Pictures Soft section of beak?

[issajoy]

Hello,

I've recently noticed that part of my macaw's, Ollie, beak appears to be soft in an area. It is a small section on her upper beak along the bottom edge, on both sides. I was wondering if this was normal, maybe her beak is growing?

When I touch it she doesn't react, no pain or anything. It just doesn't feel like the right texture for beak. She is eating, playing and using her beak normally.

 

[Macawnutz]

This is normal in a young macaw. That is the feeding response area. When handfeeding you hold the sides of the beak and they will start asking for food.
Even in older macaws it is not as hard of an area but harder than babies.

Ollie girl is a mess. How's she doing?

 

[issajoy]

@Macawnutz thank you! Ollie is doing well, molting EVERYWHERE she's so patchy but new feathers are coming in very bright and beautiful.
She's been doing this weird thing where she sits under one of her toys and it looks like she's wearing it as a backpack We've also started letting her play on top of her cage, which she loves. And she's expecting lots of presents from Santa

 

[Macawnutz]

She is pretty patchy. My BG Korbel looked pretty rough about 8-9 months old. I called it his ugly stage.

Has she started eating better? Getting her diet balanced at this age is the key to everything.

 

[issajoy]

@Macawnutz she must be starting her ugly stage, she's almost 7 months now (seriously how did that happen?).

Her eating is a LOT better - learned the veggies she will eat (snap peas, green beans, bell pepper, bean sprouts, brocolli...) and she always eats her fruits. Red seems to be her favorite color to eat, I find that adorable. She has her pellets and nuts in foraging toys to keep her busy, she loves her nuts except for almonds. She gets both shelled and unshelled, she has some trouble with the bigger shells (like walnuts) but I'm confident she will get it eventually. Oh and she gets roasted chickpeas and roasted soybeans every day in her foraging toys as well.

I give her fresh food before I leave for work in the morning and take it away if it's still there when I get home from work. This seems to motivate her to eat while I'm away. Having the pellets and nuts out in toys all day (although she goes for all the nuts first) is good so she can snack all the time. She usually eats her pellets when I'm eating my own dinner

I need to weigh her again, she was 787g when she got weighed at the vet (like the second week of November we went), I think my scale got lost in the mail