FINCHforum

From learning all that I have learned from this forum and am still learning I am noticing some things on some of my very first gouldians. One of my gouldians looks like he has a beak kind of like a hookbill. It doesnt curve down but the top of the beak (upper mandible?) curves like a hookbills before it evens out with the bottom part of the beak. I didn't want to catch him and put him though unnecessary stress just to get a picture but my question is, is it some sort of genetic fault? Should I not breed this bird or is it just a bird to bird thing.

Hi dayna,

Without seeing a picture it is impossible to tell. Depending how sharp the curve is it could result it other congenital beak defects in offspring. Can you maybe just get a shot thru cage bars??

Here are some pics. Luckily for me he's pretty good about pictures and was at the very front of the cage when I went in there

These are very pretty - they are so expensive where I came from

I definitely wouldn't say his beak is perfect. From here it looks like his top beak is shorter then his lower. This may be genetic so if you are trying to breed for good conformation I wouldn't put this one to put in my breeding program.
Interested to hear what Tiffany thinks, she's better at show quality then I am.

Has his beak always been like that - from birth? Or did he chip the end of it off. I would think it should grow in to match the length of the lower mandible.

It's always been like that. What looks to be like him missing the front top of his beak is actually the part I'm asking about. It's not broke off its some kind of growth growing over top of the top of his beak. The tip that looks to be the bottom is actually the top. His beak lines up perfectly but it's this growth that has me stumped. Is it due to too much calcium maybe?

Forgot to add it used to be worse. The entire beak used to be huge but he was my first gouldian so I didn't know any different. It seems to be peeling back somewhat...

It looks like there is a crusty top layer or something on the top of the beak. If you can catch him, can you scrape it back at all with your nail?

I caught him. I can't scrape it back at all it's really hard. It's also lighter colored than his beak and has lots of lines or scratches that almost look like the small lines or scratches you would find on a sea shell or a stone from wear over the years if that makes any sense. The best way I could describe it would be when you take a bunch of layers and you file them down so you just see the lines of where each new layer began. I hope this makes even the least bit of sense. I tried getting pictures but they didn't turn out.