# Question about Beak and Cage



## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Hi, my cockatiel is 8 months old and has developed this greyish marking on her beak over the last few days. At first I thought she had just taken the lid off of a pen and smeared some ink onto it, but it doesn't wash off and seems to have gotten slightly bigger. What could this be - is it anything I should worry about? 

Secondly (since I didn't want to make a new post) how is her cage? I bought the biggest one I could afford and just today made a scavenging area at the bottom after reading Liz's guide (she loves it!) It has five different types of branches but my husband thinks it's a bit cluttered. Is there anything I should change or improve? She's always allowed to come and go as she pleases and is outside of her cage (usually on top or with me) for most of the day.

Thanks for your input on my two questions,
Emi


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## Clairey331 (Oct 21, 2009)

It definatley looks quite small. When you can afford it, i would upsize it for a much larger cage. She looks happy...and cheeky at that! Derek, one of my males, beak changed quite alot, it went darker, but alot darker than your birdies. Im not sure at what age his changed at though, hes 7 and a half now, but it has changed alot over the years, you will find their beaks do darken quite abit.


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## Mythara (Apr 9, 2009)

I'm glad she likes her foraging area. =) How big is her cage? The minimum recommended is 24" x 24" (length and width), but general guidance is to buy the biggest you can afford. Bigger is always better. Our two share and have a 32" x 19" x 40" cage, which they really enjoy, but I've seen a couple of bigger cages around that I'd love to buy them, if we ever have a spare few hundred pounds, lol. I don't think your cage looks cluttered, but really you should go by what your bird likes - for example, our budgies like to have room to jump and flit around their cage, so their cage has plenty of space and smaller toys. They aren't big on foraging so they only have a few foraging toys, although I'm trying to coax them to use more. The cockatiels on the on the other hand have a pretty full cage - they like to be busy, so they have either two toys or a toy and a foraging toy within reach of every perch (some toys are reached by two or three perches). They don't really fly around in their cage, but they do fly around a lot more out of the cage than the budgies do. Our two also have to entertain themselves most of the day while I'm at work, so their cage is more important to them, than a bird who spends most of their time out of their cage. If your husband thinks your cage is cluttered, show him ours, lol. The blocks and things all over the floor, are from Lofty emptying her foraging cups earlier, lol.

Also rotate toys every now and then, I don't really have a set routine for rotating them, but I think it works out to one or two toys swapped a week. For example, I just finished making a toy and got it photographed (at the same time as I did the cage), it's now replaced one of the toys in the photo, which then went into the budgies cage, in place of a toy the budgies haven't been playing with.

As far as the beak goes, it's probably a bruise. Lofty had one a while ago. Have you seen her bang her beak against anything? The mark will grow out quite quickly, and if it doesn't bother her, I wouldn't worry about it too much. =)


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Thanks for your replies. I think it's a bruise because I saw her hit into the wall when she flew over to my husband's desk the other day. She usually is really skillful and lands on his folder and messes around on his desk with him, but she was clumsy the other day. I'm glad it's nothing to worry about and I'll watch it; I had no idea beaks could bruise!

I just measured and her cage is 20x25x16 . We're moving next year for grad school - it will be a 2,500 km road trip - and I've decided to definitely buy her a bigger cage after we move. I'd be more worried about it now if she wasn't outside of it for the majority of the day, but thank you both for your advice!


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Oh I make her new toys all of the time, rotate them, and they're situated in her favourite perching areas (husband's desk, play area, and the standing fan). I found some sticks and bought this wooden string, beads, and this palm-paper for birds and I've made some neat stuff. She also quite enjoys dropping coins and pens off of my husband's desk - weird bird!


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## Mythara (Apr 9, 2009)

Clawsworth said:


> She also quite enjoys dropping coins and pens off of my husband's desk - weird bird!


Lol, I think that's a favourite in most houses. It definitely is here. =) Try not to let her have coins though, as some have zinc in them, which can cause heavy metal poisoning. We substituted them with plastic buttons.


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Ooh thanks for letting me know!


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## Clairey331 (Oct 21, 2009)

I did think it looked like a bruise you know!! She must have whacked it hard! Ouch.


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Awww maybe I should clip her wings again... she just seems so happy being able to fly to us and to her favourite spots.


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## Clairey331 (Oct 21, 2009)

I have never clipped or been to the vet to have my birds wings clipped, i have no opinion on whether its a good or bad thing to do really. I would say though, that these birds we have are so intelligent, they learn very quickly where the safe places to land are!


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

I've watched her improve her flight skills and she does these circles around our apartment - it's so cute. As of now I'm thinking I won't clip them until we move unless someone has a good point about why I should. We live in a studio apartment and she's not near the door, we never go on the patio, and the ceiling fan is always off. I don't see any hazard that she could get herself into besides being clumsy and bruising her beak... poor bird! She doesn't seem to be in any pain though, and she's happily preening on my husband's knee right now hehe.


