Willow’s thread

[WillowQ]

I have gotten lots of up close views of Willow in the last couple days. I see his beak is much more worn on the left side. He is also left footed so I would say he’s probably left side oriented or left-beaked as well. (Manipulates objects with the left side of beak as do most birds).
His feet are SO REPTILIAN! I’m glad he doesn’t have foot problems or painful feet as Lucy had; it is so much easier to care for a bird that is not tripping and falling or dropping things. (Poor Lucy had a badly set left leg which never worked well.).
i wonder what color to call the Quaker parakeet beak ? Flesh colored? Horn? Melon? Peach? I am working on a pastel painting and so many colors go into the beak.

 

[cnyguy]

The QP beak is commonly called horn colored but other colors could fit just about as well. When I painted Ralph's portrait, the color I mixed for his beak was sort of peach.

When I first got Ralph he would pull my glasses off and toss them onto the floor too. At that time I mostly wore contact lenses but I had to give them up and always wear the darned glasses (I really dislike wearing glasses). Ralph quickly got used to them and knows enough now that they need to stay on my face. I remind him occasionally not to touch the glasses when he reaches for them and he backs away, so I think he's caught on that they're off limits.

 

[Pixiebeak]

I am having a difficult day with a tooth issue, but we had bird time today. Here’s Willow.

View attachment 438088

It looks like it got damaged, and that part died back . If it doesn't start growing out and stabilizing, I'd suspect he got a little fungal infection in that part. And would need treatment, and trim/shaping to remove the infection.

 

[WillowQ]

It looks like it got damaged, and that part died back . If it doesn't start growing out and stabilizing, I'd suspect he got a little fungal infection in that part. And would need treatment, and trim/shaping to remove the infection.

Really?! I just noticed that that is the side he chews more on. I have read that birds approach their food from the side of their dominant foot. I thought maybe he was using that side on his toys or cage bars.
isn’t fungal infection more of an immune issue?
he’s sleeping now but I will have a look tomorrow.
Thank you.
…..
I’m looking back at that photo, and it’s rather distorted because he’s got that side of his beak up close to the camera. Looking face-on it doesn’t look that extreme, but there is just slightly more wear to the left. I will get a look and maybe photos from the front tomorrow.

 

[WillowQ]

The QP beak is commonly called horn colored but other colors could fit just about as well. When I painted Ralph's portrait, the color I mixed for his beak was sort of peach.

When I first got Ralph he would pull my glasses off and toss them onto the floor too. At that time I mostly wore contact lenses but I had to give them up and always wear the darned glasses (I really dislike wearing glasses). Ralph quickly got used to them and knows enough now that they need to stay on my face. I remind him occasionally not to touch the glasses when he reaches for them and he backs away, so I think he's caught on that they're off limits.

My glasses are VERY EXPENSIVE so Willow really can’t be doing this. I will adjust the earpieces so maybe he has a harder time pulling them off. I wear contacts a lot more because they work so much better. Probably why he doesn’t seem to recognize me in them, though this is what he does with face masks, too (rips them off).
Very worried about this beak concern but it’s past midnight and he DOES NOT like to be woken up and taken out at night. And this is a very new thing—just started noticing it in past week or two. I know Willow’s cage setup and that he spends a lot of time chewing on an acrylic and a lava toy to his left. I wonder if that might account for the slightly uneven wear? He really likes to be on the window side of his cage and almost all the toys are to the right.
I will take a photo and date it and see how it looks in two weeks and in a month.

 

[WillowQ]

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www.scottemcdonald.com

Here is an article called “Bad Beaks…” it’s by Dr. Scott McDonald and has some rather uncomfortable pics of damaged beaks but is otherwise quite informative about beak overgrowth, scissors beak, acquired beak damage (accidents like bites from another bird or damage from respiratory infection).

i turned on kitchen light and got a look at Willow and am less worried because from the front the wear is only different by 1-2 mm at tip. I did not notice any injury to his beak or painful beak and he sits and cuddles with me for a half hour most days, which involves cheek and beak rubbing and head and neck scratching. I know he loves to have the left side of his beak rubbed so maybe I’m making some of the problem as I’m right handed and he doesn’t like to switch to cuddling with my left cheek and petting by my left hand.

Anyhow I think I will watch this for a few weeks and see what happens as this increased left side wear is quite recent and I’ve not noticed any damage or chipping. Willow’s beak never has been painful to touch so I really don’t think he chipped it. Also it’s quite even wear, just more on the left side. Maybe I will move his favorite toys and see if that changes anything.

 

[Pixiebeak]

In the one pic of beak it looked thickened, with tiny little honeycomb holes in the cross section. Could be just a weird pic. I would be interested in seeing more pictures of the beak and that area.

Does he have fatty liver?
I looked through some of his other pics, he seems to have an unusual shaped beak , like it's a little overgrown. Like in post 104 with sunflowers. I see he over preens , with some feathers having dark edges too.
But gorgeous pics!

 

[Pixiebeak]

Phoebe beak.

