Parrots are great pets to have because of their personality and how friendly and endearing they are to most types of pet owners. They are great pets to have if you want to entertain your guests and are very affectionate towards you if you are feeling down or if you just simply need someone to be around you when you want some sort of company. However, parrots also need your care whenever they suffer from all sorts of different physical conditions.
Taking care of a parrot is not always the easiest thing to do, especially if you have one that is suffering from one of the most common types of conditions for parrots to have. Scissor beak is a physical deformity that can have serious complications if your parrot does not get used to such a condition. Although scissor beak is not something too serious that can threaten your parrot’s life, you may still want to correct it or have it corrected if you noticed that your bird is not as healthy as it should be.
What is scissor beak?
Scissor beak or crooked beak is the condition wherein the upper and lower portions of your parrot’s beak do not meet and will cause some sort of deformity that will make its beak look crooked. There are plenty of reasons why this happens as experts have come to conclude that there is no exact cause of scissor beak. This could be the result of a hereditary trait passed along in its genetics, or it could be the result of improper handling and feeding when it was still young. Oftentimes, beak overgrowth can also be the reason as to why scissor beak happens.
Whatever the reason for scissor beak is, this is one of the more common physical deformities in parrots and can be dangerous when left untreated. First off, parrots will find it more difficult to eat when their beaks do not meet because they will have problems with chewing their food. However, parrots are brilliant and smart animals that can adapt to such a situation. As long as your parrot is used to its scissor beak, it will learn how to eat even with such a condition.
The second reason why scissor beak can be potentially dangerous is the more alarming one. When the parrots upper and lower beaks do not meet, this will allow one of them to overgrow. The constant grinding between the upper and lower beaks actually keeps them in check so that one does not overgrow. However, if they do not meet, the beaks won’t get checked, and one can possibly overgrow and eventually pose a threat to the bird’s health. There was a case wherein the parrot’s upper beak was so overgrown that it got embedded at the side of its face. You wouldn’t want that to happen to your parrot in any case.
However, there is some good news here. Scissor beak is not something that is permanent as there are now different ways that can be used to correct it in a similar way as there are ways to correct crooked teeth in humans. There are ways that can be used to correct a bird’s crooked beak so that your pet does not have to live with this condition for the rest of its life.
Done only by professionals
If you have crooked teeth and you are looking for ways to have it corrected, you do not want to go do it yourself since, do you? Braces and retainers are some of the ways that can help you correct your crooked teeth, but you always want to get professional help when trying to get braces or retainers. That is because you are untrained, and trying to put on braces or retainers is a recipe for disaster because of how you might get injured in the process. In the worst-case scenario, you might even end up worsening your teeth if you try to do it yourself.
The same can be said when it comes to correcting your bird’s scissor beak. If you are not a vet or a trained expert or professional in the field of pet care, then there is no reason why you should attempt to try to correct your parrot’s crooked beak in the same way as you do not want an untrained person to fix your crooked teeth. While there are ways you can use to try to correct a parrot’s crooked beak, you should never do it yourself, or you should never leave it for an untrained person to do because of the chances of worsening the condition or even injuring the parrot can be pretty high.
Instead, always leave the job for an expert or a vet to do instead of doing home remedies that are unsafe for your untrained hands to do. Never try to correct your parrot’s scissor beak if you have not trained in it or if you did not spend several years studying animal health care. Always go to a vet or a trained professional or expert if you want your parrot’s scissor beak to get corrected.
How experts correct crooked beaks
A parrot’s beak is something that can grow almost indefinitely and will always be in the middle of constant growth. The good news about that is that vets are able to remodel the beak because it is still growing. Experts and other professionals tend to use common items such as cuticles to reshape a beak to where it is supposed to be. This usually involves repetition, patience, and consistent work to try to reshape the beak over a long period of time.
Depending on how severe the condition is, the remodeling will take some time, but it will eventually work by encouraging the beak to grow in the right direction. This is usually easier in younger parrots because their beaks are not yet as fully grown as an adult’s. However, adult parrots with crooked beaks can still have their condition reworked and reshaped by qualified vets and pet care specialists and experts.
In Queensland, a breakthrough method of correcting a parrot’s scissor beak has been developed to make it easier for vets to reshape the beak back into where it is supposed to be. The media calls this the “birdie braces” as it works in a similar way to the braces that humans wear if they want their crooked teeth to get corrected. These braces work by putting tension on the beak so that they will eventually grow towards the right place instead of the wrong direction.
The vets involved in this breakthrough procedure claim that it will be harder to correct crooked beaks for adult parrots because their bones have already calcified. However, they say that it is still possible for adults to get their scissor beaks corrected, but it will take about six months to do so. For juveniles and younger parrots who are showing early signs of crooked beaks, it will be easier for the vets to use the new breakthrough procedure because their beaks are still softer. It can take as early as two weeks for this procedure to correct scissor beaks in younger parrots.
