Rambo our Timneh Grey.

Rambo came to us some years ago and was near death, but after a few weeks of eating and sleeping he recovered and bonded with our son Steve. They spend Steve's time after work together up in his flat and Rambo mainly all over Steve from his shoulder to his chest front.
He is not very fond of chewing wooden toys more the pity and a few years ago he had one side of his beak grow giving him a crossed scissors effect with it. It did not appear to worry him and just as I was going to make an appointment to visit our Vet with him the extra growth suddenly dropped off overnight more or less and his beak was back to normal.
Well now it is happening again and we observe him and keep an eye on his weight which is good.
Does anybody have any idea what can be causing it and would it be worth a trip to the Vet anyway to see if it could be corrected for good?
The fact he is quite happy and does not appear to worry about it, is making me just watch and wait at the moment. Hoping I suppose it is going to break off like the last time.
What do you think I should do? Pay a visit to the Vet's now or wait to see if the same thing will happen, it drops off.Would appreciate any input on this problem, even if someone says "visit the vet"!

I've no idea what suggest, but we have an elderly cockatiel and her break grows up one side then it seems to disappear after she had a good chew on the calcium shell shaped perch, so I've just left her to pare out down herself. She doesn't like to be handled.

Have you got cuttlefish and those hanging cuttlefish/calcium type things Scarlet sells, that may help Rambos beak and keep it trim. Don't think I would have it trimmed at the vet unless they was no other way of sorting it out.
Does he have branches to chew up too i.e. willow, hazel etc.

I'd keep an eye and see if Rambo sorts it out himself, if not maybe he'd let Steve file it down a little? Milk thistle can help with excessive beak growth I believe?

Thanks all for your suggestions and will look into them if we need to.
Rambo has all the wood and cuttle fish etc in his cage but does not appear to use them much. He is on all types of perches and seems to dunk everything he eats in his water bowl first.
We are keeping an eye on him and his weight is a good way of watching if he is eating enough, at the moment his weight is fine.
We will just have to hope it falls off like the last time and he gets his beak back to normal.

Aw bless him, I'd hold back for a while too to see if he sorts it out himself. He's healthy in every other way, and as Hollie said, milk thistle does help with excessive claw and beak growth plus many other things too. Probably preaching to the enlightened, but milk thistle flushes out any build up of toxins in the system and helps regenerate any damaged part of the liver, and extreme beak growth can be a sign of liver damage.

I buy my milk thistle liquid from Equimins (used to be from Holland and Barrett) online. My birdies have it added to their water twice a week, 2/3 drops in each bowl.

Oh Anne, I was having a sort out last night and came across an article you wrote about Rambo when you first got him, the name and other things jiggled my memory and I put two and two together. It was brilliant, I kept rereading it with delight.

Hope all goes well.

Sue
x

Thanks for that Sue, will try the milk thistle as not used it before for any of them. Rambo's weight is good and he seems happy in himself so playing it by ear at the moment. He is out with Steve and enjoying his little life, so hopefully it will all sort itself out, otherwise it will be a trip down to see Billa our Vet, she will know what to do for him then.
Lovely you read his story, wonder which one that was. We have been lucky to have quite a few published over the years and they sound so different when you go back to read them again years later!

We have to dremel Maya's beak every few weeks as she has a jaw that is slightly out of line and her beak crosess more on one side than the other. She used to go to the vet and snce then she is terrified of everyone and everything, we do it now without too much trouble, though she hates it being done.

We wrap her up in a towel and one holds her whilst the other one dremels. She makes these little squeaking noises that really make you think you are hurting her, but yiu don't and she forgives you quickly afterwards!

Thank you Margy for your input on this. We are novices as far as using a dremel on his beak, so firstly will seek the help of Billa our vet if it should come to it.
You sort out one problem and another one rears its ugly head! Still would not be without any of them as they are so worth it. Many thanks again. xx

Anne, the article was SCA March 2009 and it was about picking him up in North Wales and his early days with you. Bless him, Timneh's are brilliant, but a lot harder to read than Congo's

Sue

Thanks for that Sue, our Rambo (named by his first owners I might add!) just says "hullo" now in a Welsh accent and mainly communicates by different whistles.This is down to our son's influence, as he spends all of his leisure time in his company. He dunks a lot of his food into his water bowl and then has a bath in it!
When we started to tame him my husband John had to wear a builders hard hat with goggles on at night when he first came out, as he attacked him and would knock the hat off poor John's head, making us think he would eventually kill himself. Now he is out and no more attacking thank goodness but of course since that story in 2009 he has come a long way in being tamed.

Rambo still has the problem with his beak and the overgrowth on one side making it look more like a scissor action when he tries to close it. Nothing has happened to it falling off like last time it happened and think this is going to end up with a trip to our Vet's in the end.
don't know about any of you but we have one cupboard that looks like a chemist shop already with things bought to treat this and that with the birds and mainly to dose them to prevent anything happening in the first place!
At this rate we are going to need more cupboard space, ha ha.

Know what you mean Anne

Sue

Me too!

Whew! Does this mean I am normal then Marjy andSue ??
Even now it is far too cold to put our birds outside and this time of year they usually spend a few hours outside to get some sun.
the wind is bitingly cold and this is what is putting me off doing it. Know they do not mind the cold, it is the wet and cold that are the worse elements for them, but I tend to molly coddle them!
Cannot remember any time in the last dozen or so years that they have not been outside on a daily basis by now.
They come in copying the cries of the wild birds and especially the flock of Jackdaws we seem to have taken over. They nest in the dove cote that John made for me a dozen or so years back and it has never seen one dove, only the Jackdaws! I feed some wild doves but they do not get a look in.

I would take him to the vet, even if it is just to find out what is going on with that beak and maybe get a blood panel done to see if there are any liver problems. Sounds unusual and it would be good to know the cause so that you know how to treat him.

Did listen to your advice Fuzzy and we had a visit with our Vet yesterday.
Rambo was given a light anaesthetic and his beak was sorted with a dremmel. We also had his claws lightly clipped at the same time to save us having to do it! He is a different bird today, but still having a problem to shut his beak correctly. More from habit than not being able to. Billa our vet thinks it will all sort itself out given time.
Have ordered some milk thistle and will be dosing him with it when it arrives in a few days time. He appears to be in rude health so not too worried of any permanent damage.

Update on Rambo and his beak problem. He is now shutting his beak OK and it must have needed time to adjust after the extra growth had been removed.
Still fine and still dunking most of his hard food in his water bowl.
He is now having some milk thistle in his water a few days a week and with luck it will help him in the future.
He roars like a bull when Steve is home and has to come out of his cage at meal times. Gone to sitting on the top of the open dining room door and enjoying some cooked potatoe when it is available. Not spoilt or anything!