my pigeon has a cracked beak tip...

[glamrckgrl]

My pigeon sweetie had cracked off the very tip, the curved part of his beak, a couple months ago. I took him to my vet, who is an avian vet, they said it would grow back and it did. They gave him meloxicam, for the pain. he wasnt biting with alot of pressure, and after a few days he was fine, and the tip grew back. Since then he seemed to have a tiny slice near the tip of beak, i noticed it a week ago, he started having trouble picking up seed two days ago, so i started to give him the meloxicam again, well today i heard it crack when i was giving him the meloxicam. the part is still there, but its half on. does anyone know if they can fix the tip? The crack goes up a little further than the tip.

[pdpbison]

Hi glamrckgrl,


I have not tried this myself, but I have kept it in mind in case I was needing to deal with something like what you describe...

Which is, a fast-acting hi-strength adhesive such as eastman 9-10, "Super Glue" or generally, any of the Cyranoacrilate adhesives.

Some of these will have more or less 'open time', meaning the (usually few) seconds you have between appying it and when it kicks, or sets. In use, the parts must be held perfectly aligned, these do not tend to be what is called 'gap filling', and, they act fast, so one must hold the piece perfectly for the couple of seconds ( usually) it takes for the adhesive to go from being a thin clear liquid, to where it crystalizes or catalizes and becomes an ahering solid.



Hobby Stores sell various kinds and various versions of it with a range of open time or working time ratings. And, if you like, talk to them about your situation and get their input on the open times of the various ones they have.

Now, as far as I know, the fumes these kinds of glue will give off in the brief moment of their 'kicking', when they set and bind whatever one is useing them to glue together...I believe these fumes would be dangerous for a Bird, and I know form my useing them for small repairs, that they will irritate my eyes and nose, so...bear that in mind. Maybe you could cover the Bird's eyes anyway, if you decide to try this.

Please ask your Vet or some Avian Vet in your area ( or maybe some of our members have experience in this to relay to you) if they advocate or have ever tried this, and or precautions for the Bird's safety form the momentary fumes possible irritating effects or toxicity.

I heard it from a Vet a few years ago, and they did not elaborate, they just said "If you ever have a cracked beak or a broken Beak, you can glue it back with 'Superglue'..." - Where I just said "Cool..."

But they said nothing about the momentary fumes, which I know should be considered.

I myself can not think of anything else that might work, unless one were to fashion some dlicately perfect prosthesis of some kind which would also allow for how the Beak will continue to grow.

Golly...

Good luck...

P.S. - I had a feral Pigeon a long time ago who from an infection too far advanced when I found him, lost his Beak, top and bottom. He survived the infection, ragained his health and vitality and luster, and in not too long a time became completely, radiantly recovered in every way otherwise. It took him a ling time to learn to eat without posessing a Beak anymore, during which time I and my girlfriend used to feed him by holding seeds one at a time, between finger tiips, dried Peas usually, where he would sort of peck at them, and manage to get them down...this went on for quite a few weeks, and he eventually get the knack for eating seeds from a little dish, and dried Canadian Peas were easiest for him to manage...

I know if their Beaks are hurt or for some reason are shortened on the top or bottom, it throws off their co-ordination habits for pecking effectively to eat.

Phil

[relofts]

You need to have his beak condition corrected properly, now a days most of the vets are using a dremel which allows the shaping of the beak as well as smoothing, once the beak starts to grow out then you will know if this is going to be an upkeep that you will need to do about every 3 to 6 months or if the shaping is going to help to refigure the beak. The beak of a bird is one of the absolute most sensitive part of their body they have more little nerve sensors there then any place else I think, if they get the slightest bit of food or anything on there watch what they do, they can't wait to get anything off of there that might get on there, so my vet actually gives my birds a gas and they sleep while he does this, it usually takes a few days for the sensitivity to go away so I give small seeds to them, but this is also parrots that I am talking about, well I hope this helps you.

Ellen

[glamrckgrl]

Thanks for the replies on the cracked beak tip. It fell off during the night, but it wasn't as large as I thought it was. I took him to my vet today, and he said beacause he is a house bird, and doesnt have anything to grind his beak on, his little hook that he gets at the end of his beak, is probably causing it to break. He suggested that i when it grows back, to fry filing it down with an emery board. He also showed me where the blood vessels are on the beak, with a little light he shined on the beak, you could see them.