FINCHforum

Some of you may have seen my post in which I came around the corner and took a minute to watch my birds and saw my male Zebra's underside covered in blood and blood on many of the perches.

He made it through all right, but soon there after his middle toe and toe to the left of it, turned black. He's been eating and drinking and hopping around, though he's been favoring the injured foot.

I took a peek at him today as I'd been out and noticed that he had lost his little toe to the left. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up loosing the middle toe as well. That being said, he'll only have two toes on that foot.

I've heard of finches doing fine missing toes, or even missing a whole foot; but I'm a little concerned. When he goes back in the flight cage, will my other birds pick on him? My flight cage is a little over six feet long.... will this be too big for him since he will now have a disability? Should he be put in a smaller cage so things are closer for him to get to, or would he be fine back in the flight?

I have a little zebbie who is missing all but one back toe. He is actually the only zeb in with shafties, and nobody bothers him. He is the boss

I think he'll be fine.

I have a handicapped gouldian who broke her leg (when still at the former owner) and she can't perch well with that foot. She doesn't get bothered by the others at all. Make sure that if he can't perch well that you have some platforms for him to sit on. (My gouldian girl loves to sit on top of the seedhoppers. )

He might not be able to breed though, I believe, if that's any concern for you.

Stubby, my Gouldian boy, has only the back toe on his right leg; no toes on the front; that's how he came. He's a proud & very attentive Dad to my one Gould chick, so lack of toes didn't hinder him with breeding.

They do manage quiet well, we had one with no foot...he did adapt well and was very friendly.

I once had a male Black-Brown Society finch, Shadow, who lost his entire foot and a small bit of his leg.
He got caught in a space between the perch or the feeder (im not sure how...) and i found him hanging upside down when i came home from school. The thing looked like it snapped.
I got him out and placed him in the soft nest i had in the cage. he would come out every now and then to eat, and eventually, the foot fell off. he just had this little stubb, and would almost slip off the perches sometimes
but most of the time, he just sat in the nest. I had him housed with my green singer, Yoshi.
Yoshi was very protective of shadow. It almost looked like they were best friends. he was always right next to him.

Shadow died last year, and the following week Yoshi did too. He lived for 5 more years after losing his foot.

They do pretty darn well. They're tougher than people give them credit for