Many families own pet birds. Being a bird owner is about more than cleaning cages and enjoying its beautiful songs. Sometimes birds can get injured, especially on their wings or beaks, at this time you should know what to do.
A beak to a bird is what hands to human beings. With beaks, birds can pick up things, eat, drink, and of course sing songs. Actually, for some bird, if the injure on the beak is too serious and can’t guarantee eating enough food. Then little by little the bird will be starved.
There are several reasons for an injured beak. Fighting
with another bird or crashing into a mirror or window all can cause cracked or broken beak. Because nerve endings are connected to beak, it will be painful for the bird if its beak is cracked or broken. Actually a cracked or broken beak may cause infection or the bird’s disability to eat properly.What should you do after your bird get a cracked and broken beak?
If the injury is not serious and no bleed, you can leave it alone, it maybe grows out as a chipped fingernail. If your bird’s beak is serious injured, a vet visit is recommended. But before you get going, make sure have some mineral blocks for the bird to rub on, or else it can naturally trim its beak. The vet may glue and bandage a cracked or broken beak. And if the injury is very serious, for instance, it is torn off and the outer layers are damaged, the underlying tissue may begin to dry out. In this case, the first thing the vet will do is to rinse the wound with sterilizing
fluid to clear the debris and help keep the tissue moist, so that the beak’s condition can be evaluated carefully later. And there are some birds whose beaks are seriously damaged, even to the extent that one part of the beak (upper beak or lower beak) has to be removed. As we all know, birds eat with their beaks, it will be very hard for a bird losing its whole upper or lower beak to survive.What food should be provided for your injured bird?
Of course it also depends how serious the injury is. As it is mentioned above, if it is not serious at all and you don’t need go to a vet for help. Then before your bird recover, you should give it soft food such as crushed apples, bananas, vegetables. You can also try baby food for it. If the injury is serious, and the vet has bandaged the beak and covered the injury with composite cast, then your bird needs to be fed with a feeding tube. As the beak grows back, you can give it soft food.
A pet bird can bring you lots of fun. But do keep in mind: a bird with a cracked or broken beat is like a person with a broken arm. And make sure you know what to do if something happens to its beak.
References:
http://www.avianweb.com/brokenbeaks.html
http://www.birds-online.de/gesundheit/gessonstiges/s chnabelbruch_en.htm