overgrown beak, obesity

[ConureLady]

Now that I've given my 8 year old parakeet Hoover away to the perfect loving family, I found a horribly mistreated pair of albino (lutino?) and green/yellow parakeets.
They were free with a cockatiel friend. So my friend adopted the cockatiel, I clipped the wings, and trimmed her amazons nails.. and I took the two parakeets.
The woman said they are males, but she had assumed so because they never had any eggs.
one is obviously a male, but the albino one has a flesh tone cere..
the male one has a seriously long overgrown beak and is morbidly obese.
she said that she was cutting his beak every two months with nail clippers.
the cage set up was also horrible, everything was at the top, three treats, cuttle bone, calcium, grit stone, two food dishes, a water dish with cat grass growing in it, a clean water dish, two edible perches, a pediperch, and two sand covered perches, two mirrors...
needless to say i took everything out, reduced the food, NO TREATS NO MIRRORS NO SAND PERCHES,

now my questions are,
1. how can I tell if an albino is male or female?
2. how can I help the males overgrown beak? the owner claimed it overgrows every two months.. this doesnt seem right at all for obvious reasons.
3. how can I help the male lose weight?
4. can an obese male breed?
5. if theres a female, wouldnt she have laid infertile eggs before?

I plan on breeding them and hand feeding each and every one. I've always wanted a hand tame parakeet so I'm hoping this works out.

Hoover was 8 years old with no problems.. how can people do this to them? so sad. operation healthy parakeet time!

I will post pictures in a second.

 

[ConureLady]

i reduced the food, put all natural stuff in, moved cuttle bone, mineral block, and food/water to mid level to encourage them to move around, no treats, preening toy, and i made a makeshift nest.

 

[Thingamagigs]

1. how can I tell if an albino is male or female?

Its not albino And yes it appears to be female.

2. how can I help the males overgrown beak? the owner claimed it overgrows every two months.. this doesnt seem right at all for obvious reasons.

Someone else will need to help on that one

3. how can I help the male lose weight?

He appears to be a show variety budgie and doesn't look obese in the photos? Could be wrong

4. can an obese male breed?

At his size he looks plenty mobile.

5. if theres a female, wouldnt she have laid infertile eggs before?

There could be all kinds of reasons for why they havent previously bred. Just give them a good environment suitable to breeding and see what happens

 

[Remy]

I don't think the white one looks albino either. Am I seeing light blue? Albinism means NO color pigments at all. Looks like a girl to me.

What makes you think the male is overweight? He definitely is bigger, but he could just be a bigger bird. It's hard to tell from the pictures though.

As for the beak, can you send us a picture? Generally there isn't a NEED for the beak to be trimmed unless there is trouble eating. I've filed Darcy's beak a little bit, but just to file off the flaky stuff for cosmetic reasons. It was bugging me, and he seemed to enjoy it, lol.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Usually a overgrown beak is due to a health issue or lack of things to chew on. You can always try gently filing the beak some if it seems like it's getting in the way. As for obese, it hard to tell in photos but from the look of it I agree with you. Is his chest shaped like a W rather then a U?(meaning fat is sticking out on either side of his keel bone)

I would work on getting some pellets in their diet and getting lots of fresh veggies(especially dark leafy greens). Also try leaving the cage open once he's settled in and see if he'll fly around some, flying will do wonders for him. Try to get them into a avian vet for a check up too, especially the male since he has the overgrown beak and mau have health issues.

 

[MonicaMc]

1. how can I tell if an albino is male or female?
I would say that the albino is a probably female, however I have seen proven males with a tannish colored beak.

Since we are talking about sexes, the green bird is most definitely a female! The cere is too white to be male.

2. how can I help the males overgrown beak? the owner claimed it overgrows every two months.. this doesnt seem right at all for obvious reasons.
You can tell by the length when compared to the albino's beak....

3. how can I help the male lose weight?
You can help her lose weight by allowing her full flight every single day and putting her on a low fat diet... stop feeding dry seeds and instead feed sprouted seeds. Feed pellets as 25-50% of the diet. Get her eating some fruits, lots of vegetables, cooked/sprouted *healthy* grains, and cooked/sprouted *healthy* legumes with the occasional cooked eggs on the side.

4. can an obese male breed?
Yes, obese birds can reproduce, although it can be more difficult on the hen when it comes to egg laying if she's out of shape. Might lead to egg laying complications.

5. if theres a female, wouldnt she have laid infertile eggs before?
Not at all! I was given two "male" budgies, but when I actually saw them, both were definitely females! And neither one had laid an egg! They were at least 2-3 years old, too. Some hens may lay eggs later in life and some may never lay at all.


The green hen probably has liver and/or kidney problems. Milk thistle would greatly help if it's liver. She needs to be seen by an avian vet to determine for sure as well as finding out a great diet & exercise plan for her. If it's not too far gone, the damage can be reversed and she can live out a healthy, happy life without the requirement for beak trims.

 

[Pedro]

ConureLady, personally i wouldn't breed them at all. The male is very over weight & could possibly be suffering of fatty liver.

