Scissors beak

[Kelley]

Hi guys, I'm curious to know if anyone else here has a bird (or past experience) with "scissors beak" where the mandibles grow crooked and cross each other. My grey has apparently had this since she was young, and you can see in one of the pictures below that there is a distinct groove in the upper mandible where the two rub together. I take her to the vet about every three months to get it filed because by that time it gets pretty ragged, but she doesn't have any issues eating/climbing/preening/biting either way. (The bites are less painful after she's filed, though!)

 

Has anyone else had to deal with this, and if so, how often did you get your bird's beak filed? Did it impede your bird's activities at all? Any other opinions?

 

 

 

(P.S. She can't fly, she's missing most of her primaries for mysterious reasons, so she can't escape the porch! Don't worry!)

[Dave007]

The problem isn't rare. More than likely, the bird was born with that shqpe. People get it filed at different times. There's no set amount of time that it needs to be done. Some are more severe so frequent filing is needed. Your bird's upper and lower beak are close together so it shouldn't be a big problem. She may be uncomfortable by the time that 3 mts is up but it's not painful. If there's no problem with eating then things are cool. It shouldn't impede anything that the bird does. Have a few pieces of wood in the cage so that she can chew it when she feels like it. It's good for the muscles. It may even help her to slightly file the beak a little.