Conure beak trim

[Kota24]

Good morning,
I have a 1.5 yr old green cheek conure that will be in need of a beak trim soon. Though we feed him on a diet of Maintenance Roudybush (approved by his previous avian vet) and some additional vegetables and seed mix, his poor nutrition as a baby has caused some overgrowth that will inevitably become a problem. Unfortunately we no longer have an avian vet in the area, but I know of a companion animal vet that has experience with beak trimmings. I am very nervous at the prospect of putting him under such stress, so I was wondering if anyone here has gone through professional beak trimmings before and could offer some assurance. This little guy is such a joy and we want him to be happy, healthy, and live a long time! Thanks so much!

~Kota and Flappy

 

[Okie Amazon]

Is the beak growing unevenly or just abnormally fast/long growth? If he/she will, something you can provide to help keep the beak down yourself is one of the BIG gravel bars. (NOT cuttlefish bone, that's too soft to do any good) You can also provide anything to chew on, wood blocks, alfalfa cubes, anything that you can get him to munch.

Is he a very handle-able bird? If so, then a trim should not be too stressful.

 

[duckluck]

He should be fine for the trimming...they will wrap him in a towel usually for that. I used to have an avian vet do mine but now we do it ourselves with a cordless Dremel. We once had a conure that we adopted with a very deformed beak and we had to do it very often, and as he had a light colored beak it was easy to see the blood inside by holding him up to a light.

Good luck! Beak/nail trimming is important to help keep your bird healthy if he isn't doing it himself, especially if it grows long and uneven!

 

[bagendhens]

i do my severe's nails and beak with the dremmel too, i find if i do it frequently i only have to do a quick shot. one person holds him in a good heavy towel and i can take 1 second on each nail and a second or 2 on the beak and it keeps ontop of it all very easily (i also double duty it and use the dremmel to do the dogs nails too!
best purchase ive ever made for critter care so far lol.