Deformed Birds

[Merlee]

I have been wondering why so many parrots have abnormal feet like missing or misshaped toes? If the parents do it, why? Does this happen in the wild too?

 

[MikeyTN]

It's mostly the parents that did it and it don't happen out in the wild as much but it does happen. Depends on the parents. They still do kill their chicks as well but depending on the situation. Sometimes its just a deforming foot/toes or something you can fix if you caught it early and put little foot stretcher thing on the foot to help realign.

 

[Merlee]

Why do parents do it? Out of anger? Accident?

When I was purchasing my macaw years ago, one of the babies available in the clutch was missing a toe. My nape has a toe that looks ok, but he can't or won't bend/extend it. Other people's birds' feet are deformed and thought I would ask the cause.

 

[MikeyTN]

Boredom, unknown object, etc. It can be anything. It is usually done by ex pet birds that turn into breeder birds.

 

[Blueridge]

Some parrots have bumble foot. I've heard it's caused by birds being on sand perches too much; and that you shouldn't only have sand perches in your bird's cage, or his feet will get all deformed. Not sure if this is exactly true or not though.

 

[TessieB]

I've seen pet birds lose their toes from landing on another bird's cage and not having enough sense to fly off when the bird inside the cage grabs his toes.

Long ago I had a breeding pair of cockatiels that hatched a clutch and did very well until the pinfeathers started growing. At that time, the female started to over-groom her youngsters and pulled out the feathers. I took the babies out and finished raising them, but the damage was done. They had bald backs until they day they died 20 years later. The pair was never used for breeding again.

 

[Mike17]

Our princess has a missing claw (think he was born that way- he was undamaged when we got him i.e no healing wound) and has a deformed beak. I think his keel is off-centre too. He was the only survivor of a clutch of three that was abandoned on the first hot day of spring last year (October, in Oz).

 

[SoCalWendy]

Rio has a missing claw. I was told that her father does also. Didn't see it until I brought her home. Doesn't seem to impede any ability to function normally.

 

[Merlee]

I was wondering why one of the parents would mutilate one of their own chicks. I heard of displacement of anger to humans and will bite them. Is it possible if something bothered a parent, would it take it's anger out on one of their chicks? Is that why people do not allow strangers in their aviaries?

 

[MikeyTN]

That's part of the reason why no stranger in aviary but the other part have to do with diseases and parasites. It can be anything why they kill their chick. Sometimes the chick might be a deformed unhealthy chick and the parents will kill those too.

 

[Megapixel]

I've seen pet birds lose their toes from landing on another bird's cage and not having enough sense to fly off when the bird inside the cage grabs his toes.

Years ago I had a cockatiel that was in need of having his wings clipped. He landed on my blue crown conure's cage and ended up losing a claw. Within a few months it started to grow back, but it was a couple of years before it resembled normal.

I have a 17yr old Senegal that somehow managed to lose a foot in the nest as a baby. I can only imagine that one of the parent birds did the deed.

 

[jenphilly]

When we had the oopsie cockatiel babies, it was the dad that was the mutilator... he wanted to breed with mom again and his way of getting her attention was to kill the babies. We were very lucky and opened the nestbox before the babies were dead, but there were blood spots everywhere, actually took a second to realize what you were looking at. He had pulled every pin feather from both babies. Unlike the other poster, Rin and Ryner both grew back all feathers and are both gorgeous pearls. But both were obviously taken from the parents and handraised, and parents were separated too.

We had actually read when we did some homework that it is not uncommon in cockatiels.

 

[Megapixel]

When we had the oopsie cockatiel babies, it was the dad that was the mutilator... he wanted to breed with mom again and his way of getting her attention was to kill the babies. We were very lucky and opened the nestbox before the babies were dead, but there were blood spots everywhere, actually took a second to realize what you were looking at. He had pulled every pin feather from both babies. Unlike the other poster, Rin and Ryner both grew back all feathers and are both gorgeous pearls. But both were obviously taken from the parents and handraised, and parents were separated too.

We had actually read when we did some homework that it is not uncommon in cockatiels.

I'm glad that when I tried my hand at breeding cockatiels, the dad turned out to be a great father in the absence of the mother. They had only one chick and the mom died when the baby was ten days old (I've always had to wonder if the dad did it or not) but the dad took excellent care of his baby girl.

 

[Jayyj]

Alice's left foot has a back toe that faces forward with the nail pointing up. It's the foot with her closed ring, so I've always assumed an accident putting on the ring when she was little. Whatever happened, it doesn't appear to bother her or impede her in any way.

 

[DallyTsuka]

its not always the parents that can deform the chicks either. not enough bedding nor the proper bedding in a nest box can lead to deformities like splay leg as well. malnutrition in the nest can also cause deformities.

my male cockatiel has deformed legs and a few weird toes too. suspected parent aggression for the toes and suspected malnutrition and/or poor bedding for his legs (he walks on his hocks/ankle)

 

[MonicaMc]

Casey is missing one toenail. I don't know if another bird bit it (my suspicion) or if she got it tangled in something. Either way, she was a bloody mess and wouldn't leave the toe alone! Blood on her beak, blood in various locations on her chest and stomach, bloody toes.... At the time, she hadn't lost the nail, but it had died and fallen off on it's own... and never grew back.

My bourke parakeet has a cancerous tumor on her right foot that we did try to remove via surgery, however it only grew back.

Charlie has an injured beak, missing half of his lower beak.... he tried to attack a blind ruby macaw and got the short end of the stick. He also has a broken toe - I don't know how he broke it, but now it sits at a slightly curved angle.


None of these injuries/deformities occurred when they were chicks.