# Beak problems?



## Eagleeye890 (May 11, 2012)

Recently, I've been taking Luna to the vet once a month to get this trimmed down. It is only on that side and never seemed to bother her eating habits. The other side of her beak is perfectly fine and aligned. Her vet said it could just be a cosmetic issue, since I feed both my tiels fresh vegetables, fruits, and pellets. Here is a picture:


















I also just noticed a small raised bump that is growing on top of the overgrown beak. Any ideas on what these problems could be?


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## Herbie's Mum (Apr 30, 2012)

Herbie had this same problem towards the end of his life from about the age of 25 onwards, although your tiel looks a lot younger. It happened to the right side of his lower beak and his hook area on the top beak would grow very quickly.
Initially we took him to the vet once every six weeks for it to be trimmed, but he got so stressed we started doing it ourselves, which was much easier for the bird.
Unfortunately we never found out what the cause was. We tried lots of things, such as increasing or decreasing cuttle bone, oyster shell, grit etc, all with no change.
Sorry, I know it doesn't help you much, but at least you know your tiel is not the only one it happens to.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

This condition is called Scissor Beak (SB). There are several causes. It can start the nest if the baby had a heavy yeast overgrowth in the mouth, on either side, under the tongue. The yeast contributes to misalignment of the jar. Another cause is while handfeeding, if the handfeeder puts more pressure on one side of the beak than the other. The 3rd possible cause is if there was some type of trauma/injury to the beak. Such as being bit by another bird, or got the beak stuck in something.

This IS fixable. Look at the illustration, specifically numbers 4 and 5. The lower beak has to be trimmed back to this shape *including the v notch.* At the bottom of the illustration is info on physical therapy.

May I please have your permission to save your pixs? I have a file started on beak to hopefully do more illustrations. A special request...the next time you have the beak trimmed post pix with updates.


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## Eagleeye890 (May 11, 2012)

Her condition is not too severe and the vet said that routine trimmings will be an easy fix. He never mentioned anything about scissor beak, since this problem only recently started occurring. But I will definitely post pictures after I take her to the vet and you have my permission to save the pictures. It's good to have a visual guide available for when birdy parents have to deal with problems.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

*since this problem only recently started occurring.*

Have you or your vet checked the inside of her mouth, along and under the tongue for any food or any gunky looking buildup?


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## Eagleeye890 (May 11, 2012)

No, I have not.


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