FINCHforum

Hello everyone!

So I had a clutch of 8 babies. It was the first time for this couple to lay eggs since I bought both on January, one year-olds. They ended up perfect parents, feeding every chick up to the crop's limit.

The babies were born on february, 12 and when I saw signs of weaning I changed the nest to a bigger one so no babies would squash one another. But today when I came in to check them I found the smallest one under 5 of the others and in one night his legs and toes are weirdly positioned and his neck does exorchist-type movements. The other time this happened to me the baby was already dead so I don't know what to do. I doubt any bones are broken, maybe the joints are dislocated. Do you think there is a possibility to live and if so can the deformities get fixed?

Can I give any supplement and, a question I had for along time now, is therea painkiller for finches on the market?

Thank you in advance,
Elli

Deformities cannot usually be fixed, but many birds can live with them. No pain killers for birds I think.
Maybe nature knows what is doing & this little one won't survive.
Keep us posted

Elli
Oh Elli, thats so so sad. Poor little baby.
I know that legs can somehow be wrapped when it's splay legs, but the neck.....

I hope someone who is more knowledgeable abot these things will chime in.
For now, I would leave him with his family, as there is really not much you can do for him. At least his siblings and parents will keep him warm.

I'm sorry

~Elana~

Hi there!
This is awful. I'm so sorry to hear about this!

Yes, if he's still alive, he can be saved.
Here's my guess: when they're this young, their bones are very "plastic". They're rapidly growing and they're very soft. So it takes just a day or two in a less-than-ideal position and you can end up with deformities.
Generally, it's not all that painful because the bones grow so quickly and breaks literally set in the matter of 24-48 hours.

A dislocation is fairly unlikely, only because the joints aren't fully formed yet so there's not much to dislocate. The smaller he is, the less likely a dislocation is. (Like a human baby, the bones aren't even touching in many joints. They grow together in the coming days.) Plus, if he has movement, that's another sign that there's not a dislocation or severe break. It would just dangle if it was dislocated or severely broken. (If it was his neck, he would die in very short order due to spinal cord compression/damage, asphyxia and/or starvation). Dislocations generally go back into the proper position on their own. And breaks heal extremely quickly so whatever the case, it's going to fix itself in short order.

We can't make him "normal" but there may be some splinting we can do to support him while growing and help him to normalize and achieve a close-to-normal function.
That's the main consideration for these little ones when you have a defect or injury -- function. We want to help them get as much function as possible. The essentials to consider are eating, walking/hopping/standing and flying (though flying isn't essential; they can live a great life without flying.)
Ability to eat is the one that's non-negotiable. Walking/hopping/standing is semi-negotiable. You really need just one working leg, though two is always better. And two abnormal legs can often give you just as much locomotion as one good leg.

Can you take some videos of his movements?
Also, can you take some photos from various angles so we can see what we're working with?

What's his size compared to the others?
Is he getting fed by the parents? Or are the siblings overpowering him and he's falling behind developmentally due to the lack of nutrients?

You need to assess whether he can survive in the nest. If he can hold is own in terms of begging/getting fed and isn't getting trampled (e.g. the squishing was a one-time thing), then he should be okay.

If you have never handfed and don't feel comfortable doing so, then there's not much of an option. If you do feel comfortable, you could take him out of the nest for a few days, keep him in an incubator and handfeed. (There's directions here on the forum for making a homemade incubator from a diaper warmer. There are also handfeeding directions too. They're both stickie threads.)
That would giving him a chance to get stronger and bigger while also healing in an environment where he won't get re-injured. You could also keep him in the nest between supplemental feedings. I'd aim to give him at least 4 extra feedings a day if you opt for this.
If you were to remove him from the nest, he'd rely on you solely for food so he'd need to get fed every 90-min 2 hours or so (however long it takes for the crop to empty.)

My philosophy is this: if they're alive, there's hope.
I always support them and never give up until they do. (And when he gives up, you'll know it without a doubt. He'll stop begging and accepting food.) They've only got one shot at life; that's it. So I view my role as to help give them as much support as possible.
Animals can live with incredible injuries and deformities. So there's hope. They adapt in a way that will shock and inspire you.
I

I just noticed the date of birth. They were born on my birthday.

Wow, I just closed the lights in the room I keep my finches, I'm in there from 8 am. Even though I had gouldians for some time, the last 6 months I made it into a full time job (yey!) and I still have so much to learn.

Unfortunately the baby didn't make it, although it lived till the afternoon and begged for food.

Let me tell you what I did during the day so everyone please correct me if I did anything stupid.

As soon as I saw the baby I took it in the incubator (handmade from a under tank heater) and fortunately/surprisingly it was fully fed. I have experience in handfeeding so it wasn't a problem. I took bandages, cut them thin and placed them on the hips, legs and toes to keep them in the right position. It couldn't stand upright at all so I cut a piece from the cardboard we buy eggs in and placed it in, it had just the right space.

When its crop emptied it begged for food but had trouble keeping his head in one place, it was trembling too much, but I have the Almighty Powerful long steel thingy going at the syringe so it was fed in a second.

From what I saw the entire day it didn't get any sleeping, it was re adjusting its body and moving constantly.

Well, I was really looking forward to this clutch of 8 babies to grow but ok, maybe I should have moved a couple to foster parents.

Everyone is so helpful with their comments, MiaCarter I had no idea that the joints are not complete when they are born, also that baby was born in the afternoon, while the brothers/sisters in the morning of that day, so it doesn't count as age difference I think.

Oh, happy birthday!
I'll post a pic of the babies tomorrow!

fetching, I agree, it's nature territory.


*too long, didn't read lol*, I'm sorry, I'm tired and occasionally burst in bad jokes.

Elli
Sorry about little one......
At least he's not suffering now...

~Elana~

fetching I've never heard about apple sauce, I do put some grape sugar or electrolyte in the cream, I choose which according to each case. Do you make it or store-bought?

Since you do operations, can I ask, I had a male with severe leg mites and his leg was eventually cut off. It's been around 8 months but still doesn't fly or get on a perch. He just lives on the bottom of the cage and getting a little fat. I have had other birds with one leg before and they lived normally, breeding with no problem.

I'm positive it's stress/melancholy maybe because he is completely healed and healthy. Can I do anything or does it normally take that much time to recover?

And by the way I visited your website and loved it!

fetching By cream I meant the hand-feeding formula.

About the bird, it's a male gouldian, lost his leg about 1 and a half year old. I kept him for sometime, maybe 3 to 4 months in a hospital cage alone and now I have him in a 90cm length by 35cm height cage where I keep gouldian youngsters when they get independent. I thought that the company would help him and youngsters aren't as aggressive as adults and he could also help me too identify males from females by flirting (I also have 2 similar cages with one adult gouldian for the same reason and one female zebra so it can be easier to introduce new foods since zebras are much more curious)

Air sacs easily get punctured,

Don't you mean the crop and not air sac?