FINCHforum

Hey guys!

Does anyone know how to treat Avian Keratin Disorder? One of my birds has it and while google will tell me potential causes, it doesn't give me possible treatments. Right now the only thing I can do is take a dremel to her beak every other week to keep it looking normal, but as of today, she now only has one nostril. (The other nostril has uh, disappeared pretty much).

I'm using coconut oil right now, but would argan oil be safe to use? One site suggested rubbing a bit of tea tree oil on the bird's beak but I'm super iffy about that cause I know darn well tea tree oil can very easily kill birds.

I'll try and get her to a vet as soon as I can, but there's only one avian vet in the city and they're always booked, to the point that when my bourke was attacked by my cat, I couldn't take her in to be looked at (she recovered just fine, btw). They're also horrendously expensive and tend to be very rough with small birds.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Vitamin A deficiency seems to be related to overgrown beak problems from what I've learned from avian vets. But I've never heard of it referred to as avian keratin disorder, so maybe different. It is likely to be diet related. What kind of bird is it and what do you feed. Is this the only bird with that problem? I would not take my bird to a vet who was "rough" on small birds.

wildbird

Pig is a house sparrow. I've had her for about six or seven years but it only showed up maybe a year or two ago.

Avian Keratin Disorder is basically when a bird's beak (and sometimes leg scales and feathers) suddenly start to grow abnormally fast. It mostly affects wild birds (chickadees and crows) so I have no idea where or how Pig could have caught it. None of my zeebs or societies have it, so I've ruled out fungal infection or mites being the cause.

She eats the same thing they all do (a finch seed mix with veggies and egg thrown in every now and then and vitamin supplements in the water). I'll start giving her Vitamin A (and Iodine) rich foods to see if that helps.

The roughness is them grabbing the birds a bit too hard, but I do want to take her to at least get her nostril unblocked.

I had an English Sparrow for 13 years. When he got older, his nostrils would get blocked and I took him to the avian vet. She cleared it out easily. Never had trouble with the beak though. I wouldn't give vitamin A through a supplement, only offer vitamin A rich food. It can be overdosed. I used to feed him some fresh papaya (rich in vitamin A). He would also eat brocoli clipped to the cage. He liked a small piece of sweet cantalope fastened to the cage. The papaya I used to dice into bite sized pieces. You could try some boiled sweet potatoe diced into tiny bite sized pieces. They like cooked sweet corn too. I was advised to feed Harrison's Neonate food, and instructed how to make it into a cracker-like consistency. Just took a half a teaspoon or so of it and add a drop or two of water, then flatten out like you would a pie crust, so it wouldn't be sticky, and cut into tiny bite sized pieces. He loved it! That had all kinds of vitamins in it, and I think was why he lived as long as he did. Good luck with your little house sparrow. She may have inherited a predisposition to her condition.