Help! Fledgling may be blind..??

Reflectaholic · Post by **Reflectaholic** » Tue May 20, 2008 5:00 pm

Okay, long story short I have 2 zebra finches. The female is white and her name is Una. She only has one eye and that was from getting into a fight, or so I was told. The male is named Peep, he's a gray/pied zebra finch.

They recently had one egg hatch and today the chick fledged while I was away at a funeral. Came home and saw it on the millet below the nest, sleeping. I told my mom, she came in to see it (since she loves when they fledge) and she noticed its one eye was closed and it wasn't opening. Well, when the chick turned around there are some feathers missing and that eye is barely noticable, it's closed as well. I also noticed that it isn't fully feathered, missing some on the back.

Anyway, I'm growing concerned.. telling myself it's okay, but the more I look at it, the more upset I get. I'm starting to think that Una's condition wasn't due to a fight, and may actually be genetic, which would devistate me. They had a clutch of 4 chicks back in September and 2 of them found wonderful homes while I kept the other 2. Mine died suddenly a few months back, and now they have this chick.. who I named Dos for now (since Una is missing 1 eye and he/she's missing 2..)

I reached in the cage to see if Dos would react to me and well.. I can pet Dos and it doesn't flinch. I put my finger by Dos' eyes and got no reaction... I actually haven't seen Dos fly yet, but stretch his/her wings and sleep... so I actually don't know if Dos fledged or got kicked out of the nest now.. it was right on the millet under the nest when I got home and it hasn't moved from there since...

I don't know the hatch date, because I didn't know Dos was around until probably a few days after he/she hatched when I heard it. (I checked the eggs the night before too and didn't see the chick... but when I found it, it was a bit big to just have been hatched).

Can anyone help me out? I haven't seen Una or Peep really acknowledge Dos yet.. just talk to each other basically, and they are wonderful parents usually... but if needed, I'll have to feed Dos until it can eat on its own. I don't want to let him/her pass away just because it's blind...

I have pictures of Dos, I'm uploading them now.. so maybe once you guys see a pic you can get a better idea of the situation...

Reflectaholic · Post by **Reflectaholic** » Tue May 20, 2008 5:21 pm

Okay, I witnessed Peep feeding Dos, so I'm not too worried about them abandoning him.. but picture:

His bad eye. The other side's eye is looking normal, just closed all the time..

Cropped version of image above so you can get a better look. Please don't click if you don't want to see it up close.

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Tue May 20, 2008 5:48 pm

I can't imagine a finch having any quality of life if indeed it is possible if the other eye doesn't open.Once the parents stop feeding you will have a major problem....doesn't look good.I've just today lost one of my own in similar circumstances (On another thread) Bathe the other eye and try to get it to open ...
Paul.

Reflectaholic · Post by **Reflectaholic** » Tue May 20, 2008 6:02 pm

Sorry for your loss, Paul :[

How can I bathe it? What is the best thing to use (tissue, cotton ball, q-tip, etc.)?

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Tue May 20, 2008 6:16 pm

So sorry. I have had some things like this happen and it is difficult.
Try to clean his eye with a cotton ball. I would see if it will open.
If it looks infected I am no sure what to do about that. Perhaps some type of antibiotic. Good luck and please keep us posted on the bird.

Reflectaholic · Post by **Reflectaholic** » Tue May 20, 2008 10:13 pm

Thank you dfcauley. I'm going to try that with a cotton ball :]

I had a really bad headache before and took a nap .. when I woke up to check on him, he was up on a perch! So he must have been able to fly up there or something.. both eyes are still closed though, from what I saw.

williep · Post by **williep** » Wed May 21, 2008 2:02 am

So sorry to see the little guy in such bad shape. I think it would do ok if you can get the other eye open. A finch with one eye will do fine like your Uno. I'm with poohbear though, if you cannot get the other eye open the bird will have great difficulty eating and flying.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Wed May 21, 2008 5:54 am

if it was me in this situation and I couldnt manage to get the eye open, this is going to sound harsh, I would put the bird down so that it doesnt suffer later on. sorry but thats me, as I have said elsewhere I let nature run it's course, when (not often luckily) I have had to put birds down I use helium gas, I believe the thread was in here somewhere

