Broken Beak. Help!

[Dianelys]

hi guys.

My african grey of 10 years flew (despite her trimmed wing) into a ceiling fan and her top beak was severed.

She has about 1/3 of an inch left on it. She bled and was in shock the first day, but she was OK the next day.

Obviously we took her to a vet right away and he examined her and said there were no other injuries. Thank God!

 

The problem is that she just couldn't close her mouth to chew her food so she was having a terrible time eating.

 

Anyway, exactly a week after the accident we took her to another vet, who reattached her beak using an acrylic compound. My bird was fine after that and ate normally the next day. But after having lunch, she tried to climb the outside of her cage and the beak fell off, this time taking even more of the little bit of bone she had left. Again, she bleed a little, but was in good spirits.

 

Now, here is my question: the vet told me that the beak will grow back in about 4 months, so he can either reattach it or just wait it out, with me handfeeding my bird. My vote goes to waiting it out. But, WILL HER BEAK REALLY GROW BACK?

 

I've read contradicting info on the web, so I really have no idea what to believe anymore. Please help!

 

Thanks so much!

Dianellys Morato

[danmcq]

Welcome Dianelys!!

 

OMG!! So sorry to hear of that horrible injury to your Greys Beak. yes, it will grow back. The best solution will probably to handfeed her formula or other healthy and nutritious slurry's.

 

Reattaching the beak with glue again would probably have the same results due to the enormous amount of pressure they are capable of producing when clamping down on something.

 

Looking forward to hearing more from you and reports on progress as your grey starts slowly growing it's beak back. :-)

[nims]

How terrible!! Well im glad your bird is in good spirits. I would start giving your bird a calcium supplement (if you dont already....this will help with the beak re-growing) As Dan said try a variety of slurry foods, hand feeding formula, oatmeal or baby food.

 

Good luck.

 

Nims

[Suzzique]

Yes your birds beak will grow back. Alex chipped a good part of his beak off with a fall. We rushed him to the vet and they got the bleeding stopped. Though his brake was not as bad as your greys. It will grow back. You can't even tell it happened now.

 

I would go with the hand feeding and wait it out.

[BaxtersMom]

Oh, I am so sorry about your birds beak. But I must say both of you are handling it remarkably well and sounds like everything will be okay in the long run. Whew!

 

I don't have any advice for you but wanted to thank you for posting it because I have seen birds with broken beaks and had no idea that they grew back. What a relief.

[dblhelix]

So sorry to hear of this. In most cases the beak will regrow w/o problem provided the "root" is not damaged. Similar to our human fingernails. From how you describe the injury it sounds like it will grow back. However, you may well need to hand feed soft foods for some time since (as you know) w/o the beak they cannot properly eat. In the wild such an injury would probably result in death due to the eating issue but in captivity we can overcome that!

 

I would not jump into any sort of calcium or other supplement w/o a vets advice. This "might" be a good idea, but simply medicating (calicium included) can cause more harm than good in most cases and can be dangerous, particularly if your bird is on a fairly balanced diet.

 

This should also be a lesson of the dangers household fans represent to our precious pets(ceiling and standard fans). Hopefully we can all resensitize ourselves to this and learn from this unfortunate event. Keep up posted on the recovery process. My thoughts are with you both for a quick and complete recovery. B)

[Gaevren]

On my! Poor bird. I never really thought about the danger a ceiling fan could be. Yet another thing to be cautious about!

 

I hope his beak grows back quickly and well

[judygram]

Dianelys, what a horrible accident but those ceiling fans can be very dangerous for our flying babies. Glad to hear that the beak will regrow itself, it just takes time.

 

As the others have said you may have to feed softer foods until her beak grows back enough for her to use.

 

Do keep us posted on her progress and give her an extra little kiss from me.:kiss:

[Dianelys]

hi guys!

Thank you soooo much for the comforting words and advice! You're a terrific gang

Anyway, Bebe (my gray) is doing much better. She's actually eating by herself! It's amazing, but now she grabs food between her tongue and bottom beak and rolls the pieces around and then "throws" them to the top of her tongue. This takes considerably more effort than eating normally, but she's getting the hang of it. This morning she ate some bread and butter (her favorite food, go figure!), and then even tried to talk to me a little, something she hasn't done since the accident.

 

Her beak seems to be doing much better as well, and it has healed remarkably. She even let me use a toothbrush on it to remove left over food.

 

Thanks again! I feel so much better now knowing this is not a permanent injury!

 

Cheers!

Dianelys Morato<br><br>Post edited by: Dianelys, at: 2008/09/21 15:52

[Ina]

Hi, i am so glad to hear she is eating by herself and that she is feeling much better. I could just imagine how you must have felt. My jardine (pepe) once flew of his cage and also broke some of his beack, i called the vet and had to wait for the next day before I could take him. I must say to me it was a major shock as he dripped blood during the night but luckly it was not that bad. He is fine now. Just be patient and say hi to your grey from all of us.

[Ina]

Hi, i am so glad to hear she is eating by herself and that she is feeling much better. I could just imagine how you must have felt. My jardine (pepe) once flew of his cage and also broke some of his beack, i called the vet and had to wait for the next day before I could take him. I must say to me it was a major shock as he dripped blood during the night but luckly it was not that bad. He is fine now. Just be patient and say hi to your grey from all of us.

[Ina]

Hi, i am so glad to hear she is eating by herself and that she is feeling much better. I could just imagine how you must have felt. My jardine (pepe) once flew of his cage and also broke some of his beack, i called the vet and had to wait for the next day before I could take him. I must say to me it was a major shock as he dripped blood during the night but luckly it was not that bad. He is fine now. Just be patient and say hi to your grey from all of us.