Help/Question - My IRN's beak

[Trips]

Just Trying to work out what is going on with my blue ringneck, i got her from a friend about 3 mths ago and she had a recent accident where she fell asleep holding on the side of her cage ( must have been sleeping with her beak sticking out) and when i came out she got scared and twisted her beak side ways i had to bend the cage wires apart to free her up. She had wounded her head, i treated and kept the wound clean in hope she was going to come good which has the head has all healed up and starting to regrow her feathers.

however i have her on seed and apple i also give her alot of fruit bars. I then gave her a carrot to see how she liked that and out of no where her beak has changed from black to an orange colour and started to chip off. At first i freaked and took the carrot out and havent given her anymore carrot but the colour change has spread to the other side of her beak the tip is still black.

i have a green male who i also gave the carrot to however nothing seems to be happening with him he seems fine and his beak hasnt done any weird colour changes.

What could be wrong with her?

here are some images that might help






Thats the best photos i could get with my phone and due to it being night time here atm lol

just off topic could some comfrim her colour for me i have a few ppl say she isnt a blue she is aqua blue =\ not sure what they are on about since i have only had green and yellow she looks pretty blue to me lol

heres a better body pic




thanks for any info/feed back

[smallworld]

I've no idea about the beak changing color but did you see a vet when the accident took place?

Birds are the opposite of humans when it comes to oral anatomy. They can dislocate their upper beaks. Its sort of a double sided ball/hinge joint. I've first hand experience with beak dislocation. I had a parakeet crash into a Styrofoam wall and dislocate his upper beak. The resulting superficial wound was nothing compared to the long term effect on the joint. The sockets were filled with blood and because they dont have thrombolytics for birds, the clotted blood could not be removed. His beak never settled back into its form 100%. It was always a little to one side, even after he healed completely. The resulting damage to the beak, also caused bleeding into the nasal canal.

When we made a follow up xray on him, 1 week after the incident, there was inflammation in the joint, despite the physiotherapy, the syringe feeding and everything else we could do. I had a good avian vet back then and together we managed to bring his beak back to 90% of what it should be.

So, I'm just saying, if you havent already seen a vet, you should do it, pronto. Because when a birds immunity is weakened, its lifespan is shortened. She could also be in alot of pain due to the injury, but she would not show it. For this our vet gave us metacam.

[Trips]

we took her down to the vet where we get our male checked out and he had a look cleaned up what blood there was and told us she only a flesh wound just above the nose where she had pushed her head up on the wire trying to get free he didn’t think she had done any major damage told me to just try and keep it clean with a wet cloth

Where she hurt her head has healed and starting to regrow


she is eating fine and is still very handle able seems just like her normal self just some odd reason that part of the beak has chipped away and the colour change started on the left side of her beak after the first chip the colour spread to the other side of the beak it hasn’t gone any further up the beak or down to the tip just seems to be in that 1 spot but now on both sides

[smallworld]

Her color of the beak isnt changing because of the carrots. Did the vet do an xray under sedation? Thats the only true way to find out. Was he an avian vet? Because taking a bird to a dog and cat guy is kinda the same as asking an ophthalmologist, if you need a C-section. I'm not being sarcastic or implying you might have done this, I'm just drawing an example. The thing is, normal vets do know about birds, it was all part of their med school program but with time and specialization, they're not so in tuned for giving an avian diagnosis.

That being said, carrots contain carotene and has nothing to do with avian pigmentation. If a person eats too much beet root, their urine may temporarily turn color but not their skin. The same concept applies for birds.

I'd say get her checked out first. Secondly, I saw you have a post up on the breeding section, I just truly hope that you dont plan on breeding this bird too, this season. She needs recovery time.

Take her to another vet to get a 2nd opinion, follow up diagnosis and plan of treatment. Obviously something is not right.

[Trips]

yea it was an avian vet but no he didnt do an xray

I got home today and let my blue girl out the orange on the beak and come off and her beak looks normal again I can see the line where the beak did chip it was a clean line she seems really happy and playful again I’m not sure but maybe it was like a moulting thing or something never seen it before

[smallworld]

Well if the orange layer peeled off and the color of beak has returned to normal thats good news. If the crack line is not above the cere its alright. It will go away as the beak regenerates.

How about the feathers that shes missing? If they are slow or dont grow back, you might want to watch out. Because I was told by our vet, when my bird hit the wall, that feather loss over a wound is a sign of an underlying infection. Our bird recovered from that in 2 weeks. His feathers were back to normal I mean.

Watch out for her diet and check for weight loss too. Thats a good way to keep tabs on their health. Weight fluctuations of more than 5% their regular weight, is not good.

But your vet shouldve done a x-ray. Its really good shes feeling better though

[Trips]

yea the beak is all black where the top layor peeled off

the feathers on the head have started to regrow and what skin u can see if pure white and very clean i give her a wipe over ever 2nd day now to keep clean

still not sure about putting her with my boy to breed even tho she has been following him and slowing moving closer on a perch tilting the head back and given him some sexy talk lol today when i had them out it happen again and he moved closer and kept putting his head over and around her body/head thats as close to leaving them alone i give