Cracked beak, diet suggestions

[Betsylarue]

Marley is my only bird. He is a green cheek conure. The person I got him from left him with a cracked beak. I have had him for 1 1/2 years. I have successfully got his beak to grow out and get it trimmed until the crack was gone. Unfortunately this pattern has happened about 4 times since then, and just now today in November '16. I am joining this forum in search of advice on how to feed him for the rest of his life hopefully seed free. It seems his beak is just too weak and he cracks it over and over. Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you.

[Wolf]

I would definitely consider feeding gloop to this bird, there are several recipes for this soft food in this section of the forum and you can also ask for more specific directions if you need to. I would also consider Mashes or chops for the fruit and berries. And perhaps instead of seeds you could try sprouting the seeds for him.

There are others here on the forum with a much more extensive knowledge of this than I have but this is what I would do.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Marley and Betsy! I would definitely feed him gloop but I would make two different recipes for him. A 'normal' one with lots of produce for breakfast and all day picking and another one, higher on protein, for dinner. For the dinner gloop, I would use only grains without produce and make it with grains or seeds that are higher in protein - I would cook quinoa and hemp seed and mix them with cooked grains like wheat, oat groats, etc as well as add some flax and sesame seed to it. But, I would also take him to an avian vet because something is not adding up. For one thing, beaks don't grow fast enough for the 'pattern' you mention - it takes about two years for the beak to grow from bone to tip so the crack 'reappearing' four times in 1.5 year doesn't sound right to me. For another, unless the original crack reached all the way up into the bone or destroyed too many of the blood vessels and nerves that are inside the hard keratin covering (rhamphotheca), the crack should disappear as it grows because there is no such thing as a 'weak' beak unless we are talking a dietary deficiency or a metabolic condition. And, if the trauma was so extensive, the crack would never disappear to begin with .(it's like when you damage a nail bed and the nail never grows back 'right' again). But, in any case, nowadays, even permanently cracked beaks can be fixed (they use wire or glue to hold it together or apply composite on it).

[Betsylarue]

Thank you both for you insight! I appreciate it very much. I will definitely be looking in to all of it.
-Lindsey