# Fragile Beak?



## zohie (Apr 3, 2010)

Hey guys,

I started noticing that Joo Joo was having bits of his beak chip off near the edges of the beak. I know they do molt their beak gradually. But today it looks much worst. I've taken some photos. He does have chunks of wood and stuff to chew on in the cage but I've never noticed him chewing on it. He just hangs out on my shoulders all day. I'm a little alarmed cuz I've never noticed this in my budgies..that, and the tiel's beak is bigger! It also looks like the beak is loosing its gloss as it normally should be. Any ideas? Is this normal? I'm also not sure what all that white fuzzy stuff it, it is probably tiel dust/dander because when I mist him it goes away (I think).

This is my first tiel  I haven't seen my budgies go through anything like this so I'm a little unsure. If you look at the edges of his beak you can see how much it is chipping off.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi,

I think you are getting a little paranoid, I can’t see nothing wrong with his beak.

I think the white fuzzy stuff is likely to be the dust, grease build up on his beak from preening his feathers which contain dust and oils, but it looks pretty normal to me, I have 3 and none of my birds beaks have a high gloss finish to them, lol

If you are worried make sure he has a cuttle bone, for calcium, and he gets sunlight regularly, not filtered through a window, that doesn’t work, without sunlight they can have problems producing the calcium because of lack of vitamin D (I think). (birds beaks are like are nails, we need calcium to grow them.

If you don’t have regular sunshine or it is too cold where you live, maybe you should look into getting a bird UV lamp for him.

Does he have regular baths? this will help with keeping the his body dust down.

If you like I can post pictures of all 3 of my birds beaks for you to compare, let me know?

Jenny


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## zohie (Apr 3, 2010)

Thanks for the reply! I had a bad case of mites before with my budgies (a year ago) and I was wondering if this was how it presented in tiels (the white fuzz) so I was very paranoid - got a slap on the back of head too because I couldn't sit still lol . When I brought him home 3 weeks ago he looked so clean and glossed up, I thought I might be doing something wrong. 

He does have a cuttle bone, I've spotted him chewing on it on two occasions. And he does get sunlight  I sit with him in the sun at least 4 times a week after his morning baths.

Thanks again for your reply, much appreciated


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

You might want to try gently rubbing the upper beak with a cloth or your finger to see whether the white stuff is something that Joo Joo has gotten into (like dust or even a bit of spider web) or if it's part of the beak.

If it seems like part of the beak/cere then it's a bit unusual-looking but it doesn't necessarily mean that something is wrong. If something in your home is significantly different than what he was used to before (for example a substantial difference in humidity) then it's possible to see some physical changes as he adapts to his new environment.


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## zohie (Apr 3, 2010)

I just did what you recommended and the white fuzz between the nares does not wipe off.
His cere was totally clean when I bought him home from the pet store.

first day home:
http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm260/zohiie/birds/?action=view&current=DSC01272.jpg

Him after I cleaned him (I misted him and I wiped his beak/cere with towel)

http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm260/zohiie/birds/?action=view&current=trio20.jpg

I hope he is just adjusting to something because I'm sure my home condition is better than the pet store's :O. At home he has a huge cage to himself and an air filter cleaning his air 

I am thinking it is normal after I looked at some tiel photos on google. Just a new mom over-reacting :blush:


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## Kerry78 (May 25, 2009)

It also looks normal to me,
there beaks are like finger nails so are constantley growing, the Birds will rub there beaks on perches and branches to keep the beak from getting long too.


Don't worry about him he looks in great condition


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## cinnamon (Jul 16, 2009)

The first thing I thought is fungus. I would have him looked at if he were mine. And I don't use the vet too often. I did look at your earlier pics and he didn't have it then.


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## cinnamon (Jul 16, 2009)

Hi Zohie, how is your tiel doing now? Is the fuzz still on his beak?


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## zohie (Apr 3, 2010)

cinnamon said:


> Hi Zohie, how is your tiel doing now? Is the fuzz still on his beak?


Thanks everyone for the input  I did have Joo Joo go to a full wellness check when I first brought him home and he checked out just fine. I called my vet about the fuzz and asked if it was worth taking the tiel in (the vet is pretty far away and I didn't want to drive there for nothing). The vet saw the pic and said it was probably just tiel dust and give him time. 

It didn't come off with a damp towel as I mentioned, but he's _very_ fidgety. I tried it again this morning, after I misted him I held him down (which he made vocally clear that he did not appreciate it ) and used a q-tip to wipe between his nares. Most of the fuzz came off. I think everyone was right -- just a combination of tiel dust and oil. But it was very hard to get off.

Thanks again everyone for the input


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi, 

So it wasn’t dust on his nare like I thought it could have been, I did ask Hubby who used to breed birds and hid dad Budgies, the first thing Hubby said was it could be scaly face, which is caused by a mite.

Here is a link to a site on budgies who have scaly face,http://www.birds-online.de/gesundheit/gesparasiten/grabmilben_en.htm it looks bad I know, but if you look at the picture of the bird with the first stages of it, it does look very similar to yours.

Hubby said provided it is treated it will not become a problem, he also said your bird must have been infected with the mites before you purchased, so you could try taking him back to where you purchased from and get them to cover the treatment costs?

Hubby thinks you should also be able to buy the treatment in the pet stores (he could in the UK) you just apply with a cotton bud, he said it wouldn’t do the bird any arm if it wasn’t scaly face and you treated it for it.

Anyway the budgie site I have attached the link to also explains treatment.

Let us know how you get on

Jenny


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Whoops, I have just noticed your reply, just keep it in mind should it reappear soon.

Jenny


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## spraymillet (Mar 2, 2010)

Jenny, that's scary looking! How common is this in a well-cleaned home environment??


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi Spraymillet,

I wasn’t sure on this so asked Hubby again, lol. 

He said you would be very unlikely to get this condition on a bird that was inside, when his Dad,s budgies ever got it was likely passed on from wild birds/animals as they were kept outside in a aviary.

I guess if Zohie’s bird did have this, it could have even been passed on in the pet shop if they have a large turnover of birds, which the majority would probably be aviary birds kept outside.

So if you have had your bird a while I really wouldn’t worry about it.

Jenny


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

I don't think that tiels are prone to scaley mites like budgies. Many of these parasites are species specific.

Another cause could be if the humidity in the environment is very low.

His beak looks normal.


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