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[nicko9]

My pet galah has chipped off part of her beak (on top). She is eating/acting normal. I wasn't sure if this posed any threats to her? Will it grow back? I plan to take her to a vet but in the meantime any info is much appreciated as I'm concerned. Thanks

[spiritbird]

Can you please take a photo and show us. That way we will be better able to tell you if it is normal or will need a visit. Is there any bleeding at all?

[plax]

My pet galah has chipped off part of her beak (on top). She is eating/acting normal. I wasn't sure if this posed any threats to her? Will it grow back? I plan to take her to a vet but in the meantime any info is much appreciated as I'm concerned. ThanksYes, a photo would help us advise you. But if it was the pointed tip that fractured off, I'm fairly certain you have little to worry about. The beak tips tend to grow back fine. My macaws have cracked off their beak tips a few times. As long as a tip fracture point isn't bleeding, or if it is bleeding, as long as you can quickly stop the bleeding, the injury should heal and the beak tip should grow back normally. However, if the fracture entails another part of the upper beak (besides the tip) the injury may be more serious. In any case, I would certainly maintain your plan and have your galah examined by a qualified avian veterinarian as soon as you can.

[Cedardave]

While not a vet and I would never discourage your concerns being attended to by a vet are we talking a chip as in a thin layer has come off or are we talking a large chunk?Minor chips occur both in the wild and our captive birds all the time and can sometimes be resolved by adding a mineral the bird is deficient in.When in doubt the vet is your best bet....I sometimes prefer to assess the stress put on the bird by the visit over the severity of the situation.Please keep us updated.Remember a picture is extremely valuable...could just be a calcium deficiency thats easily correctable

[nicko9]

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Thank you to everyone who replied. There is no bleeding whatsoever. She is as happy and normal as ever. I even caught her stripping bark from a tree branch today. Sorry for the picture quality she would not sit still, hopefully you can see her quite clearly. The chip is not a deep at all. Do you think she is short on calcium? What would be best to give her? Thank you all in advance again for your opinions.

[spiritbird]

Such a pretty bird. Is that her regular cage and do you know what kind of metal it is made from?
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[nicko9]

Thanks, she loves being told she's pretty. I wouldn't know what the cage is made from unfortunately. I will definitely try to find out. She was a rescue bird and to my knowledge this is the cage she's always had. It wasn't easy reading the list of symptoms of metal poisoning.. Really, really hope that is not the case. Do you suspect it is? After seeing the pictures would you say the chip appears normal?

[plax]

Thanks, she loves being told she's pretty. I wouldn't know what the cage is made from unfortunately. I will definitely try to find out. She was a rescue bird and to my knowledge this is the cage she's always had. It wasn't easy reading the list of symptoms of metal poisoning.. Really, really hope that is not the case. Do you suspect it is? After seeing the pictures would you say the chip appears normal?Your bird's cage appears to be of a galvanized (zinc-coated) wire construction. I would try and locate another cage if I were you. If the material flakes off of the wire mesh and she happens to ingest it, or if it finds its way into her water bowl, she may become quite ill.

Her beak looks relatively intact to me. Are you talking about the surface layers just above her upper beak point? If so, it's normal for parrots to slough off the outer layers of beak material, and to do so on a continual basis. Their beaks are constantly growing and the older material is replaced with new undergrowth.

She's a beautiful Galah (RB2)!

[Lady]

Hi Nicko,
Welcome to the forum. Your bird is very pretty. What is her name? I'm sorry, but I can't even see the chipping you speak of on her beak. I'm also thinking it is the normal flaking that happens to their beak like Dave and Tony have already suggested.
It's awesome that you gave her a new beginning and adopted her into your family. Hope you enjoy the forum and tell us all about what it is like to have your Galah.

[Mare]

Hi, nicko9 :). You have a beautiful bird! What's her/his name? I have cockatoos but have never been in cahoots with a Rosie :). Their beaks do flake and chip. I remember years ago being concerned, myself, about this same thing. Here is a pic of my Umbrella cockatoo, taken recently and it isn't pretty![Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]

[Macaw Lover]

Time for a new cage. :th_smile:

[spiritbird]

I would be more concerned about her cage than her beak. I hope you can get her a new cage soon and also have her tested for metal tox as it is treatable if caught in time. Not to scare you but zinc is highly toxic to birds. The tiny metal strip that holds a cuttle bone has been found to contain zinc. The cage your bird is in looks very suspicious.

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[Minamommy]

Your RB2 is so adorable. Amazon has HUGE sales on cages right now and some are free shipping. I just got this one for my U2 Mina. Her beak like Mares Too has little chips in it. Is your bird on a pelleted diet or seed? Pellets are better and less waist.
2731
2732.
I put a picture where you can hopefully see Mina's beak too.


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[Casper's 2nd best friend]

The first thing we did when we took on caring for Casper was to get him a new cage. Get the biggest one you can and once you have found the one you want check on the internet as they can be a lot cheaper mail order than in your local pet store. Casper's cage was about a third cheaper bought on ebay. The same company was advertising them on ebay for all sorts of different prices, some with postage included, some without. It took quite a bit of working out which was the best deal.
We also got Casper a perch covered in abrasive, they are advertised as helping to keep their toe-nails and beaks from growing too long. Well, we still have to clip his nails regularly and we get the vet to trim his beak as it was left for too long by his previous owner and is a bit tricky to do. Even the vet makes it bleed sometimes but he has all the stuff there to correct the bleeding. Anyway, I was writing about the abrasive perch before I side-tracked myself, Casper finds it very useful for removing all the excess food that gets stuck to his beak and he often rubs it anyway, presumably to get the flaky bits of beak off. We then have to clean all the mess of dried food off the perch. A stiff nylon pan brush is good.

[spiritbird]

Not sure if this person is posting any more.

[jtbirds]

If you do happen to see this I would actually advise that galah get its beak groomed slightly. It actually looks a little to long from the normal look. Most galah I have seen and even the one we house as a companion have much smaller beaks that are not so long. the thing is when they get so long and don't chew or if they do and it breaks it could in the future create problems if it does happen to fall and break it could easily snap a larger portion off and create an issue such as bleeding.

[coltfire]

Jt the beak is fine for a gala . they tend to have that longer bit at the end.

[jtbirds]

Steve I am going from personal experience, Now guaranteed I have only met like 10 Galah in my years with these birds they all had much shorter beaks I assume from different diet/ play routines being caged? Always can learn something new:).

[plax]

Justin and Steve... might it be a beak maintenance difference between captive Galahs and wild Galahs? I mean is it possible that Galahs in their natural habitat tend to have longer points than the ones who live as pets? I certainly don't know this to be a true fact... it's merely a thought that crossed my mind. I know that Steve sees and feeds wild Galahs all the time in his backyard.

[jtbirds]

Yes that was kinda of my sentiment, I am slightly curious as the how the difference varies. In my last post adding that caged galahs maybe with diet and playing habits might have this shorter beak because things are easier to obtain, where as maybe with wild galahs a certain food has required them to have a longer beak. Kind of an interesting difference that I can also mention is most eclectus I see in the wild/ play well have a way shorter beak then the ones i usually see through rescue. Most rescue eclectus have very long actually overgrown beaks and I also wonder how that differs I imagine the diet we feed them in captivity is a huge difference.

[coltfire]

The longer pointy beak in the wild is for foraging and getting into those tight spots for the grubs . as for eckies all mine have roughly the same size beaks, which are also the same size as the wild ones I have videos of. in captivity a lot of people don't give their birds enough chew toys or branches for our birds to keep there beaks at right length, as to why we see so many over grown