Birds Online - General facts about budgies - How to find out about a budgie's sex?

 

[Marley69]

He doesnt look obese to me..
The white one does look like a female..
U defently need to trim the beak because it might be hard for him to eat or grab into things, and u should take a trip to a vet to see if he has a disease or maybe it was the nasty food and water with grass he had in his cage, who knows for how
Long..
It seem like she didnt lay fertil or infertil eggs because she didnt had a nesting box or something where she felt it was safe for her lil ones
My neighbors budgie did lay eggs with out the nesting box but she never even care for them

 

[ConureLady]

Thanks everyone.
The reason I think the green one is a male is because of a bluish/tan cere.. but now I am thinking its a female.
I also think she is obese because she is incredibly squishy and has fat deposits, cant even find her keel!
i have six huge windows in the living room and when I let them fly around they kept smashing into the wall. it was so sad. they got to the point they looked injured. so I cut the wings a lot more than I wanted to do but they can still glide fine and there havent been any problems in the cage.
I worked on the beak and it bled like crazy. definitely going to be a daily project of mine! i also did the green ones nails.
i named them squishy and crystal.

 

[ConureLady]

Here is squishys beak day one
yes i realize that her wings are way too short. i tried a normal cut, then i tried a little more.. and squishy just kept getting flight! I'd rather an over trim than a dead bird.

squishys beak after one trim
I am definitely working on it slowly, unlike what his old owner did. She cut it down to normal size with toe nail clippers in one sitting every two months! I'm not looking for instant results, I'm looking for lasting ones!

I did a little cage rearrangement when I realized how bad Squishys nails are. they are 3/4s of a circle and get stuck around bars and twist over other toes.. i'm thinking the pediperches will help the feet not be so closed and of course help the nails

 

[Karigan]

Pediperches are a good idea. I find the concrete ones don't work for crap, but the sand coated are amazing! I never groom nails, and they stay trimmed enough that they don't hurt me when they walk on me.

 

[MonicaMc]

Here's some photos all displaying the same hen.

So I can tell you for a fact that the green one is female. The albino one I'm a little iffy on...



Just trimming the beak without changing diet and getting her healthy will not result in any lasting effects on keeping it shorter. She needs to be seen by an avian vet to determine the exact cause of the overgrown beak so she can be treated appropriately.

If you aren't going to take her in, then at minimum you need to get some milk thistle extract without alcohol and change her diet! Milk thistle extract twice a day, about 1 to 2 drops would probably be sufficient.

 

[ConureLady]

my avian vet cant see them until january and i wont let the local small pets specialist touch my birds because she does unnecessary things to them.

so for now I've reduced the amount of crappy walmart brand seed, no treats, and fresh veggies. i'm looking at buying this http://www.allbirdproducts.com/newproductpages/AB10220.html and also deciding on either lafeber for parakeets, roudybush crumbles for parakeets, or zupreem fruit blend for parakeets.

the milk thistle says i can use it in their water, would it be acceptable to allow both parakeets to consume it? they both have had the same terrible diet, it just shows worse in Squishy.

 

[ConureLady]

also, thank you everyone for helping! i know soooo much about medium to large birds but not much about the little guys

 

[ConureLady]

i'm going to buy a whole bunch of fresh greens and dehydrate them to use for foraging greens.

 

[MonicaMc]

I've never used that product but it should be fine. I've also never put it in my birds water, I've given it straight.... but yes, it would be fine for both birds!

If you put the milk thistle in the water, it needs to be changed at least 2-3 times per day.


January is a long time to wait, but thanks for letting me know! Puts my mind at ease that she will be looked at!


I would recommend Roudybush, TOP's or Harrison's as her diet... probably feed her up to 75% pellets (healthy birds shouldn't need more than 50%) and the rest a mix of sprouted seeds and healthy fresh foods!

 

[MollyGreenCheeks]

Certainly going to be more difficult to exercise/lose weight with the inability to take flight. I'll pass on commenting on the feather trim!

 

[ConureLady]

I put her in the spare bedroom and she flew into the walls so I assumed that she would figure it out but she never did. She smashed into the wall until she was limp. it was really sad.
I think keeping birdie brain damage free and shock free is safer.

 

[MeganMango]

You need to take these birds to a vet! I risk offending you, and Im sorry if I do, but I cant understand why you would consider breeding these birds when they are clearly unhealthy, have not seen a vet, and you got them from a rescue situation. There are so many birds with no where to go. Im sorry if this upsets you, but it sounds like an absolutely terrible idea.

 

[MonicaMc]

Birds learning to fly is like kids learning to walk. There's going to be bumps and bruises... heck, I was well known for running straight into walls as a toddler after I figured out how to run on my hands and knees!

Sometimes, clipping is for the safety of the bird. I don't agree with what was done because the bird is new to the home, unfamiliar with it, and not tame/friendly - although one photo says differently.

The clip could have been done differently, and to slow the bird rather than to hinder, but luckily, the feathers will grow out in time. Shame really, as she needs exercise to help lose weight.