I have a pet European Starling which seems to have broken a piece of its lower beak.Will it grow back?

Question

The upper and lower parts of his beak are not the same length now. The lower is about 1/2 inch shorter. My bird is 1 year and 2 months old

Answer 1

I highly doubt that your bird's beak is broken. I have a pet starling as well, he's 10 years old. Starling's beaks sometimes have to be trimmed. The upper part tends to over grow the lower part. The normal foraging habits of starlings wears down the beak in the wild but in captivity it will overgrow. I would suggest you have a vet show you how to safely trim it the first time so that you can maintain it yourself after that. Beak overgrowth is also caused by a dietary deficiency problem in starlings, resulting in a condition called hyperkeratosis. I've included a link that has excellent info for pet starlings, particularly diet suggestions to avoid this condtion.

http://www.starlingtalk.com/petstarlings.htm

Answer 2

Hi Gina, I don't believe it will, it just depends on how bad it is. You should definitely take him to the vet if you haven't already. Is he eating and drinking ok? That would be a major concern of mine... beaks are actually very very sensitive and contain nerves/blood. If he's in any pain, he could stop eating and deteriorate fairly rapidly.

If it's signifcant enough to cause your vet to question is quality of life, first ask him about a prosthetic piece for his beak. That is done more and more these days.

I wish you the best!