Scarlet Macaw broken lower beak

paddy1998 · Aug 4, 2020

About 20 minutes ago I noticed that my pal Nino had broken off an alarming portion of his lower beak. I must have happened sometime in the past few hours (I work from home and my desk is right next to his cage.

He doesn't seem to be in any pain at all and there has been no bleeding. My vet retired last year and I haven't gotten a new one yet.

Obviously I'm going to locate a new vet tomorrow, but for now can anyone tell me how serious this is? What am I looking at here?

Frankly, It seems that I'm more upset about this than Nino. He's just hanging around like nothing's wrong.

Laurasea · Aug 4, 2020

That is alarming, I would be freaked to. Especially frustrating if yiu dint know how he did it so yiu can prevent more injuries..

I’m glad he is calm and dealing with it ok. I dint have experience with this injury. So I’ll hsce to learn from your posts and vet visit. But I’m hoping he manage well till it heals. Sbd yiu have my sympathies fir an injured baby.

How is his weight? His picture makes him look a tad thin, which makes me worry their could be a metabolic reason the beak was weak and broke... or it’s just a freak accident

Keep us posted. Hopefully you find a good replacement vet

Scott · Aug 4, 2020

Welcome to you and Nino! That must have been a tremendous shock.

I have not experienced anything remotely like this, please search for a certified avian vet. Most "exotics" will flail trying to diagnose and treat a significant injury.

Appears to be either a freak accident or potential structural weakness. If you find the remaining pieces, they may prove evidentiary.

Please carefully observe Nino's ability to eat. It is possible hard shells or chewing toys may cause further loss of beak. Keep us advised!

SailBoat · Aug 5, 2020

It is very important that you work to locate the pieces that are missing on both the right and left sides of the lower beak! The jagged appearance leads one to believe that your Mac 'maybe' bar working its beak on the cage bars as there are chips along the upper beak as well.

What amount of chew toys does your Mac have. Mac's require a wide range of toys, including wood toys of various size.

Finding an Avian Medical Professional, especially a Certified Avian Vet will be important as your Mac will like require some level of beak restoration with is much like a temporary tooth created by a Dentist.

To be honest, I am surprised that your Mac is not showing some signs of pain as the areas near the mouth on both sides of the lower beak are very near the nerve bundles. Yes, Parrots tend to hide when they are sick and the same is true for pain. The openness of the low beak 'could' result in problems eating and you may be faced with feeding your Mac formula or like soft to semi-soft food.

paddy1998 · Aug 5, 2020

Thanks for all the replies.

I found an avian vet with good reviews and, more importantly to me, a recommendation from a business associate. We have an appointment Friday morning.

I've been keeping a close eye on Nino and studying the pictures I took last night, and I'm wondering if this simply appears worse than it actually is.

As you can see in the photos, it appears that a significant portion of his lower mandible is gone, leaving just a long thin strip in the center. That strip in the center appears unusually long, too long in fact.

Perhaps Nino's lower beak had overgrown and most of the "dead" part simply broke off? That might explain the lack of pain and zero bleeding. Looking at stock photos of Scarlets, it doesn't seem like Nino lost very much; in fact, it looks like that center portion is way too long.

I don't know. When I find out on Friday I'll let you all know.

Thanks again.

LokisMomma · Aug 5, 2020

I’m happy to hear you found an avian vet with a recommendation from someone you know. Finding a vet to trust can be difficult. Please keep us posted! I’m very interested to hear what the vet has to say as I’ve never seen anything quite like that. Is he eating ok?

cneuhauser · Aug 5, 2020

LokisMomma said:
I’m happy to hear you found an avian vet with a recommendation from someone you know. Finding a vet to trust can be difficult. Please keep us posted! I’m very interested to hear what the vet has to say as I’ve never seen anything quite like that. Is he eating ok?

Would be VERY interested in hearing the resolution of this story... that looks really bad, but if the bird is "ok" and a happy camper, that leads me to believe that it's not that serious, and he'll recover.

Still... looking forward to hearing what your vet has to say. Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us.

Scott · Aug 5, 2020

Glad you found a reputable vet, this requires skill and experience to properly diagnose. Please keep us updated!

paddy1998 · Aug 7, 2020

Back from the vet this morning with good news.

The portion of Nino's lower beak that broke off was overgrown and dead, as was the long thin portion that remained. The vet trimmed that down (no bleeding or anything) and clipped his nails and wings while we were there.