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## Clairey331 (Oct 21, 2009)

Derek flew into a wall once when i first got him....he never did it again after that! Lol. He just stays on me fullstop, doesnt fly off, only very rarely if hes spooked, but thats not very often, and when he does fly off, he always comes straight back to me.


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## Clairey331 (Oct 21, 2009)

I do a certain whistle, he says come on, then i put my hand up, and he flies straight to it. I have been doing this with him since he was 9 weeks old though, hes 7 now, so it might be worth a try that you can train your girl to come back to you on command.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

One of my Cockatiels that I hand-fed from 3 weeks old used to run into walls when he started fledging. His beak is still bruised and he's a year old now.

Here's a photo of him


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Clairey331 said:


> I do a certain whistle, he says come on, then i put my hand up, and he flies straight to it. I have been doing this with him since he was 9 weeks old though, hes 7 now, so it might be worth a try that you can train your girl to come back to you on command.


Woah, that sounds really neat. How'd you train him to do that? And wow, bruises can be permanent?


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

More then likely. Charlies has been bruised since then, I thought there was something wrong at first because I thought the bruise would go away.


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## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

it's defiantly a bruise even the best fliers miss judge their landing sometimes 

ya know those walls just jump right out in their path and all LMAO

that's the excuse I use when I run into a wall or door frame - Man it just jumped right out in front of me


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

Bruises on beaks can grow out but it can take some time. I noticed your toy with the rope tassels on it, I would trim them. You would not want a tied up tiel


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## Clairey331 (Oct 21, 2009)

Clawsworth said:


> Woah, that sounds really neat. How'd you train him to do that? And wow, bruises can be permanent?


I really dont know how i did it. It just happened! I would suggest that you get a good bond with your bird first. When he flies off and perches on something else, have some millet at hand (i didnt need to use it, however your tiel is older than Derek was) show him the millet, hold your arm up with your finger out, call your command, he may think what the ****, but im sure when he gets hungry he will fly to your hand. Keep doing it every 5 minutes or so, using your command with hand up etc. Im sure he will soon get the picture! Good luck. Me and Derek just bonded straight away and everything else just came naturally.

I have a 5 month old tiel, and he has just started to fly back to me after spooking himself! Ha ha, he only flies on my head at the moment, but will soon be teaching him to fly to hand. Hes still very new to the family, so i have been giving him time to settle in. So far hes doing very well!


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## Mythara (Apr 9, 2009)

Ours recall too, although ours come to their names.  We taught them pretty much the way Clair described.


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Thanks! I'm going to start trying that right away. We're already pretty bonded; she'll come over to me on her own when I'm on the laptop and perch on my shoulder, and she's _tried_ to fly to my arm before (for no reason) but freaked out at the last minute and flew somewhere else since she had trouble landing.


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## Rocky's Rose (Jun 24, 2008)

I haven't clipped my female cockatiel's wings but the male's are. I don't really agree or disagree with clipping the wings, but I can tell you that if your tiels wings aren't clipped then you should have anything like windows or mirrors covered up. 
My breeding pair had a clutch of two chicks and one was just begining to fly and he was in my room with my sister. I warned her that he was starting to fly and to watch him and then I went downstairs to get some apples. Well my sister yelled down to me to come upstairs quickly. The chick (Screech) had flew up when his mother came out of the cage and he flew right into the window. Well his head was turned around facing backwards and he was just laying in my sister's hands. He was still breathing so I gently massaged his neck to check if anything felt abnormal. I didn't feel anything and eventually his head turned back around and he was looking better. He slept for awhile but afterwards he was fine and now he a very happy bird that talks all the time. My friend owns him now.
If you don't want to clip his wings then just make sure anything that can hurt hime is covered up.


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Thanks  We live in apartment and her wings are not clipped now and the window / patio door can't even open (long story). She is certainly a skilled flier now, but the bruise on her beak seems to be growing and becoming darker... I hope it's healing. I think I'll let her keep her flight feathers until we move because she seems to love flying!


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Erm, that was a failure. I think she knew what I wanted, but I stood there with millet in hand saying "Nimbus!" for a while, and she'd fly to me and wouldn't be confident enough to actually land and then she'd fly past me onto the fan... my husband even tried bringing her to my arm when I said the command but it didn't help. Any suggestions?


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## Mythara (Apr 9, 2009)

Start with your hand just a couple of inches from her, so she can hop on, then slowly increase the distance she has to go.


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## Clawsworth (Nov 9, 2009)

Heh　I　ｔｒieｄ　ｄoiｎg　ｔｈaｔ　ｂuｔ　ｓｈe　ｓeeｍｓ　ｎeｒｖouｓ　ｄoiｎｇ　aｎｙｔｈiｎｇ　ｂeｓiｄeｓ　ｓｍaｌｌ　ｈoｐｓ。　I'll　ｋeeｐ　aｔ　iｔ　ｔｈouｇｈ！＾＾


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