Baby Heron, cracked beak (1 Viewer)

[Weird Wanderer]

Good morning everyone.

I live in Wilderness, South Africa. Together with my friend and colleague, Tanith, we run a small local bird rehab centre where we try and give injured and young birds a safe space to heal before being released.

Recently we have been given a baby Heron who fell from a tree and cracked its beak.

It is growing well and is the cutest hungriest little thing ever. We did see a bit of an underbite developing as the baby is growing. Not much, but noticeable.

Is this a concern or will the heron be able to develop and adapt to its beak?

If anyone has any advice on cracked upper beaks, please consider sharing your advice.

Thank you in advance 🙏🏼

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum.

There have been instances of birds with deformed beaks surviving well in the wild. There are various photos in our Gallery.

 

[delia todd]

Hi Weird Wanderer and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. While some birds do seem to manage (for a while anyway) with deformed bills, I'm really not sure that a heron species could, at least not with something as serious looking as this appears to be.

I think your first port of call should be to a vet and see if there is anything that can be done to help him. I'm not sure if a bill constantly grows like our nails, but if this injury is affecting the essential area where growth comes from (I think they do though, as captive parrots need their bills trimmed regularly.

Maybe some glue would stop it breaking away, I don't know... a vet would know if there was such a product which is safe to use on animals.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news. Please let us know what your vet says and how he goes on.

 

[Chris G6 UXU]

Hello and welcome to the forum, enjoy and all the best.

 

[Lisa W]

Hi, can’t help with the question. Just wanted to say welcome to the forum.

 

[KC Foggin]

Welcome aboard Weird Wanderer and enjoy

 

[dantheman]

I'm wondering if this question shouldn't be moved somewhere else - birds and birding? Although it's probably a bit technical and Delia may have given the best advice - to get professional advice ... ?

 

[Weird Wanderer]

Hi everyone.

Sorry for only replying now.

We have taken the Heron to a Vet and it seemed grow with a healthy appetite. And then a week ago it suddenly lost the use of its legs and started dragging itself around with its beak.

Not sure what we did wrong or what went wrong. But sadly if there is no indication of a return to health we might have to ask the Vet to euthanize little Harry.

If anyone has any advice or explanation as to why a baby Heron would suddenly lose the use of its legs and also its appetite ... I would greatly appreciate.

Kind regards, W

 

[Fritz73]

Hola! Welcome to Birdforum

 

[dantheman]

If anyone has any advice or explanation as to why a baby Heron would suddenly lose the use of its legs and also its appetite ... I would greatly appreciate.

Kind regards, W

What food has it been eating? It rings a bell that it may need whole food (complete), or special diet ...