Greetings fellow finch fanciers

[Dramoth]

This being my first post on here and so I would like to introduce myself (and by extension, my stepdad... Lindsay).

My name is Mark... I'm currently living in Western Australia and I am from a line of bird breeders. My grandfather used to breed budgies and canaries and quails and I have fallen into the hobby along with my stepdad.

We have a good sized aviary (2.1m x 1.2m x 1.8m) with loads of branches in there for perches.

We have just had 2 clutches (8 babies total) launch themselves into the wild blue yonder of our aviary. This is our second and third successful clutch and we have found ourselves with a slight issue with one of the babies... hence the reason for my being on this forum now.

We have a youngster with an offset upper beak that is curved. We are a bit concerned that he might not make it. At the moment, he is still being fed by his parents, but I suspect that he should be weening about now. He came from a nest with 5 youngsters in it and we think that he might have been pecked by one of the adults which has caused this deformation.

Is there any hope for him?

[Sally]

Here is an article that tells how to trim beaks. If you aren't comfortable doing it yourself and you have access to an avian vet, he/she can do it for you. Some pet shops that specialize in birds will offer bird trimming. It really isn't hard to do, you just do a little tiny bit at a time, so you don't take off too much. You can use ordinary nail clippers, or I like some of the cuticle nippers.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on caring for finches and information on many different species. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions later on.

[lovezebs]

Dramoth
Welcome Mark and stepdad.
You mentioned what Grandpa used to breed, do you breed the same species?

Goodluck with your little fledgling. Sally, already covered the answer to your question. I just wanted to say hello, and I hope that now that you've discovered us, we'll hear more from you about your bird adventures.

Best wishes.

~Elana~

[Dramoth]

Thanks for that information Sally. I might see if our local pet store can trim beaks. However, I have noticed a couple of other issues on the finchinfo.com website that might cause some problems... but they could be just because the bird is young.

@lovezebs my grandfather used to breed budgerigars and canaries. My stepdad and I are just currently breeding Zebra's... well... they are breeding themselves in the cage although, we have a couple of interesting coloured males (one black and grey and one all white) that we are thinking of separating out with a female to see what we get. The all white one we got is one from our first clutch that we bred in our new house.

It's going to be an interesting journey I think.

[Sam007]

Welcome to the forum!

[Dramoth]

Unfortunately, beaky didnt make it along with 2 of it's siblings. What is even stranger is that he appeared fine earlier on that morning and then when I went over to have a look at the birds, he was dead on the deck. However, the other 5 youngsters who fledged at the same time all appear to be going along great guns. They have started feeding themselves now so no more rawkus chatting of the youngsters wanting to be fed.

[Rox]

Welcome to the forum! And sorry that you lost little beaky Sometimes Nature knows best, even though it is upsetting for us humans.

Good luck with the rest of the babies and enjoy watching them grow up!