Possible overgrown beak? HALP please 🙍

[Thebrave]

Hi all,

The background: have a Hahn's Macaw named Coda, about three years old. She has chew toys that she destroys in a day, and her diet mainly consists of bird seed. Before I get lectures, I'd like to say that I've been consistently trying to get her to switch to pellets since I had her. She honestly just prefers seeds but I haven't given up yet! She does like veggies and fruits (the latter more than the former) but she picks and chooses. In short my little dinosaur is picky but I'm trying lol.

The issue: I think her beak is slightly overgrown. Im going to schedule a vet wellness check since she's due for one but for future reference and in the meantime, what do y'all think about her beak? I try to keep her busy with toys but honestly she's so picky. I'm more concerned about the size of the lower beak. She lets me trim nails more or less, and sometimes I can somewhat file her beak down if she's in a good mood.

I've attached some photos. I'm not holding her beak back. Just giving her some scratches she makes me do lol
Thanks in advance!

 

[Gemster]

To be honest, the beak doesn’t look overgrown to me but maybe I just can’t see it.
I think the best thing to do is to change the diet as lack of vitamins, minerals and calcium would be the reason for over growing beaks and nails.
I am sure other users on this forum will reply with a better and more detailed answer.

 

[noodles123]

Have you had bloodwork run--vitamin panel, cbc etc. I was going to say it looked like it was splitting, but that is her tongue lol! I am not sure that it looks overgrown...

 

[Thebrave]

@Gemster: Okay glad you think it's not overgrown. I did read those deficiencies can cause overgrown beaks, which is why I try to implement fresh foods and pellets with her. She just becomes so picky with her food that if I transition to more pellets/fresh and less seeds, sometimes I see she hasn't eaten anything that day. More so when I weigh her. I'm trying to find her happy medium with seeds and pellets. So far she likes the pellets from Bird tricks website and the Harrison pellets she didn't mind, but they weren't her favorite. She ended up giving some to the dogs lol ��

@noodles123: I'm going to schedule her wellness checkup in two weeks (unfortunately for me, that's when I get paid). I'm not too worried because she seems to be eating fin le and her behavior is the same. Still vocal, no tail bobbing. I will ask them to do blood work in addition to the gram stain - thanks for the reminder! Yes that last picture she's trying to lick my finger so she purposefully adjusted her beak like that. She's a character! She had be worried about splitting too until I realized she was stretching to get a good taste of I don't know what haha

 

[SailBoat]

Assure you are making an appointment with an Avian Professional! Having a Cat and Dog Vet attempting to provide Avian care is not a good choice.

If anything, the upper and lower bill may need some minor attention as your Parrot has chipped bits of both the upper and lower (which is common).

Do not get crazy about switching to pellets as you will be further ahead to first increase the intake of fresh veggies. Adding pellets is best handled by adding pellet bits to your Parrot's current dry diet

 

[Laurasea]

Ways I sneak in pellets
Add to plain cooked pasta while still warm
Add to cooked oatmeal
Add to a tiny amount of yogurt
Add to scrambled eggs
Make bird muffins with pellets and chunk of veggies baked in
I say yum yum and hand feed stuff to the parrots all the time, some of that is pellets , since they think they are getting a yum yum treat they eat the pellet

 

[Thebrave]

@SailBoat: thank you! Yes, I am lucky to have an veterinary that has avian vets in their facility. Great for me- they have 24hour care too. I'll ask the doctors to check the chipped beak for some TLC when I go. I have her trying to eat the Bird tricks pellets only at the moment (besides her veggies/fruit and seeds. The Harrison's I tried prior but she mostly tossed them out of her cage for the dogs (this brat bird, I tell you!).

@Laurasea: thanks for the advice! I will try those. Currently, one of the ways I get her to eat pellets is by pretending I'm eating one myself. She always tries to steal from my plate. thinks she's slick about it too. Tries to go for my food when she thinks I'm not looking or I have my back turned.

 

[Alwese]

I do not see anything on your boy that looks like an overgrown beak. My 37 year old B&G Kayko has a very overgrown beak that is crooked. Any bird that has rapid beak growth has something wrong with their liver. When I got Kayko at 20 y.o. his beak was like a rams horn. My trimming lady tries to shape it up every 6 months with a Dremel mototool, but it is still crooked. It doesn't seem to bother him, and he has always been able to eat normally.