The concern remains that there must something wrong that caused his beak to grow that way; possibly liver disease, or some other disease. Or it could be the consequence of some earlier trauma we don't know about. Blood work is being done to see if that gives any insight.

Aside from the beak, he appears healthy and in fine feather.

Also happy with the new vet and staff. They're operating with Covid protocols that require pet owners to stay outside while a staff member takes your pet in the building, then you confer with the vet on the phone. I was a little leery about it, but it all went very smoothly.

Thanks again for all you concern and advice,

This is really a load off my mind!

Laurasea · Aug 7, 2020

Great news!

Do you ever take him outside for unfiltered sun exposure, light shade is perfect they dint have to be stuck in full sun. This really helps feather quality and provides vitamins D by preen gland like being converted and by the special gland in parrots eyes... extreme secure precautions taken with cage, I zip tie the bottom grate and all doors, with a macaw yid have to use something stronger than zip ties lol

paddy1998 · Aug 7, 2020

Laurasea said:
Great news!

Do you ever take him outside for unfiltered sun exposure, light shade is perfect they dint have to be stuck in full sun. This really helps feather quality and provides vitamins D by preen gland like being converted and by the special gland in parrots eyes... extreme secure precautions taken with cage, I zip tie the bottom grate and all doors, with a macaw yid have to use something stronger than zip ties lol

Yes, in the summer he gets outside but not a lot of time in direct sunlight. I have a pergola in the backyard with lattice overhead, and we also go camping at my trailer (under the awning).

We have a lot of raptors in my area so I don't let him be outside without being under some sort of cover.

saxguy64 · Aug 7, 2020

That's so great to hear, and he looks so much better! Keep us posted on the blood work results. Also, for that big old Mac beak, what does he have for chew/destruction toys?

paddy1998 · Aug 7, 2020

saxguy64 said:
That's so great to hear, and he looks so much better! Keep us posted on the blood work results. Also, for that big old Mac beak, what does he have for chew/destruction toys?

He gets a few walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans every day to go to town on.

He absolutely refuses to have any kind of chew toy in his cage whatsoever. He just won't tolerate it.

saxguy64 · Aug 7, 2020

Okay, that's a source for the overgrowth. Not necessarily the only issue, but definitely contributing. They really need to chew stuff up to help keep it in control. Not sure I saw anywhere- how long have you had Nino?

What happens when you give him toys in the cage? Maybe hang some on the outside of the cage, or on a play stand/perch that's not in his home?

Some years ago, my first Amazon Cuckoo used to act like he hated his toys (I thought), banging and thrashing them around and destroying them. I was sadly inexperienced at first, but quickly came to realize he was either playing with them for fun, or banging them to get my attention, and it was easy to see which was which. Of course, the destruction of them was a good thing, but again, in the beginning, I just didn't know. Thank goodness I've learned a lot since those days!

Hope Nino continues to do well and there's nothing sinister revealed in the lab results. Looking forward to the update!

wrench13 · Aug 7, 2020

Wow that looks great! Good outcome.

Scott · Aug 7, 2020

Vet did a great job, Nino looks like a new bird! Hoping the blood work returns normal!

paddy1998 · Aug 8, 2020

Blood work came back this morning and everything is normal.

Vet says Nino is healthy, keep doing what we're doing and keep an eye on the beak.

He got into more detail this morning about the beak problem. After his examination yesterday and the blood results today, he's convinced that the abnormal growth is the result of a previous trauma because there was a very distinct straight line of demarcation between "normal" beak and abnormal growth, which suggests specific trauma as opposed to disease caused growth.

We may need to trim once or twice more over the next 18 months or so.

I discussed Nino's aversion to chew toys and he didn't think that was anything to worry about and was not a cause of the current problem. In any event, the vet suggested throwing a roll of toilet paper or a whole news paper in the bottom of his cage and see what he does with it.

Thanks again. I looks like we're out of the woods.

saxguy64 · Aug 8, 2020

Thank you for updating. That's great news! Perhaps the aversion to chew toys stems from the trauma the vet mentioned. IDK, but at least he's doing well.

More frequent beak trims certainly are a small price to pay if that's what you need to keep him in good form. He's such a beautiful guy!

Scott · Aug 8, 2020

The very best of news, thank you for sharing!

If Nino does will with soft papers, might try introducing "small bird" chew toys. Might encourage him to overcome the aversion, but if not, at least he is happy and healthy.

Scarlet Macaw broken lower beak

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