Hmm. I wonder why the beak can’t be fixed better than that. Is the beak formed of keratin, like horns?
Keratin is a Brutally strong protein. I read up on it after cutting my cat’s claws ome time :)
Pretty much, but there is living tissue through much of it, and a beak has growth points which if broken will never grow new tissue at the break, so you can’t just cut it and reset it or fuse it together and expect it to reknit.
Bending horn or a beak on a living animal would require heat too high for the living tissue within, so that’s not an option. Depending on the species there’s also the nasal passages to worry about.
Cow horns can be made more symmetrical as they grow by weighting them at the tip, but a bird beak is pretty much set by the time they fledge. You can shape them when they are younger with repeated pressure, and I’ve seen parent birds too enthusiastic when feeding their young warp the beaks a bit. Beaks grow throughout their life and have to be whetted by the bird, upper beak against the matching lower beak, to maintain the right length and shape... or whetted against a limb or stone.
This bird’s going to need someone to keep the beak from overgrowing. I had a tiel with a split beak that had to be trimmed every few weeks or it would curl in a circle like a ram’s horn.