Sunnys Beak

[tbird]

I have posted before on this topic I’m a little concern so before I go to the vet I can use some advice. Sunny just turned seven months old and his beak is shaded (white) in the middle of his beak. Should I be concern? I have attached some pictures so you can see. Thanks in advance for your help

[Dave007]

Does your bird scrape it's beak on or between the cage bars alot? How long has he had that discoloration?

[judygram]

That does look like Sunny has been doing some vigorous scraping of his beak on something rough like a cement perch, how long has it been that way, echoing Dave now, have you observed him scraping it on things? Give us a little more information please.

[Coral&Andrew]

yeah it looks like he has been scraping his beak on something hard, or the cage bars maybe.

[tbird]

No, Sunny scraps on the sides of his beak I never saw him scrape the front and I always notice that’s what he does. This discoloration has been like this for about two months now since my last thread of the same topic. I waited only because I thought the beak will be much darker not with a white stripe like that. Someone wrote in that thread that the beak does not stay shinny so I just enjoyed the shinny beak as long as I could (I wish it stayed Shinny). So it has been two months and he still has the same discoloration and I am concerned. Do you think this might be a lack of calcium? At the moment Sunny just loves seeds I do offer other things to his diet (fruits/Vegetable) however he eats very little of. I want to thank you for your help in advance…

[judygram]

Then it might be time you paid a visit to the avian vet to check it out, yes the beak does not stay black and shiny but that discoloration on the edge would concern me, let us know what you find out.

[tbird]

I also want to mention that I touched his beak were the discoloration is (middle of beak) and it is smooth not rough or ridges.

[danmcq]

When Dayo was that young, I remembered he too had a little discoloration like that as well around that age. I went back through my photo archives and found one to illustrate. It is normal in many greys to have this as they age from infant to 12 months old or so. I do not remember when it just slowly went away, but it did.

 

Here is an upclose crop of the photo back when he was around 7 or 8 months old. You can see it coming in at the top. It slowly moved down as the beak grew over months and just vanished.

 

[tbird]

Hi Dan, That really looks like what Sunny has but just a bit more. Around what age did it vanished for Dayo? and Thanks for taking out the time for the helpful post.

[danmcq]

It took a little over a year for it to slowly drift down from the top to the bottom as his beak grew. Here is a photo I just cropped that was taken a year later than the previous photo. You can see it is now down near the tip. I cannot find any pictures I took after this that Dayo has the slight horn coloring in. I would "guesstimate" it was gone about 3 to 6 months after this photo.

 

Edited October 13, 2010 by danmcq

[tbird]

Wow! What a great looking bird you have Dan . I will be taking Sunny soon to the vet for another physical the last time he was at the vet was about three months ago and the Doctor told me that he is a big bird with a big bone structure however, Sunny is in great shape. Thanks again for sharing I do feel much better….