Diamond Dove Beak Issues

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dreamer5577

dreamer5577

Songster
10 Years
May 16, 2011
1,380
25
201
Pennsylvania
I had two 5 year old Diamonds and one of them passed back in October. I was so worried about the remaining little guy, but he has made it through the grief period and is loving life. These past couple weeks I noticed something was wrong. He was sitting on the floor in the back corner of his cage and not doing much but sitting and eating. I found a site that told me to put a heat lamp on him. He sits in front of that almost all the time. Upon further inspection I noticed a problem with the formation of his beak. The bottom part of his beak was beginning to curl. I immediately thought that was because he needed a trim to the top. So I did. I trimmed a little each day to the point where I think it shouldn't be trimmed any more. He is clearly struggling with eating because he picks at seeds for hours (even before the trim). He still sits in front of his heat lamp and is still the happiest little guy on this earth. He is pooping, so he must be eating something. As I though he was getting better, I noticed today his beak has turned into a scissor beak. Can I trim the bottom part of his beak? I wasn't sure if I should even touch that. It LOOKS to me like the reason it is going into scissor beak is because the bottom is growing super fast. I just need help. I am not taking him to a vet because of my past experience with the local avian vet. Plus I really don't want to stress him out on top of all this.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
dreamer5577 said:
I had two 5 year old Diamonds and one of them passed back in October. I was so worried about the remaining little guy, but he has made it through the grief period and is loving life. These past couple weeks I noticed something was wrong. He was sitting on the floor in the back corner of his cage and not doing much but sitting and eating. I found a site that told me to put a heat lamp on him. He sits in front of that almost all the time. Upon further inspection I noticed a problem with the formation of his beak. The bottom part of his beak was beginning to curl. I immediately thought that was because he needed a trim to the top. So I did. I trimmed a little each day to the point where I think it shouldn't be trimmed any more. He is clearly struggling with eating because he picks at seeds for hours (even before the trim). He still sits in front of his heat lamp and is still the happiest little guy on this earth. He is pooping, so he must be eating something. As I though he was getting better, I noticed today his beak has turned into a scissor beak. Can I trim the bottom part of his beak? I wasn't sure if I should even touch that. It LOOKS to me like the reason it is going into scissor beak is because the bottom is growing super fast. I just need help. I am not taking him to a vet because of my past experience with the local avian vet. Plus I really don't want to stress him out on top of all this.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hi. I used to breed diamond doves... and had a pet one which has scissor beak.

If the scissor beak is your birds problem it is easy to help it out.

The doves beak is very soft, not like a parakeets beak. You don't need to use scissors to trim it.. and also doves have a lot of feeling and nerve endings in the beak.. as well as a lot of blood supply, so using scissors can be dangerous and hurt the bird.

I used to gently wrap my dove in a soft cloth to stop it flapping. Cover its eyes with the cloth too.. which keeps it calm and still.

Maybe get someone to hold the dove on a table and you can then use a human nail file to gently file the bead into the correct shape. Always be very gently and file in only ONE DIRECTION. otherwise the beak will split and splinter up.

It may be better to do a little each day, gradually.. so the blood supply and veins will shrink down as you go.

In your birds case I would suggest adding some bird multi vitamins to the water, and make sure you offer it some calcium, such as crushed oyster shell grit or crushed cuttlefish bone. This will make the beak stronger and the vitamins and minerals will help the bird to recover.

If you bird still seems off its food and ill after a few days I suggest you take it to a vet, as there may be a more serious disease or problem with it.

Good luck.
 
I had two diamond doves until yesterday...one of my doves beak had grown curled under so I took him to a vet that supposedly specializes in birds....he tried to dremmel the beak and my little dove died of stress/heart attack...now I am reading this and wishing I had known to use a file on the beak....:( I am sad and now I have his lonely dad to try and find a friend for.
 

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