Zebra finch injury and beak trimming
Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:53 pm
About a month ago I'd been on vacation and when I returned I found one of my female zebras had done something a bit bizarre (or so it seems to me). Somehow she had managed to get her beak stuck in her skin. I've had ongoing issues with both of my females overgrooming and ending up with some baldish patches. I assume she was plucking at herself on her back above the wing with her head turned, and somehow pierced her skin with her beak. When I saw it, her head was stuck in a turned position and her beak was firmly embedded in her skin. The skin itself was purplish and angry/bruised looking. Unfortunately I can't remember if it was top or bottom beak that was stuck.
I don't know exactly how long she'd been like that, as I'd been away for about 10 days. I caught her and used some nail clippers to trim both her beak and the bit of dried skin away to get her free. It was a bit of a trial by fire, so to speak, since I've never needed to do anything medical to my birds. I honestly wasn't sure she was going to survive, since I wasn't sure how long she'd been without adequate food or water plus the stress and trauma to the body, but she seemed to recover well.
She still seems a bit "slim" or light compared to the others, and her feathers are in a bit of a rough state - patchy and bald spots and tufts sticking out in weird directions - but I've been assuming that's just her body and feathers trying to recover and regrow (aside from the self-plucking that I'm sure she's still doing). And her beak had gotten a bit out of sorts. The bottom was longer than the top and they'd crossed at the tip.
I did another beak trim to try and even it back out last night, but I'm cautious to trim too much and cause a bigger problem where she can't eat. It's still not perfect - the bottom seems a little wide in comparison to normal and the alignment isn't spot on with the upper beak kicking a little to the left.
I'm wondering if there's more I should do to try and help her recover or if there's a good schedule to follow to try and reshape the beak in small amounts without overdoing it (kind of like slowly trimming a dog's overgrown nails back to avoid "quicking" them).
Nutrition has been a real battle with this batch of zebras, as they will really only eat a few types of seeds and very select types of veggies and no fruit. And over the last month or so they haven't been that interested in their usual produce or egg offerings.
I don't know exactly how long she'd been like that, as I'd been away for about 10 days. I caught her and used some nail clippers to trim both her beak and the bit of dried skin away to get her free. It was a bit of a trial by fire, so to speak, since I've never needed to do anything medical to my birds. I honestly wasn't sure she was going to survive, since I wasn't sure how long she'd been without adequate food or water plus the stress and trauma to the body, but she seemed to recover well.
She still seems a bit "slim" or light compared to the others, and her feathers are in a bit of a rough state - patchy and bald spots and tufts sticking out in weird directions - but I've been assuming that's just her body and feathers trying to recover and regrow (aside from the self-plucking that I'm sure she's still doing). And her beak had gotten a bit out of sorts. The bottom was longer than the top and they'd crossed at the tip.
I did another beak trim to try and even it back out last night, but I'm cautious to trim too much and cause a bigger problem where she can't eat. It's still not perfect - the bottom seems a little wide in comparison to normal and the alignment isn't spot on with the upper beak kicking a little to the left.
I'm wondering if there's more I should do to try and help her recover or if there's a good schedule to follow to try and reshape the beak in small amounts without overdoing it (kind of like slowly trimming a dog's overgrown nails back to avoid "quicking" them).
Nutrition has been a real battle with this batch of zebras, as they will really only eat a few types of seeds and very select types of veggies and no fruit. And over the last month or so they haven't been that interested in their usual produce or egg offerings.