Charlie's beak is a bit overgrown. (like his toenails ) At his last vet visit they didn't find anything wrong with his blood work to indicate a problem. She told me that the beak naturally grows some but normally a bird will keep it right by chewing on toys, wood, ect. She didn't want to dremel it since it wasn't that long but it's getting longer since he refuses to play with his toys. Our vet has since left for another town and we haven't found a satisfactory replacement yet. Any suggestions on how to get him to gnaw on something? The only way he'll touch a toy is if I'm holding it then he's not playing he's attacking to get it away from him. If I persist then my fingers become a target. Ouch!

You could try whole almonds in the shell, provided Charlie likes almonds.

You may have to half crack a few so he gets the idea that there are yummies in there.

Does he have a cement perch (or something similar)? Casey will rub her beak on her cement perch, and sometimes try to chew on it, I think it helps her beak a little.

We also just bought some almonds in the shell, it's a lot of work for their little beaks, so that could work too. Casey just prefers to call "Come here!" everytime she can't get it to crack open.

Other than wooden toys, I can't think of anything else.

I have a calcium perch that my birds like to chew on. It gives them calcium plus files their beaks down. Maybe you could try one, my guys love it. At first they just sat on it, but now, they go nuts chewing on it.

I have two perches. I swear he rubbed the tip down razor sharp on purpose. Silly guy. I'll definately try the almonds. He goes crazy for nuts so maybe that will do the trick. Thanks for the suggestion!

You can also crack whole walnuts in half and let him work with those as well.

We play a game with the emmerie board, she like to play and it helps her beak. I take my bird to the pet shop where I got her and he does her nails and her wing clip.

I don't know what an overgrown beak looks like. I am worried my Quakers beak is too long. He flew to my house, hes not from a pet store. None of our area vets handle many birds.

Is there a web site that shows beak length? Perhaps gives information on trimming and how to do it without harming the bird?

Thanks
Edie

Perk (our grey) has a scissor beak and his former owners had it trimmed regularly .. We on the other hand have only had to trim it once to shape it properly. I can tell you that I would do anything to prevent having do it again .. bored.gif

He has all kinds of foot toys and every once in awhile the one side will have some overgrowth at which time we offer him one of those treat bars .. they aren't the healthiest thing on the planet but by far better then having it trimmed .. In order to eat it he has to rub his bottom and top beak up the treat bar which files his beak down.

The beak is loaded with nerves and it is painful to have it trimmed/dremelled .. Personally unless it were interfering with eating I wouldn't have it done .. but of course I would follow the lead of a good vet that I trusted. Our vet refuses to trim for cosmetic purposes and will only do so if it is interfering with eating .. then he would suggest a shaping and see if it can be controlled with wood and treats afterwards.

whenever i want my guys to play with something (like a foot toy or a piece of wood or something) i put it in their food bowls! It usually always works

Welcome to the group..
Post a picture of your birds beak and I am sure people here will let you know if its over grown or not...

I have no idea what you could do to encourage Charlie to chew ...my boys love to chew WOOD /bark off washed branches , this might work ...

My vet said to lay Boris on his back in my hand and use a glass nail file to keep the sharp tip off of his beak because he wont chew on toys because he is scared of them and also due to having 2 small children he is also handled by. Boris doesnt mind it he purrrsss so to speak while I do it and is relaxed like a limp noodle HA HA, so thats how I do his nails also. Vet said the glass nail files are not as harsh as a regular emory board.

I opened this thread going to share some of the advice given to me when I asked and lo and behold it was my thread.

Anyway he's not gone for the nut thing. I can post up a pic this weekend of his beak. I didn't get it dremeled for the reason Dee said, I didn't want to hurt him and neither did my vet. He still eats but it looks awfully long compared to other beaks I see on here.

In reading all the responses on this thread I don't see any reference made that a long beak could mean health problems also, like my Harley....I had to change his diet....the color of his beak didn't look right either....I posted a picture of his beak sometime back and if you want to see it again, I'll post it....

So please take note of any health issues that he may/could have....not meaning to scare you, just wanted to run that by you just in case.....

I had Sweet Pea's beak nipped and filed just the tiniest bit this morning at my Avian Vet's office...
She had no problem doing it and Sweet Pea tolerated it well. Capillaries run all through their beaks so it's not advisable to do more. It certainly hasn't changed Sweet Pea's ability to munch on his pellets! Perhaps my fingers will sustain fewer breaks in the skin though...

It is important to make sure that an over grown beak isn't the indication of something physically wrong health wise, so if you feel that its overly long you might want to have your vet run tests to check liver function etc to make sure it isn't something serious causing the over growth and not just him not using his beak on hard objects to keep it trimmed.

i bought boogie a toy once that had donut shaped versions of these on it:

(click for link)

she went absolutely nuts for them - so i bought the more affordable version that's hamster sized and it seems to do a good job on her beak

i used to give them to my rats to make sure their teeth didnt get overgrown

plus its calcium, cant beat that