Budgie broken top beak

Question
Hi Leah
HELP PLEASE !
One of my 11 budgies was attacked by a wild bird & his top beak is missing. Broken off not quite to the cere, Sat Aug 9 2008. He's 3 months old, fairly tame for me to handle.
I'm trying to feed him by hand with small syringe with watered down 'Passwell Budgie Starter' Very difficult, as it has small seeds in it & he won't open his mouth.
I put him inside in small cage with a sibling (cold here) & the sibling has tried to help feed him like their mum did.
What else can I do? What foods can I mash up to feed him & how do I do that ?
Most importantly, WILL HIS BEAK GROW BACK ???
Thanks. Graham - Newcastle AUSTRALIA

Answer
Hi Graham,

Sorry I didn't get back to you as immediately as I should have considering the urgency of your situation.  I was watching the Olympics (you Aussies have been kicking our a$$es in the rowing events! :) )

I'm sorry to hear about your situation.  Considering he's still young, he will probably recover better than an older bird will.  A birds beak is similar to a rodent's teeth in that it continually grows and is filed down gradually as it eats and chews on things.  So its possible that the beak will grow back, but since it was trimmed so high, there's a chance it will never be the same.

Take him to a vet; they can give you some anti-biotics to make sure that the area doesn't get infected.  Wild animal bites are known for transmitting disease and infections.  I would avoid over the counter remedies, because these aren't nearly as effective as something you would get from a vet, but cost almost as much!  

I've listed some feeding suggestions below.  The easiest way to feed them is to take either an oral syringe or an eyedropper, and just feed them like their mother would.  Its much easier to do this if they're tame; just set him on a warm towel  Here's a site with more information.  Its written for baby birds, but the overall process is pretty much the same, just feed him about every six to eight hours: http://www.lafeber.com/Products/feeding_instructions.asp

You will want to prepare a quarantine cage.  Its pretty simple to do, but its a necessity!  

Care for an injured bird involves 5 main elements:
  1. Heat
  2. Humidity
  3. Fluids
  4. Nutrition
  5. Quiet/Level of Activity

1)First, make sure the area is warm.  You mentioned that the area is cold?  That's not good for a hurt bird.  You can do this by putting a heat pad under half of the cage.  That way, if he gets too warm, he can move away.

2)Humidity can help make breathing easier.  Since his beak is injured, he may have a little trouble breathing.  If he seems like he's breathing normally, this isn't as urgent.  Using a humidifier or vaporizer is best, but you can also try running a hot shower, then setting the cage in the bathroom where its steamy.

3)You can give him water, apple or grape juice, bottled water with a bit of sugar or honey (if you're worried he's not getting enough calories).  As tempting as it is, because a lot of people think its a good idea, don't give them Gatorade.  While it has sugar and vitamins, the amount of salt in it isn't good for them, and actually dehydrates them faster!

4)You can give him applesauce, instant rice cereal, baby food (you can get a lot of variety there), ground up pellets or seed mixed with fruit juice (not orange, its not good for them).  You can also buy food mixes from either a pet store or your vet that you mix with water.  Make sure he eats enough.  A healthy bird can only go 2-3 days without food, and an injured bird needs to eat more often.
 
5)You want to keep things quiet.  Cover the cage and make sure the area around it is dark for at least ten hours a day so that he can sleep.  I would put his cage in a bedroom if it isn't already or somewhere else where its fairly quiet, away from things like TVs that will distract him (my birds will spend hours talking to the TV if I let them).

Best of luck!
-Leah