Fledgling with Curled Feet

[Meagan83]

New development--any reason why Dad would be humping his not quite 5-week old chick? It certainly isn't helping.

Incest, we have incest here! lol

[cindy]

shield your eyes young ones!!!!


Dad seems a bit to eager to breed!!!! Shame on him, with a youngin'!!!

[debbie276]

Is there any way you can post pictures or a video of what he's doing? Maybe we could think of a better solution if we could see what he's actually doing.
If you put your finger under his foot does he attempt at all to hold on to it like he would a perch? Or is his toes not moving at all?

[Nerien]

When babies think they are going to get fed, they are now cheeping (okay, squawking) louder than my parakeets.

Is that why one of your parakeets is named "Thunder"?

You may notice the theme in the names, it matches their colors:
Sun--all yellow, red eyes (lutino, which is a yellow base albino)
Sky--white with sky blue lower belly and lower back, smattering of grey on wings, gradually increasing yellow face and upper body (white base recessive pied yellow face type II). Sky was not showing the yellowface when we got her and named her, but obviously it's her sunshine showing up.
Forest--standard Green & yellow budgie
Prairie--Green and yellow budgie, opaline (less black & slightly different pattern of black on upper body/wings)
Jungle--Yellow & lower body green, near usual black markings on wings (yellow base, recessive pied )
Sprite--Yellow with light green on lower body and lower back (yellow base double factor dominant pied)
George (really River, but we needed a George)--Sky blue white face budgie (standard white base budgie, no dark factor)
Lake--standard blue/white face budgie (standard white base single dark factor)
The Snow Birds--White with little to no grey/black at neck only, blue patch on lower back, Snowflake-least grey, med. blue, Snowfall--little bit of grey, med blue, Snowdrift-definite grey at neck, vivid blue back (white base double factor dominant pied, single or double dark factor)
Lily--all white, red eyes (albino)
Bluebell--med-dark blue, standard grey/black markings, yellow face (white base, single dark factor, yellowface type I)
Smoke--light grey with pale brown markings (white base grey factor dilute cinnamon opaline)
Zebra--(who my daughter insists is "Coal")pretty much looks all grey/black & white stripey. Kinda like an anthracite, tho what one of those would be doing in a chain petstore, I dunno.

And Thunder--who is white and sky blue, but in the reverse of Sky, with the usual black markings on head and shoulders and wings except for the longer flight feathers, which are white. Since she's sky colored, but with a lot of dark on top, those are her thunderclouds. (white base single factor dominant pied).

[Nerien]

Incest, we have incest here! lol

shield your eyes young ones!!!!

You should see the parakeet cage in the morning--Bluebell starts his usual on Lily, and lately George is trying to get in on it, so we have a Budgie Threesome goin' on!

It's disgraceful. No shame.

[Nerien]

Is there any way you can post pictures or a video of what he's doing? Maybe we could think of a better solution if we could see what he's actually doing.
If you put your finger under his foot does he attempt at all to hold on to it like he would a perch? Or is his toes not moving at all?

He grabs on. He can grab onto a branch, but either balance doesn't last, or he tries to move. He climbed out of the walker by hooking his feet into the gauze straps from below and pushing. He can stay standing if you put him there. He could stay upright on his various shoes, until he tried to move/walk too far. He has movement, he has grip, he just goes, how to describe it, spazzo?

Will try to video. Are there directions for putting video up?

[debbie276]

I'm not sure if you can post videos directly or just link to youtube or other site

[Zebrafincher]

Its lovely you all care for your finches and do all you can to help them get around. I had a previous canary who developed leg issues. The vet was never able to correctly diagnose whether it was a tumor on the renal area or something else and unfortunately he died after 4 months but he was able to get around quite well on flat dowel perches. He was a real sweetie.

[Nerien]

So sorry your little canary had such a short time with you.

Got video, need son to put it onto youtube for me. maybe tomorrow before school, if I'm lucky.

Left him without shoes yesterday and today. Stand him up about a million times a day. When he falls, he goes nuts scrabbling around on his side. But, the good? thing is, when he ends up upside down, he has started moving his wings in his desperate attempt to get right and keep moving. Not correct wing movement out to the sides, but movement nonetheless.

Been putting his sibling Eaglet up on the perch branches, he will sit for a while, he can recover from some degree of balance loss, and he does flutter down when he can't hang on anymore. So I think he's just lazy, or confused by his ground-bound sibling.

Saw both chicks pick at some seed today. So there is hope that I won't be a full-time bird mama forever, right?

[debbie276]

It really concerns me that Eaglet doesn't act like a normal fledgling either. I don't think Eaglet is just lazy or confused, chances are he is suffering from the same thing as his sibling just not to the extent he is.
So now he can stand without shoes? His toes stay straight? That's really good news but not so good that he still falls over even with the ability to move his legs. Now at least you know his wings can move and are not just stuck to his side.
Yay, maybe weaning is in the very near future for you.

[Nerien]

Hopper has died.

Last night, did my usual late night check because he has usually scootched away and is sleeping on his side stuck somewhere. Yup, so I moved him back next to Eaglet, as they like to snuggle together. He was not as warm as usual when I picked him up.

This morning, he was alive and scootched away, and since I had to go out to a morning appointment, I fed him some egg-pellet mush. He was as wiggly and squirmy as ever. But Something just didn't feel right to me. But I had to go, so I put him back into the cage.

When I came home an hour and a half later, he was gone. cold and stiff across the cage.

Poor little Hopper. But he did put a lifetime of fierceness into his short time with us.

[debbie276]

So very sorry for your loss
You sure did go above and beyond for that little one, kudos to you!

[wilkifam]

So sorry. What a little trooper he was!

It is the special ones we always remember.

Lori

[nelloyello11]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this. I've been following is story closely, and I think everyone on here has been rooting for the little guy. After all of the effort you put forth to help him survive, I'm sure this is heartbreaking for you. My thoughts are with you.

[Meagan83]

Poor little Hopper. You did a great job with him. Maybe this was for the best in both cases: For you and Hopper.
Don't let it keep you down too long. You did the best anyone could do for him! (BIG hugs!)