parakeet beak illness???

[brookvennaangel]

hi, i have a male parakeet about 3 years old. he was hatched in my house, has never been out or in contact with outside birds. he is in a cage by himself bc he was trying to mate with his sisters. he seems perfectly happy except for one problem. i noticed one day that his beak seemed horribly overgrown. i have a cuttlebone and a calcium block in his cage but he wont use them to trim his beak. i noticed also the beak and some of his toe nails had some small black specking in them. i have begun to clip his beak with a nail clipper. i have been doing this for about a few months. it seems like i have to do it once a month. this time when i clipped it, the end flaked a little. like i said he doesnt seem sick. he doesnt have dry or flakey skin, and his eyes are clear, everything seems normal. he is eating fine , but i have a treat stick in there and he isnt eating that, and i am wondering if it is because his beak is abnormal. i am wondering if anyone knows what this might be caused from. some wesites on here described mites, but i dont see how the bird could have them bc he seems fine, i also checked him and didnt see any other cause for alarm except the overgrown/flaky beak. i have other birds in cages right next to his and they are fine. i know i should take him to a vet but i dont have the money. i took one of my parakeets to a vet once before and they refered me to an avian specialist because they said they didnt know what was wrong. well then i took him to the avian specialist ,and the bill was six hundred dollars . i am thinking of buying some vitamin or mineral supplements and putting them in his water.. but i was wodering if anyone knows what he might have wrong with him ???? :confused:

[Zippy]

Ok Take him to the vet.
Never trim a birds beak yourself.It is not a good idea.You could have trimed it to short and it bugs him.It might not have be overgrow but kinda lookd like it.Please take him to the vet to fix the problem.They could set up a payment plan of something.

[shihtzulover850]

yeah take him to the vet. also if you post this in pet general you would get more replies :)

[Karen]

I moved this to Pet Health, where it belongs.

I agree that a trip to the vet is in order - call around, and ask what different bird-specialty vets would charge, $600 seems high, but I don't know what that appointment entailed.

[Husky_mom]

also suggest the vet, you can also try cheking by tailfeathersnetwork.com you can get help from a bit more bird only forum, not that theres anything wrong here, its great, but i find that more bird focused than this

[BitsyNaceyDog]

I know this is days old, but I haven't been on much and I just saw this.

Does your parakeet eats only or mostly a seed diet? That may be the problem. An all seed diet lacks things your bird needs and is hard on the liver too. An over grown beak can be a sign of a weak and failing liver. A vet visit is very important. An avian vet can properly trim his beak (you can and most likely will do more harm than good if you do it yourself). The vet can also properly diagnose him and then help him. Also an overgrown beak can prevent him from being able to eat and he could die from it.