Poor Crippled Baby Canary

[MiaCarter]

Sheather - Wait a minute....You mentioned your societies Amber and Jack, the two little buddies with bad feet and developmental delay?

So Amber is a boy and Jack is a girl? LOL
Are they still buddies?

@lovezebs - do you remember those two?
They had bad feet and Jack had developmental issues.
http://www.petfinchfacts.com/all-posts/ ... riendship/

[Sheather]

They're sorta bonded, lol the three cripples as I call them have formed a bonded trio; Both Dancer (who lost a foot) and Amber (with his deformed feet) sort of share Jack (who's still kinda "off" compared to the other birds (she rests in the nest a lot, just peeking out at the others) but never acts puffed up or too uncomfortable).

I find societies form trios a lot, rather than pairs like most birds, I'm not sure why. I don't have any single pairs anymore - I have this trio, then one of males Apollo and Perry who share one hen, Cirrus. There is Errol, who is bonded to two hens - his first wife Flurry and their daughter Lizzie; and then a very unique situation where one hen is bonded into two relationships - my white female Lyra is allowed into the nests of both her sister Aurora and her mate, Albert, and of the bachelor pad of Hershey and his brother Olive. However, Lyra never mates any of these males, which makes it even weirder. She is however the best mother of all the birds (auntie Lyra, we call her), so maybe the other birds know that and want her around to help parent.

To make things even more complicated, Cookie - a young spice - somehow ended up imprinting on societies, so he is sure he is one, and he is in love with Apollo. He flirts with him all day, sings to him (he copied his song EXACTLY, and it's so odd to hear a spice sing a society courtship song!), and he tries his greatest to preen Apollo - which Apollo never allows - or he'll just sidle up to him and sit forever waiting for Apollo to preen him - which never happens. Cookie sometimes sneaks into the nest with the trio, and nobody objects; they're warming up to him and I think soon we're going to have an inter-species polygamous colony relationship happening with this group... Apollo and Perry who both love Cirrus, Cirrus who gets all the attention, and then Cookie who just wants Apollo and tolerates the others to get him... birds are weird!

[MiaCarter]

Sheather - I love it!

How adorable that the three gimpy babies have grouped together! That's just so sweet!

How funny on Cookie! We'll call him a society spice. That's so funny that he does a flirty dance at all, as spice finches are so incredibly quiet. And mine were totally asexual (for this reason, I believe they were all females.)

I love watching the dynamics amongst the birds. I get waaaay to involved in their little social soap operas! (e.g. I was all upset the other day when I saw Elvis flirting with Pippin...That's not right! He's cheating on his wifey, Priscilla! LOL)

I've been paying extra attention to their social stuff during free fly because I saw some snipping between three hens in one of my zebra cages. So I need to do some rearranging.
I've got two empty 30x18x18 cages so I think today is the day for decorating them and rearranging. I need to do it soon because I want to breed my gouldian pair one last time before they go into moult! Mum has 3 eggs, but she's not sitting on them because her current cage is too crowded with the 4 "babies" (they're just finishing their moult into adult feathers).

[Leo519]

Hi Elana, from what you've told us about Tiny Tim and and Pokey, their names seem to suit them to a "T" no matter if they are male or female - their personalities just come through and make the names fit
They are such cute birds and so fortunate to be in your expert care

[lovezebs]

Leo519

Thanks Laura.
I thought those names were perfect for these two. I have no way of knowing yet if they are boys or girls. If they turn out to be girls..... well, Pokey can still stay Pokey. Tiny Tim, will have to become Tiny Tina, or Tiny Tilley, or Tiny Tessa .

They are cuties.

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter & Sheather

Dylan, your birdies' lives are a soap opera, my dear boy.... .
I'm glad the three gimbled amigos are all getting along. At least they have their own little group where they belong.

Mia, I hope you'll get more baby Gouldis, is that clutch 3 or 4?
Goodluck.

~Elana~

[MiaCarter]

lovezebs -- It will be clutch 3. (First one had 3 babies, second one had 1 baby.) She's laid quite a few eggs since the last one fledged. But doesn't incubate reliably with the kids hopping in and out of the nest all the time! They're too much disturbance I think.

So excited to hear about liftoff for little Pokey!
Little Sir Pokey Pants is growing up! If you work with him daily, he'll stay friendly. It gets tough once they start flying because they want to explore! But some really enjoy the attention and those are the ones who tend to stay friendly.

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter

Well, our Tiny Tim, got taped again. He's not looking pleased about it. He's sitting in a seed cup giving me pouty looks, that's if a baby Canary can pout. Saw me looking at him, and tucked his face into his feathers, all fluffed into a baby chicken ball.

I wish there was some way to make him understand that this is for his own good.

I have a grand nephew, who was born with what used to be called a club foot. Years ago, there was nothing that could be done about it, and people would be crippled for life. Now a days, they slap special casts and later boots on these babies, and they fix it. Seven years later, you'd never know that there was anything wrong with his foot. He plays hockey and soccer, and Is Into every kind of spot that's out there.

So if they can fix that, surely I can fix a baby Canary's toe.

~Elana~

[MiaCarter]

lovezebs --- Oh, I know that pouty look quite well!
A very clear "Mehhhh!"

It's incredible how easily they can fix clubbed feet with serial casting and orthotics and so forth!

I think the parallel between slip claw and club foot is actually quite similar, since they're skeletally normal (more or less). It's the soft tissues (tendons, ligaments, muscles, etc.) that need to be stretched into a new position.

It takes time, but he'll get there eventually!
Hopefully since he's getting it fixed young he should do well as an adult! I've had some who needed a "revision" with more splinting down the road.

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter

All we can do is try, and do the best that we can.

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

I don't know how he did it, but I KNOW HE DID IT!!! He got out of his bandaid again.

I had to go all through the process one more time. Put the flight into a big panic, catch him, put his toes in the right position, tape them again, and put him back

Then he fluffs himself up and sits there pouting... 'mehhh...' (as Mia, so aptly puts it).

This is becoming a crazy little game... however, today I noticed, that his back toe, was not going automatically into the foward position.

Keep your fingers crossed folks.

~Elana~

[debbie276]

[OAvila1986]

Hi.
I've read somewhere that you should try
opening it's little toes and try to keep the 3 front and one back. Use a tool like a pencil to keep it's leg/claw open. Try doing it often. Hopefully it will adjust.
Just think about it for a second. Learning to get around with a birdy foot like that. Must be stressing For the little guy.

[lovezebs]

OAvila1986

Hello and welcome to the Forum.
Thanks for your comment. Yes, Tiny Tim, doesn't have it easy with his back toe facing forward, and missing one front toe altogether, but all things considering, he's coping very well.

Although still fed by his Dad (Luciano), he is learning to feed himself, and has taken his first bath yesterday. Because he knows nothing else, for him, this is just the way things are.

Taping that toe into the right position, is basically a measure taken to stretch the ligaments into a normal position, with the hope that this back toe will remain where its supposed to be.

When his foot is taped, he actually perches fairly normal. However, the little munchkin, is quite adapt at pulling the tape off (whic by the way is pulled off again this morning )

Once again, welcome to the Forum, and hoping to hear more about you and your birds.

~Elana~

[Atbird]

Try a different type of band aid, some lose stickiness quickly, especially when wet. I find the ones that feel like fabric are better than the plastic, shiny ones.