Urgent Weird shaped beak and practically no tailfeathers?

[Garet]

PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS IS NOT MY BIRD YET!!!

I saw this little gal while looking for a spare emergency/transport cage and immediately cringed at everything about this ad (fairly certain that's dried blood on her cage cover. She was being given away, so I asked for her and the owner is going to give her to me). I just couldn't bear the thought of her going to a child who doesn't know that she needs a vet visit and waking up one morning to find her dead. I am going to try and help her out with a vet visit as soon as I can find someone who takes budgies.

Until then, is there anything I can do to help her out (Besides taking that rusty bell out of her cage and giving her a cuttlebone to chew)? I'm already looking for a place that trims budgie beaks, if this can even be fixed. If you zoom in, you can see that her beak curves outwards.
And will she be able to fly with that tail, or should I provide her with low/no perches and something soft on the bottom of her cage to keep her from hurting herself?
And yes, I will be far more careful with quarantining her until she gets a vet visit.

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Poor thing I wish I could help but I can't really offer anything except for well wishes and thanks for trying to get her the help she so clearly needs

 

[Garet]

Poor thing I wish I could help but I can't really offer anything except for well wishes and thanks for trying to get her the help she so clearly needs

That still means a lot to me. Thank you for your well wishes. I hope she's still strong enough to recover.

 

[sunnysmom]

Poor birdie. Thank you for helping her.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I'm so glad your helping her, and I hope she will be okay! Poor little bird.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Thank you for taking the little one into your home. Monitor her and see how she does. She may do OK even with missing tail feathers. If she can not fly well then lower the perches and the food/water dishes. Pad the bottom of the cage with layers of paper towels. How big is the cage?

 

[zoo mom]

Thank you for giving this little one a chance.

 

[CeciliaZ]

Thank you for wanting to help her - I wish you all the best.

 

[Garet]

Thank you for taking the little one into your home. Monitor her and see how she does. She may do OK even with missing tail feathers. If she can not fly well then lower the perches and the food/water dishes. Pad the bottom of the cage with layers of paper towels. How big is the cage?

I have no idea how big her cage is yet. I'm picking her up sometime after 4pm my time (it's almost 2pm here) if her current owner's available. She didn't offer any specs on the cage size.
From what I can tell, it's not all that big. My tiel has the same ladder in her cage, and it's rather small. The ladder you see sticking out in her picture's about 10 inches long.

 

[Birdbabe]

Hard to tell what's going on with the beak ..Thank you for helping her.

 

[Garet]

Hard to tell what's going on with the beak ..Thank you for helping her.

I was asking around on reddit to see if anyone knew what I could do to help her. Someone said it could be malnutrition and another person said it could also be scaly mites. But I agree, it is pretty hard to see exactly what it is. All I know is that her beak and tail definitely shouldn't look like that.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Thank you for taking this little girl in. Are you planning on rehoming her once her health improves? Cockatiels are great little birds, but they are dusty and could harm your macaws' respiratory systems.

The lack of tail feathers should not bother her ability to fly. She does have a couple of long feathers which should be enough to help control her direction.

Really hard to see her beak well, but maybe it will only require a trimming.

She looks to be in pretty good feather, so maybe she is reasonably healthy.

 

[Garet]

Thank you for taking this little girl in. Are you planning on rehoming her once her health improves? Cockatiels are great little birds, but they are dusty and could harm your macaws' respiratory systems.

The lack of tail feathers should not bother her ability to fly. She does have a couple of long feathers which should be enough to help control her direction.

Really hard to see her beak well, but maybe it will only require a trimming.

She looks to be in pretty good feather, so maybe she is reasonably healthy.

I'm not sure what I will do with her. I love budgies and used to have them, and I would love to have another. Push comes to shove, I have family that will likely take her in once she's in a healthy state. If they say no, I have some neighbors who love animals. I'm not too worried about my tiel's feathers, tbqh. My house is fairly large, and I already dust and sweep due to dust allergies.

I hope she's healthier than I think she is. A beak trim is probably going to be less stressful on her than meds.

 

[Hankmacaw]

OOOPS I knew she was a Budgie.

 

[Garet]

|D It's all good, we all make mistakes.

 

[Garet]

I found a groomer that's willing to trim her beak, at least. What an expensive thing to get fixed, this is going to cost me all of 3$ PLUS TAX.

The horror. |D I could have bought a whole bag of chips with that.

 

[MiniMacaw]

She is adorable (even when bedraggled). Thank you for taking her on. I wouldn’t adjust the perches to be low unless she shows any balance issues. Budgies feel safest perched up high and feeling safe and comfortable helps in the healing process so much I’ve found.
It really could be anything from a kid or animal getting at those tail feathers and gross neglect to an actual medical condition.
I wish you luck at the vet and going forward with her. I have a soft spot for the little budgies and am so glad she found a safe place with you.

 

[Garet]

She is adorable (even when bedraggled). Thank you for taking her on. I wouldn’t adjust the perches to be low unless she shows any balance issues. Budgies feel safest perched up high and feeling safe and comfortable helps in the healing process so much I’ve found.
It really could be anything from a kid or animal getting at those tail feathers and gross neglect to an actual medical condition.
I wish you luck at the vet and going forward with her. I have a soft spot for the little budgies and am so glad she found a safe place with you.

As much as I hate to say it, I think they might have been yanked out by something. If you look at the perch on the right side of the cage and look up, it looks like there's blood on her blankie.
Either way, I hope it's nothing too serious. I'd love to let her fly with my flock or find her a home with someone in the area. I got a soft spot for the little guys, too. Up until this year, I've only ever owned budgies.

 

[cosmolove]

The tail feathers will grow back but will hinder her flying. Honestly I'd probably clip her for her safety if I were you, I normally don't like clipping but an out of control flight isn't a good idea either. I'd put fleece on the bottom of the cage with paper on top that way if she does fall its soft. Essentially make her cage handicap friendly until everything grows back.

As far as the beak its really hard to see anything wrong in the picture, can you get a closer picture? Are you talking about the brown crusty area? If so that's the cere and normal for females to be that color

 

[Garet]

The tail feathers will grow back but will hinder her flying. Honestly I'd probably clip her for her safety if I were you, I normally don't like clipping but an out of control flight isn't a good idea either. I'd put fleece on the bottom of the cage with paper on top that way if she does fall its soft. Essentially make her cage handicap friendly until everything grows back.

As far as the beak its really hard to see anything wrong in the picture, can you get a closer picture? Are you talking about the brown crusty area? If so that's the cere and normal for females to be that color

I don't like clipping, either, but if it'd keep her safe, I guess it's the right choice.

It's the tip of her beak that I'm worried about. It's a little difficult to see, but if you zoom in, you can see it curves outwards rather than forming the inward hook like she should have.