Honestly this week has been horrific, and I'm designating it the "Week of Bird Horrors 2016". First my green cheek conure, Bowie, somehow crashed into a wall that he has navigated around every day for almost a year, and he broke basically ALL of his outer primary flight feathers on his left wing. They were bent at a 90 degree angle so I had to clip them incredibly short, and now his left wing looks just awful. What's worse is he can't fly now at all and he has been full-flighted along with my other birds forever, with the exception of when I first got him at 9 weeks old when I clipped him to train him. So now he's the grumpiest bird in the world, watching my Quaker, my cockatiel, and even my 4 budgies flying all over the house, while he just sits on top of his cage and screams at me, like it's my fault and I need to fix it right now! Poor little guy, but it could be worse, as I found out last night with an injury my Quaker parrot has and that I need some advice on.
Last night I ran to the convenience store that is 2 blocks from my house. The 3 birds were on their T-stands in the kitchen, waiting for me to cook their dinner. I needed coffee so I ran out to the store and was gone no longer than 10 minutes. When I walked back in the front door my Quaker was on the top of his cage in the living room, eating his pellets and seeds. He was having a normal conversation with my green cheek, then wolf whistling and yelling "SEXY BIRD!" over and over. I cooked their dinner and when I went to get him I was horrified to see he had cracked his beak somehow! I know he wasn't injured before I went to the store because as I was putting my shoes on he jumped off his stand onto the kitchen counter and started screaming "Go Ride!" at me. I put him on my finger and told him no, he wasn't going and I'd be right back, and I gave him a kiss and put him back on his stand.
I'll try to describe this break as accurately as I can, as for some reason my pic won't upload. It's an oval or round crack, almost like one of the other birds clamped down on his beak. There is no piece broken off, hanging, or even loose, just a circular crack that isn't quite an entire connected circle. The crack is flush with his beak, it is not pushed in or pulled out in any way, in fact it's completely even. It's at the top of his beak near his cere, but on the left side of his beak so his nostrils were not effected. His cere doesn't look to be cut at all.
Yesterday when I first came home and saw the crack it had dried blood all along the crack, not much, just enough to coat the edge of the crack. I thought it odd that it dried that quickly as I was only gone for 10 minutes, however I don't believe it's a deep break or crack, but rather a "pressure crack" from a bite (my guess as to what happened). Thank God it is only a crack and not an avulsion or a large break that could have bled profusely while I wasn't home. My birds never fight, but we all know how much that counts for...we never know what can and will happen with our flocks, and this is a great example of why I need to remember that.
Last night after seeing his beak I immediately grabbed the birdie first aid kit and took him to the bathroom, away from the other birds and the dogs. He seemed fine, I was the one who was a total wreck! He was eating his pellets and seeds when I got home, I couldn't believe it because it looked so sore! I had bought an LED headlamp at Walmart in the outdoorsman section where the flashlights are for $1.00...best $1 I have ever spent! I strapped that light around my head, held my poor bird in my hands, and inspected every part of him, even under every single feather, making sure he had no other injuries. He did not. I hate toweling the birds, and I've trained them pretty well to tolerate my hands doing medical and hygiene things, so I held him in one hand and worked with my other hand. I cleaned the crack, all around the crack, his entire beak, and his head all around his cere and where his beak connects to it with Hibiclens. I let that dry, then I put a 5% Lidocaine cream on the crack, the entire side of his beak, and around his cere and face in that area as it was red and a bit swollen. I let that sit for 5 minutes to numb him up really well, and we played a bit while waiting for the Lidocaine to work. Then I dried the excess cream off with sterile gauze, and I then applied prescription Neomycin cream I have left over from a budgie toe-biting incident (ling, long story). I rubbed the antibiotics in very well, all over and around the break, the beak, and his cere and face. He wasn't too angry with me, he never screamed or looked to be in pain while I was treating him, so I was very thankful for this. I took him back downstairs and got out the Metacam my avian vet had prescribed for my yellow-sided green cheek when he bruised his wing. Bowie, the green cheek conure, weighs around 70 grams, while Lita, the Quaker parrot, weighs around 115 grams, so I took the prescribed dose for Bowie, did the math based on Lora's weight, and have him the Metacam. This pissed him off, even though I put it in some orange juice. Why do bird meds taste sooooooo awful?
