How to Trim Parrot's Beak

Video Transcript

"In this clip we're going to drill Allister's beak down just slightly. Some birds will get malformation of their beak where they don't match up. His matches up pretty well, it's just a little long in front so we're going to drill it down. We want to make sure that he is able to eat and crush up his food and pick some up with his beak so that is why we do drill them. For someone just starting to do this, you probably want an experienced person around to help you with it as well to make sure they're holding the bird properly. We don't want him fighting while he's having his head handled. Just grab around his head and you want to hold the beak closed so that he can't open up and snap at you. Again, some of this depends on the temperament of your bird, if you are able to do this or not. Allister's got a pretty good temperament and allows us to handle him and I'm able to file down the little bit of overgrowth that he has. You want to smooth it out and round it out so that it's more of the natural formation of the beak. Again, this isn't hurting him, it is something that he needs to be able to eat properly. Birds in the wild will rub their beak on either stone or bark to help file it down so that they continue to be able to pick up whatever food they eat and crush it."