 

[WillowQ]

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[WillowQ]

That was edited but I got too talky and went over time.
Willow was eating seed only when he came to me. Now he eats pellets with some veggies and a bit of fruit, and he gets an avicake a day.
Above is a better pic of his beak (3 pics actually). It’s always overgrown a little right at the tip. He gets a tiny tooth on the end. In the last few weeks it has started to wear down more, particularly on the left side.
His overpreening or barbering has gotten much better since he’s been here. Some of the feather markings are from petting as the dark edges are only on his left shoulder. He wants to cuddle under my left hand for a long time each day.
Willow’s definitely not very fat, but he may have some damage from his all seed diet (which was maybe helped because he was flying around the older lady’s home). He doesn’t get to fly here although he likes to do flapping exercises on my hand.

i know of lots of people who have this trouble with their Quaker getting a sharp little tooth. It looks just like the pics in beginning of Scott McDonald’s paper on beaks. He called that normal but illustrated a cosmetic beak grooming which removed that tooth.

perhaps this new wear on Willows beak indicates that his beak is beginning to get chewed down normally? Because I see under the worn parts the beak is same shape as Phoebe’s.
part of the problem is that he remains scared of new toys for months. He’s got lots of stuff to chew on but only chews his toys he came with. Willow is not a very chewy bird.

 

[Xoetix]

View attachment 438739 View attachment 438739 View attachment 438739

When clicking those, I get an error page ("Oops! We ran into some problems ")

 

[WillowQ]

(@Xoetix—maybe it did that because I was trying to edit the photos but took too long?)

The sunflower photos were in June or July, right before the big molt. So his feathers are without any worn blackened edges now (from overpreening or hand oils).

 

[WillowQ]

Ooops-those pics went away. Well here’s a new better beak pic.

 

[Cali]

Sadly, I have a cold and runny nose and had a bird-free day. They are too insistent upon getting their beaks up my nose whenever this happens. Tomorrow will definitely involve birds as I wouldn’t not see them for two days in a row unless REALLY sick.

i am still chasing down my Quaker parakeet list calendar featuring Willow’s beaky face. I don’t know which photo got included. !!!

Hope you are feeling better. I have the same thing going .... yuck!

 

[WillowQ]

Phoebes beak looks great—I’ve never seen such a perfect beak on a Quaker.
Willow has an apple chew block in his cage but isn’t using it.
Right now he’s on my lap crunching his beak.
He really feels quite trim- breastbone easily felt all the way down to his belly; no bulges. Chest is reddish muscle, not yellow fat.
i think he just doesn’t chew enough. And the new toys are scary so he won’t go “kill” them like Lucy did when she was young.
Im praising him whenever I see him attack a toy. I think he likes natural colored toys better but those are hard to find. Maybe I can make something from the mahogany bits I bought in bulk.
i guess I will be looking for some natural undyed toys for BeaksMass.
How do you get a not-very-chewy bird to chew more? His beak is only about 2-3 mm too long at the tip in that “tooth” area.

 

[WillowQ]

(Phoebe has a fashionable beak!)

 

[Pixiebeak]

So wonderful you got him eating better! Ya, he probably came with a little fatty liver , and likely that still having impact on beak and feather. It took a couple of years eating better for Penny feathers to become normal, tho her beak improved in 3 months I think.

Phoebe came to me barbering and starting to pluck shoulders, but because she was still a baby it wasn't well established. The behavior disappeared, but when stressed she over preens just shy of barbering. Quakers are so very prone to FDB.

On dark feathers, dark edges, I think it linked to liver.

On it being from over handling , not unless you always have lotion on your hands. My birds are in my hands hours and hours daily , I'm probably one of the biggest cuddlers on the forum

My experience it's always linked with diet or health.

On handsome Willow beak,...I think will likely need the most mild of beak shaping.. because I think is from liver...
Pikachu does have a pointy beak " tooth" from time to time , occasionally Phoebe will get. But it's not the thickened blunt end like Willow..I don't think he can reshape that..I can be wrong, just my thoughts

 

[WillowQ]

Well this increased wear is recent so maybe it will continue? I know his diet was bad when he came to me.
Re: wear, I can SEE the difference from left snuggle side to right non snuggle side. I have oily skin, and he wants physical contact with my hand or face for a good while each day or turns into Velcro Bird.
He sure isn’t fat now— I’m relieved because he does love those avicakes.
I see very reasonably priced claw trimmers so I can get one of those, or a dremel.

 

[Pixiebeak]

What usually helps get them chewing , is actually much softer chew stuff . Like at lil monsters!! Very soft stuff, Sola, yucca, forget the name of the other. And try walnut in shell, almond in shell sometimes more willing to pick those apart . Still offer the oine and other harder stuff. But getting them going is often the very soft stuff that a beak can punch through in one chomp.

Phoebe says thank you for the beak love!

 

[Pixiebeak]

Oh I'm not saying he is fat at all!! Or that you feed him fatty stuff!
Once they have fatty liver , it's damaged ,a lot like an alcoholic liver , it's hard to overcome. The liver does have some regeneration properties, but it takes years of good diet to overcome. He might need some liver support..