Since Lita didn't seem to be in any pain at all, wasn't bleeding, and was eating hard food and drinking on his own, I didn't see it necessary to take him to the 24 hour animal hospital last night. They don't have an avian vet, but rather an "exotic" vet on call, who is very good, but would have done what I did at home-Antibiotics, Metacam, and told me to follow-up with his regular avian vet. So I put Lita in his travel carrier last night. I padded the bottom with towels, put water and both pellets/seeds and a bowl of grits, just in case he wanted soft foods instead. He ended up eating all the grits and then started on the pellet/seed mix. He was not happy at all about being separated from the other birds, but I'm so afraid they'll start playing and it will be damaged more than it is, as right now it's not bad. He slept through the night in his travel carrier next to my bed on my nightstand.
He was up screaming at the crack of dawn, and I immediately got him out and took a look...he's got some bruising on his beak around the crack, but other than that it looks the same. I did the same routine as I did last night, cleaning it, numbing it, put antibiotics on it, and gave him more Metacam. I called my avian vet's office at 9:00 when they opened and explained what had happened and what I did. My avian vet isn't in this week until Thursday (of course), so I spoke to his vet tech. Basically she said I did everything he would have done, and now I need to watch him, make sure he's eating and drinking, and make sure he's not in any worse pain. If he is I can bring him in before Thursday afternoon when his vet is back and can see him to check him out, and they can prescribe a narcotic pain killer if he needs it. She said to keep doing what I'm doing twice a day and call or come in if there are any issues.
There is no other avian vet here within 3-4 hours, but she said I could have him see a regular, general vet to make myself feel better, but that they wouldn't do anything more than I've already done unless his beak was missing a piece or was deformed, or had a gaping hole, then they would put a patch on him. But as it is he's fine and I'm doing the right thing...I guess my question is, does anyone think it's worth me taking him 4 hours to see an avian vet tomorrow afternoon (at this point, I called all around already), just to get him looked at a day earlier? I'm thinking no, because 7-8 hours for him in the car just to make myself feel better seems selfish to me. If anything happens between now and then, or if he seems to be in pain, I'll have him at the hospital in 10 minutes, but he's preening himself right now and just ate a bunch of pellets (I'm cringing every time he uses his beak, uhg!)
Btw, he's almost a year old, a male, blue Quaker parrot (I was told by his breeder he was DNA'd a female, so I named him Lita Ford, after one of my favorite guitar heroes...I had suspicions after hormonal behavior and had him tested-yep, Lita Ford is a boy)...he's never been sick or injured before, was hand-raised and is a sweetheart. I got him at 8 weeks old as his breeder was ill (long story, but he was just weaned and I got him out of there). He's a sweet, super intelligent, super stubborn little boy that is incredibly cute. The older he gets the bigger and more cuddly he gets. He loves scritches, he started talking at around 4 months old and has a large vocabulary, and his favorite food is mashed sweet potato. He is very close to Bowie, my male yellow-sided green cheek. They are almost the same age, Lita is about a month older, and they are always together. I have only had my 4 month old female cockatiel, Duff, for about a month now, and Lita hasn't quite warmed up to her yet, although Bowie has. Lita just ignores her.
I'll appreciate any input on this, I've never had a beak injury in 30 years of owning and breeding birds, so this is new to me. I love my birds and my dogs, I have no children and I'm divorced, so my birds and my dogs are my family. I lost a green cheek conure I was very close to not long ago in a horrible situation that I will never get over, and I cannot lose another baby.