Many bird owners wonder whether they should trim or file their pet bird's beak. We as pet owners like to know we are doing the right thing by them, after all we are wholly responsible for each and every animal that we have. It is important to keep an eye on any changes in your bird's beak, from over growing, under growing, discoloured, cracked, changing shape, becoming soft, becoming brittle, too shiny, improper alignment of top and bottom beaks etc, etc. Anything that is changing from what is normal for your bird is best to be checked out by an avian veterinarian. Don't wait until it is too late, as some problems are caused by diet and can be overcome quite easily, just by changing or adding different foods and introducing items that can keep the bird's beak in tip top shape.
Our Quaker Parrot, Charlie, loves to chew on branches from trees that we place around the house, both indoors and outside. Once he has chewed all of the outside layer from them we replace them with new branches. He loves to climb all over the branches and chews to his hearts content, whilst it is very messy it also keeps him amused. We have different shapes and sizes of branches so as he has to open his beak in different ways. We also give him different textures of food, both raw vegetables and fruit along with bird seed that we purchase from good pet stores. We have a cuttlebone placed here and there but he is not very keen on them, along with calcium bells. Charlie is still only young, about one year old, but we are very aware that any bird can have a beak problem, so we keep a careful eye on him. Even when he is on our shoulders on our clothes protector, a bird bib we give him things to chew on.
As I said before many pet bird owners ask themselves should they trim or file their bird's beak, well yes, sometimes it is necessary, but as always prevention is better than cure. Try to give your bird, whether it is a Quaker parrot, Budgerigar, Cockatiel, Parrot, Canary, Parakeet just to name a few, a variety of items including food that will help control their beak and keep them in a healthy state. If you are at all worried about your bird's beak don't hesitate to take it to a veterinarian, an avian veterinarian if possible. The veterinarian is the best person to trim any bird's beak and will show you how you can file it yourself if you ask them. If you want to trim the beak yourself please check it out with the vet first as there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. You can cause the beak to bleed and it can be very painful to your pet bird. You don't won't to hurt your pet bird, after all. as well We believe that clipping both wings is the best thing for our Quaker Parrot.
