him for "de-worming"?
As far as I know, de-worming is not necessary for birds.
That sets off a lot of alarm bells to me.

Yes that's very fishy! Are you in the USA? Never have avain certified vets here just dewormed....
Did they swab the beak , mouth crop and do cytology, or culture? They can also do a crop wash , collect the fluid sbdook at it. Was blood work done? A fecal exam??? Fecal culture, fecal gram stain?

 

[20brio19]

I forgot to update this thread. The odor has disappeared by now. I think it was caused by something in his diet, it must have been the pellets or something, I've switched him over to Harrison's. The smell he may get there now is from whatever he ate recently.