Being concerned about your bird and being concerned about your bird’s health is a must for any bird owner, even the slightest change can mean that there is something wrong with your bird
This article is a look into why your cockatiel’s beak is peeling.
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Why is my cockatiel’s beak peeling?
Birds change quite a lot from when they first hatch out of their shells till their adult years when they start to produce babies of their own.
This is what you need to know if your cockatiels beak is peeling:
Molting beak:
Birds will not only molt their feathers away, these animals will also molt the top layer of their beak away as well.
A bird’s beak is made up of a bony skeletal inner layer and the keratin outer layer.
This keratin is always growing and needs to be worn down but it also sometimes flakes off, this is the beak’s way of molting.
Your bird will usually wear this top layer of keratin down as it uses its beak but if the beak isn’t worn down by objects in the bird’s surroundings or by the bird’s toys then the bird’s beak may start to flake off and peel.
What to do:
This is normal bird behavior and is not something that you should be worried about, the bird’s beak will finish up molting and the bird’s beak will go back to normal after the outer layer has completely molted off.
Giving your bird a cuttlebone to use and to file its beak down with will also help, cuttlebone is a bird’s version of a cat tree as it can be used as beak maintenance.
This peeling process is not painful to the bird and the bird should be able to simply go about its business as normal and be healthy and happy during this process.
However, you should worry if the bird starts to show signs of distress or signs of being ill along with its beak peeling and flaking off.
In this case, taking your bird to an avian vet is highly recommended, there may be an underlying issue that your bird is suffering from.
Your vet should be contacted if the peeling causes any sort of pain in the bird or stops the bird from being able to eat or drink.
Malnutrition:
Another reason why your bird’s beak is flaking may be because of the bird’s diet.
If your bird is malnourished, and or if the bird doesn’t have access to full spectrum sunlight, then this can cause your bird’s beak to start to flake off.
What to do:
A beak that is flaking off due to malnutrition can be remedied by giving your bird the correct diet, however, you would need to take your bird to the vet to get a diagnosis of why your bird’s beak is flaking.
The vet will run tests to figure out what your bird is deficient in.
Once diagnosed you would need to feed your bird a well-rounded diet, maybe an organic pellet feed, and you may also have to supplement the lacking nutrients into your bird’s diet using bird supplements.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Does My Bird Sleep In His Food Bowl, How To Clean A Parrot Beak, Bird Rubbing Beak On Perch, Pigeon Diarrhea Home Remedy, Cockatiel Beak Fungus, Why Do Birds Rub Their Beaks On Each Other?, Why Is My Budgie’s Poop Green And Watery,