My Family Has Expanded! Welcome, baby Javas!

[Rothe18]

So, I always post questions about health- related stuff recently, but I haven't really just posted to update! On Sunday, I took in two new, 1 month old Java Sparrows!! The vet has checked poop, bodies and throats with no evident problems! So they're allowed same room with distance quarantine for about a week from my 5 year old sweetie girl, Pitter. (Who's absolutely raving to get in their cage and start pulling the boss lady routine)

These are my little newbies! Pudding has the white tail feathers- looks like I may get a little variation from the normal black with her! Sparkles is the normal-colored one. As far as I can tell, both are girls. But time will be the final judge of that!

The only complaint I have is that the pet shop clipped their wings. At one month old, they're only able to sort of copter around, and I worry this will affect their ability to fly when their flight feathers grow back... will they have given up trying, not having been able to do it in their formative weeks? Anyone have any experience with clipped finches? I never have and don't plan to redo it, of course.

Other than that, here's babies!!

[Babs _Owner]

Rothe18

Congratulations! They are lovely! I would think as soon as they get their adult molt their flight feathers will come it. Very odd a pet store would clip finch wings.

They look like they are having a great time sharing your breakfast!

[lovezebs]

Rothe18

What little darlings!
Congratulations

Don't you just hate it when wings are clipped on Finches (unless there is a very serious reason to do so).

I don't even like the idea of clipping hookbills wings, it's just not natural.

Regarding the flying, they may have to re-learn flying, once their flight feathers grow back in (which they should do).

[Denise]

I know nothing about the Java finch ...but Love the tatami mat floor! Your English is flawless. Are you native to Japan? I was in northern Japan. Love it!! The pet stores are a hoot!

[Sheather]

Seems normal to clip hand-fed tame babies - makes them easier to raise. Obviously these are tame javas.
They'll grow back and your bird will then learn to fly normally. Don't worry about it.

[Icearstorm]

Rothe18
I had a "clipped" male society finch for a while. I don't know what happened, but all his flight and tail feathers were ripped to pieces. He was a few months old when I got him, did well in a flight, and mostly gave up trying to fly, though he took off when spooked.
Try to provide them some branches to climb on and an area they have to "fly" a foot or so to get to. This should help keep their flight muscles from atrophying and teach them that flapping is useful, which should make the transition to flight easier. Also make sure they don't fall out of the cage and count your birds when you close it; my dog killed my flightless one after he fell on the floor and I didn't realize he was missing.
I'm not sure if this would work on such small birds, but falconers use a technique called imping to fix broken off feathers. It involves getting a new flight feather from the same location, perhaps one that was lost during the moult, and trimming it down to size. Then they place a small bit of metal in the shaft of the loose feather using glue, and then glue the metal to the left over feather attached to the bird. It has been used on birds as small as an American kestrel, so in theory you could also fix a finch's feathers, though it probably would be too stressful and time-consuming to bother. I hear there is also a way to induce moulting using hormones, yet it is under-studied and has the potential to be dangerous, even deadly.

[Sheather]

The wing feathers can also be pulled and will then regrow immediately. It's momentarily uncomfortable, but leaves no lasting harm.

[Icearstorm]

Sheather
Aren't the flight feathers anchored to the bone with ligaments? If so, it sounds like it would be quite painful to remove them.

[Sheather]

Mmm, not sure - are they?
Many birds - cockatiels especially - loose several at a time if they get startled - plus, they shed and regrow normally every few months.
I did it only once, with a society who was harassed by another bird and had most of the flights on one wing torn so that he could not fly. They regrew in 3 weeks, and he was good as new.

Probably not worth it in your case, however. Your babies should be fine until they molt normally.

Edit: Actually, forgot - years ago, I also plucked a canary for someone who was kept improperly and did not molt for YEARS because the day length was never changed. She couldn't fly and her flights had worn down to sticks. She molted out immediately after, and her wings grew back normal.

[Icearstorm]

Sheather
Maybe it's like a lizard releasing its tail when caught, where if the animal feels threatened, it can lose part of its body without much pain by constricting blood flow. Of course there's no blood in mature feathers, so maybe some other mechanic is at play for flight feather autotomy.

[Rothe18]

I know nothing about the Java finch ...but Love the tatami mat floor! Your English is flawless. Are you native to Japan? I was in northern Japan. Love it!! The pet stores are a hoot!

lol thank you, I'm American, so I should hope so!
Yeah, the pet stores here are bonkers sometimes... good and very very bad abound. Pet care here is often questionable too, but I've luckily got literally the only bird specialist vet in this region 4 train stops away, so I do good!

Rothe18

What little darlings!
Congratulations

Don't you just hate it when wings are clipped on Finches (unless there is a very serious reason to do so).

Regarding the flying, they may have to re-learn flying, once their flight feathers grow back in (which they should do).

Thank youuuuuu! They said it was to keep them from flying out of the pet shop... they didn't have one of those buffer rooms... which is dumb. They are SO shy... they do try to fly, usually up to my head, misjudging and splatting into my face, lol. But they don't seem to understand they can fly when they want. So I'm trying to play the "let's fly" game and encourage them to come to me. But they get scared at the edge of the table. So it's a work in progress.

On a different note, why could I only post two pictures in the first post, and now none? The white bird is my older Java, Pitter. But I wanted to post two more pics of the babiesss?

[FallenIce]

Congratulations! They're beautiful. Love Java finches.

[MisterGribs]

Oh my gosh, they're so cute!! Especially that little croissant thief.