beak tip broke and was bleeding

[camclark]

so i went to try and socialize my birds a little bit tonight and one of my birds bit me. thankfully i wear gloves because of biting issues and about 1/8th inch of the tip of his beak broke off and he bled several drops and it stopped fairly quickly (after about 6 or 7 drops) since my birds dont like letting me handle them much and my vet isnt available for another 2 days. im freaking out because i love my birds and i want to know how worried should i be if it stopped and hes not squaking or acting like he is too uncomfortable. i know i will have to get a softer food for a little while and keep an eye on him but it didnt look like it was splitting up further either. what else should i do to help the poor little fella?

 

[EllenD]

Wow that must have been quite scary for you, my Quaker just cracked his beak, no bleeding really, and I completely panicked! I'm very glad his beak stopped bleeding, honestly that would be my biggest concern right now, that it might start bleeding again if he were to use it on a hard toy or something. I would keep some corn starch or flour next to him for the next day or two, along with your gloves, just in case he were to scratch it open or reinjure it and it were to start bleeding again. It doesn't take much corn starch or flour to stop bleeding from a beak.

There are a lot of nerve endings in the beak, so it can be quite painful for them to eat, to climb, or to use their beak at all. It all depends on what part of the beak is broken and how much "torque" his beak took when it happened. So yes you want to stick to softer foods that he'll eat, and honestly I'd remove anything from his cage or play areas that is rough and going to cause him pain if he uses it (or cause bleeding again)...I'm thinking of a sanding perch or anything similar if he uses it often. Better safe than sorry. But I think the best thing is to just watch him to see how much pain he is in. He may be in a lot, or he may be in very little at all. If you notice something causing him pain, yet he just has to play with it, you might want to remove it for now. Otherwise there isn't a whole lot to do until you can get him to his avian vet.

I hope he isn't in too much pain! Hopefully he can eat well for now, I'm sure his avian vet will prescribe him some pain medication, like Metacam, and possibly suggest filing/trimmings his beak a bit after it heals. Just watch him, make sure he can eat what you're giving him, make sure he doesn't reinjure it or cause it to bleed again, and if it does bleed be sure to immediately get some corn starch or flour on it to clot it up...Good luck!

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[Scott]

Depending on the degree of impact and damage, an avian vet may need to contour the beak with a Dremel or similar instrument - once the wound has healed. I have seen beak damage for various cases (primarily fighting birds) where the regrowth is somewhat "callused" and irregular. A quick adjustment to the region followed by Aloe Vera application works well.

 

[camclark]

update* so ive been keeping an eye on him making sure he is still doing ok. his beak is not splitting and doesn't look bad and he doesn't seem to be in any pain for the time being and has not bled since the incident. I think its safe to say he will be fine from here.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Perhaps it may be worthwhile researching that his diet is covering all the bases. A deficiency may make his beak not as strong as it should be IMO.