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Wed May 21, 2008 6:00 am

mickp wrote:if it was me in this situation and I couldnt manage to get the eye open, this is going to sound harsh, I would put the bird down so that it doesnt suffer later on. sorry but thats me, as I have said elsewhere I let nature run it's course, when (not often luckily) I have had to put birds down I use helium gas, I believe the thread was in here somewhere

Mickp I know alot of people do not agree with that, but I am with you there. I started that thread after much though and prayer. I had a little bird I was so upset over and he was hanging on and suffering. It was so hard to do and I cried about it, but in the end was glad I did. I would ONLY do it if I felt there was no choice and it was suffering in some way.
I would do the same with my belovd dog that I have had for 14 years.
But I think this is something that is a matter of choice and not right for some people.

Reflectaholic · Post by **Reflectaholic** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:58 am

Thanks for all your help so far guys. I've found him on 2 different perches already .. so he's getting around somehow. And the parents are still feeding him. I'm going to try to get his eye open in a few minutes, parents are chowing down on their egg food so I know they're going to feed him real soon.

I, personally, don't feel comfortable with putting an animal down alone. If I see him suffering I might see what I can do, but as of right now he's living as if it's normal for a finch to be blind.. He's obviously flying somehow, and he holds himself real good on the perches to clean himself, he sleeps on the perches, Peep feeds him while he's on the perch.. The only issue would be food and water once he's weaned.. so I don't think I would even think of putting him down unless I can't get him to eat on his own... =\

Post by **Sally** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:57 pm

Oh, my, I looked at the close-up photo. It looks like somebody picked on him, do you think the male might have done that? I don't envy you your dilemna. If it is getting around and appears OK otherwise, it might pay to see how it progresses. Please keep us posted.

Reflectaholic · Post by **Reflectaholic** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:25 pm

Sally, I'm not sure... I thought about that, because it did look like he was picked at, but the male has been feeding him all day, along with the female. Other than that, I haven't seen them bother with him... and I haven't witnessed any aggressive behavior on their part..

I did take him out to clean the areas and noticed on his left side, the "good" side, that there's no eye under the eye lids. He opens it and closes it, but nothing underneath. This might be hard to explain, but there's a black lump area just next to where the eyelids are.. not sure what that is? Could it be an eye? =\ On the "bad" side, in the pictures, I can see a half of an eye from the eyelids.. it seems like the lids aren't aligned with the eyes?? Or maybe it wasn't the eye I saw, but something else.. but I am leaning more towards an eye. I'm just confused at this point, and leaning towards this being a genetic defect/mutation...

I will keep everyone updated though, definately. I'm taking their nest out tomorrow if he doesn't go back in for the night because I don't want them trying to lay more eggs. And then once he's weaned I will move him to another cage for himself so the parents don't pick on him after he's weaned.

I suppose I should read up on hand feeding... or try and get him to eat/drink on his own? Someone on another site suggested setting him by the cups and try to have him eat/drink and kind of see if he'll catch on that when I place him on the cups, that's where he gets his food/water from? I'm so new at this, so I'm not sure if that would work or not..

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Thu May 22, 2008 2:21 am

Hand feeding finches when they have fledged is nearly impossible.Once the parents stop feeding if the young 'un can't feed itself it will die.I've just been through this myself....Shame,but that's natures way of weeding out the weaklings.
Paul.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Fri May 23, 2008 5:27 am

if the little one is meant to survive it will.
I agree with Paul though, hand feeding a finch is almost impossible to achieve.
good luck though as I think you will need it

Reflectaholic · Post by **Reflectaholic** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:29 am

Thanks for the replies everyone :]

Today when I put their new millet in, Dos hopped over near me from under the nest and within a few minutes he was calling for the parents but then either accidentally picked at the millet, or realized it was there and he gave it a try and now he's chowing down on the millet all on his own :] Very proud of my little guy.

One eye is fully noticable on his right side, so not sure what happened there but the eye is there. The other side, on the other hand, developed a small bubble like thing where the eye should be.. ? His mother Una has one as well and I feel rather stupid to think now that she'd gotten into a fight and not think this could be genetic.

My mother fed them while I was away for the weekend and when she put their egg food in, she held her finger by Dos' bad side and he turned around to stare at her with his good side. Not totally sure he can see clearly, but I think he can see something.