OK, so I live in an apartment and found a cage with two finches in it. I have had the 2 of them for 3 days. I know nothing about birds. Today I noticed the one bird is only using one of her feet. She will not use the left foot at all, keeps it tucked under her when moving and wont put any pressure on it at all. I am not sure if there is something I should be doing for her, or whom I should contact. Any ideas would be appreciated. Theyre pretty cute little birds, I just wanna make sure I do what I can.
Thanks !
Guidance Required
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Finch Fry
- Expecting
- Posts: 1116
- Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:16 pm
- Location: Evansville, IN USA
Re: Guidance Required
Whoa. Just found them? Well, its hard to give you any guidance without knowing what kind of finches they are. So is it possible to take a picture and post it here so we can see what kind it is. (or just go to FIC and try to identify which one you have) In the mean time, not sure how invested you are in making them healthy or your pet but it will require some $ and time if you want to do it right. Otherwise, take them to a animal shelter that takes birds.
If you decide to keep them. First and foremost, clean drinking water daily. Go somewhere and buy a finch seed mix. Walmart or a petshop or petsmart. Anything will do for now. And this one is pretty important too since seeds wont cut it for their diet alone. Take an egg, hard boil it then mash it, WITH the shell untill its pasty and the shell bits are pretty small. Then serve a spoon fool to the finches on a little dish.
You have the option of serving them all sorts of little veggies that will help make them stronger. For instance, broccoli (the floret), carrots (grated), corn, lettuce, spinach. All make sure to be cut really small so they can eat it.
Make sure to put the birds in an area where they can get some sun as well. Maybe half way in a window so they can get sun if they want or have shade if they want.
No help on the leg. Sounds like it may be broken. Others may have some experience and can help. It sounds like the finch will just have to cope and get along as he/she is.
If you decide to keep them. First and foremost, clean drinking water daily. Go somewhere and buy a finch seed mix. Walmart or a petshop or petsmart. Anything will do for now. And this one is pretty important too since seeds wont cut it for their diet alone. Take an egg, hard boil it then mash it, WITH the shell untill its pasty and the shell bits are pretty small. Then serve a spoon fool to the finches on a little dish.
You have the option of serving them all sorts of little veggies that will help make them stronger. For instance, broccoli (the floret), carrots (grated), corn, lettuce, spinach. All make sure to be cut really small so they can eat it.
Make sure to put the birds in an area where they can get some sun as well. Maybe half way in a window so they can get sun if they want or have shade if they want.
No help on the leg. Sounds like it may be broken. Others may have some experience and can help. It sounds like the finch will just have to cope and get along as he/she is.
Goulds, Owls, Gold Breasts, Stars, Zebras, Societies
An obscene number of chicks and eggs
And an incredibly rare St. Goldena Breast finch
Anyone want some finches???
-Chris
An obscene number of chicks and eggs
And an incredibly rare St. Goldena Breast finch
Anyone want some finches???
-Chris
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Sally
- Mod Extraordinaire
- Posts: 17929
- Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:55 pm
- Location: DFW, Texas
Re: Guidance Required
Finch Fry has given you some good advice. You first need to ID the birds to know just what their needs may be. Next, you need to decide if you want to keep them or not. The Finch Information Center, linked at left, has many species listed, so you may be able to ID the birds, or post a photo here for us to help.
As far as the leg, this could be anything from just a minor injury like a bruise that will heal fairly quickly by itself to a broken leg. If you suspect a broken leg, an avian vet would be able to help with that. A warning: it is not cheap to take a finch to an avian vet. The nearest one to me charged $45 just for the office visit, and that was several years ago. I hate to sound cruel, but you have to balance vet charges against the possible value of the bird--could be as little as $10. Finches are very capable of living with various handicaps--I have one with a broken leg that healed crooked, one with only one leg, one missing a foot.
You said they were in a cage, and the right size cage is very important for finch health and happiness. Chances are, the cage they were in isn't large enough. If you could measure it and let us know the size, we will be happy to let you know if it will work (if you decide to keep the finches).
Please keep us posted, and if you decide to become a finch owner, you will find lots of help here.
As far as the leg, this could be anything from just a minor injury like a bruise that will heal fairly quickly by itself to a broken leg. If you suspect a broken leg, an avian vet would be able to help with that. A warning: it is not cheap to take a finch to an avian vet. The nearest one to me charged $45 just for the office visit, and that was several years ago. I hate to sound cruel, but you have to balance vet charges against the possible value of the bird--could be as little as $10. Finches are very capable of living with various handicaps--I have one with a broken leg that healed crooked, one with only one leg, one missing a foot.
You said they were in a cage, and the right size cage is very important for finch health and happiness. Chances are, the cage they were in isn't large enough. If you could measure it and let us know the size, we will be happy to let you know if it will work (if you decide to keep the finches).
Please keep us posted, and if you decide to become a finch owner, you will find lots of help here.