John: Hey there bird friends, it is time for Avian First Aid Episode 9, this episode is going to cover bleeding again specifically the beak.
Dr. Pam Gordy: The third area that is common for bleeding in birds is the beak and usually that is they flew off something and hit a wall and they crack the tip off. The beak is quite a bit harder to get stop and inhale, it tends to be a higher pressure in there. If it's just the tip though most of the time once the bird kind of get settled down, you can catch them in a towel and use the Quik Klot stuff, this kind of thing. This is good for nails and beak but don't put it on tissue because that granular material, if it gets inside the laceration on a body then there is no way you can fill it up because you are going to have a form body reaction in there. So don't put that on tissue, that is only for beaks and nail.
So if I had a beak that is bleeding I would put some of that in the little lid and swap the blood off and then hold a bit on and even if it looks like it was stopped I would do it at least on more time and then I would hold the bird provided that with a twist tip for about five minutes, because typically what they will do as soon as you put them down they will take their tongue and they lick at that and then it starts bleeding again whereas if you let it that for about five minutes then usually they can wipe it on that purge they can go into water dish and it stays good. So take that little bit of extra time and that will really help you to get the bleeding stop.
Now it is not always the tip sometimes they have been bitten by another bird and they might have like hole in on side. Most of the time when they have the holes in the side, the bleeding isn't the primary consideration, it usually that stops fairly quickly. What happens with those is that because the beak is always in food and water, they get fluid material in there and they can get fungal infection which won't show up for probably a month. So if that is the case, once it is done bleeding you want to clean it up fairly well with some antiseptic, with some cue tip, I like iodine for that because iodine has anti-fungal properties and usually it is the fungal infection that you are worried about in a beak.
And then if the hole is fairly superficial again you can seal it with surgical glue, if there is a lot of, if it is so big that there is a lot of raw live tissue underneath them, there can probably be too large and probably won't stay in and probably wont stick because it doesn't stick the live tissue, fairly well too to beak tissue. So if they kind of hold at the end like a little chunk fold at the end usually once you get it stop bleeding, you can swallow the iodine, let it dry completely and you can just put a coating and surgical glue over top of it or you can even just greasy glue for that, and then that, it feels that from getting water and foreign material in there. And if it pull though you can just do it again. Usually if it is fairly high up on the beak it will take a month to stir very well. So you will probably have to do it more than once before the beak is completely grown out. If the beak is repaired off and I have seen that with little birds with the beak inside the cage of big birds, then controlling bleeding is important and controlling shock is important, gaining control is important.
So initially you want to try and get your bird settled down, get some work but probably those one you have been around over the peak would probably need to be on antibiotic, and the second thing there would be nutritional support afterwards because some of these birds that are small they will start to eat particularly for their eating teeth, they don't have that by surface any more. So you would need to learn them to feed them.
If it is a hand raised baby you have an advantage but then you should -- and that is why it's nice to have your formula and your electrolyte in your kit, because if it happens in the middle of the night and you want to maintain them till morning then you can at least keep their blood sugar even until morning.
A bird like that just awaken swallowing, so it would be perfectly fine to give the electrolyte solution. Often solid food they wont take but they will take something that is sweet or flavored. You could also use like an apple juice type of thing, but the electrolytes are better because when they lose blood, they don't just lose red cells that carry oxygen; they lose water and they lose the salt and that would be the perfect replacement for that. So that is the best situation to get them stabilized.
Some of those birds we have to put pins in and make them feed, so it wouldn't crow like until their beak grows out. Some of them if you can just treat them at home they can do well long enough until the peak will grow, but that will take three months or probably six months for that to have them, and it may not grow properly depending on how much the damage has happened.
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