What qualifies as a healthy bird beak?

[kimbell]

Hello, i’m writing because today I saw a picture of a beak that I believed to be unhealthy. After messaging the owner, they were offended by my assumption and assured me their bird is exceptionally healthy. This made me feel pretty terrible and I would like to avoid doing it again. Can someone please give me the lowdown on the difference between a normal, peeling beak and an unhealthy one?
For reference, the photo of the bird is attached. (Pionus)
I assumed it wasn’t in good shape because when I took Pico into the vet, it wasn’t peeling nearly as bad as this one and the vet identified a problem.

 

[ChristaNL]

I was more "what is with his eye?"
Is is normal for a pionus to have flecks in the eye around the pupil?
All parrots I have met sofar had iris that were unicolour.

 

[EllenD]

I was more "what is with his eye?"
Is is normal for a pionus to have flecks in the eye around the pupil?
All parrots I have met sofar had iris that were unicolour.

Christa, I'm not seeing what you're talking about at all with this baby's eye, not sure what you're talking about, as this baby Pionus looks very healthy to me all the way around. Maybe I'm just not seeing what you are seeing with the eye?

Kimball, this baby Pionus is perfectly healthy and it's beak is totally fine. I don't know what the Vet you took your bird to was referring to when they told you that your bird was unhealthy due to his beak "peeling", but was this vet either a Certified Avian Vet or an Avian Specialist Vet that only sees birds? Or was it an Exotic's Vet or a General Vet? This can make a huge difference, as Exotic's Vets have no special education, training, or experience with birds or any other species of pets, they are simply General Vets that are willing to see/treat all animals. There are exceptions to this, but not often. Either way, it doesn't sound like the vet that told you this had much Avian Medicine experience, or I suppose it's possible that your bird had a serious issue with his beak, I should consider that as I didn't see his beak.

In general, most parrots are not always going to have perfectly smooth, shiny beaks that are not shedding in some places, or even have little marks, chips, etc. in them and on them, as they use their beaks every single day, all day long to do everything. They use them to eat and shell seeds and nuts, they use them to grab onto things and climb, they use them to play with toys and hang from things, etc. And as such, they get many scuffs, marks chips, etc. all the time. And forgetting that, their beaks shed/peel just like their feathers do, and just like a dog's or cat's fur does. It's the same thing, the outer surface of their beaks are constantly shedding. This is completely normal. Only when a bird's beak becomes either very brittle and easily chips/cracks, or is very overgrown is it a sign of the bird being "unhealthy", as a brittle beak that chips and cracks very easily is a sign of malnutrition or some type of deficiency, and a beak that is overgrown and rapidly overgrows on a regular basis is a sign of several health issues, namely Liver Disease.

***The other thing you need to take into account is the age of the bird Kimball...This Pionus in the photo is very young and is growing. And just like birds go through many large molts during their first year or so of life, their beaks are also growing during this time, and as a result they are also shedding rapidly due to their rapid growth...So this Pionus is perfectly fine, looks very healthy and happy to me.

 

[Laurasea]

I myself think the enlarged nares and beak and dry scalely feet could (possibly) show a need for more foods higher in vitamin A.......but could also be an indication of an individual that really likes to rub it's beak on stuff...or EllenD has it right and it's fine.....

 

[EllenD]

I myself think the enlarged nares and beak and dry scalely feet could (possibly) show a need for more foods higher in vitamin A.......but could also be an indication of an individual that really likes to rub it's beak on stuff...or EllenD has it right and it's fine.....

I don't see a thing wrong here, but that's just me too...The other thing you have to consider is that this is a photo of a bird outside, in the sun, and we have no idea what the bird has been doing prior to this video (meaning things that would emphasize the dryness of his beak and feet). I know that my Senegal's feet tend to look extremely dry right after he gets out of the shower and his feet dry, but then in an hour or so they are right back to normal.

It's so hard to judge the "overall health" of an animal based on factors such as the dryness of it's beak and feet from a photo. I guess that's where I'm coming from, as yes, I'll admit that his beak and feet do look a bit "dry" in the photo...But this has nothing to do with it's beak shedding/peeling, which looks perfectly fine.

**I guess I'd just be very hard-pressed to look at the Pionus from this photo and send a private message to the owner telling them that their bird was extremely unhealthy based on the shedding/peeling of it's beak in the photo...And there have been many times where I've seen a photo of a bird where something was such a red-flag or something was so horribly bad, and where the owner didn't seem to understand the graveness of the situation, where I've given them a head's-up (usually this is a very bad injury)....But this just ain't one of them..