Deformed wing

[Tanab]

We got our baby Pionus (4 weeks) two days ago, once home found she has a deformed wing, the metacarpus and phalanx are missing completely, it's definitely a birth defect by the look of it. No rawness and even feathers growing out of the end. The baby was only removed from the nest when we collected her but she is hand feeding well, is strong and alert and VERY cute. We are off to our vet (avian) but wondered if anyone has similar experience and can give us some practical advice.

Seeing she wasn't from a breeder, the owner had not done a thorough check as she didn't want to touch the babies, she has offered us a replacement but we love this little thing and want to give her the best possible chance.

Would really appreciate anyone with a similar problem to share some advice

Thank you

John and Tana

 

[SailBoat]

First, Thank-You for bring home a special needs Parrot!

It will be very important to work with your Avian Vet to determine what her capabilities maybe regarding use of that wing. She will likely have some problems and you 'may' need to trim her good wind to match (as close as possible) her deformed wing. The danger is off balanced flight, which may send her into a deadly spin.

Work with expanding her abilities. AV's as with MD's commonly set the bar fairly low. So, keep working with her and you will likely be very surprised at what she can do! Most important part is keep her moving and active.

Also, consider a Web Search for Handicap Birds and Handicap Parrots. Also, Special Needs Birds and Special Needs Parrots. You will find a ton of great information on meeting the needs of your special needs girl.

Always remember that Love is returned a twice the level from a special needs Parrot.

Again, thank-you for taking on a special needs Parrot!

 

[GaleriaGila]

You are my latest heroes!

 

[itzjbean]

I second the advice to have her looked at by an Avian Vet. Do you have one in your area that you can take her to? As much as advice on the forum will help, she may have additional problems with her development that you should have checked.

 

[Tanab]

First, Thank-You for bring home a special needs Parrot!

It will be very important to work with your Avian Vet to determine what her capabilities maybe regarding use of that wing. She will likely have some problems and you 'may' need to trim her good wind to match (as close as possible) her deformed wing. The danger is off balanced flight, which may send her into a deadly spin.

Work with expanding her abilities. AV's as with MD's commonly set the bar fairly low. So, keep working with her and you will likely be very surprised at what she can do! Most important part is keep her moving and active.

Also, consider a Web Search for Handicap Birds and Handicap Parrots. Also, Special Needs Birds and Special Needs Parrots. You will find a ton of great information on meeting the needs of your special needs girl.

Always remember that Love is returned a twice the level from a special needs Parrot.

Again, thank-you for taking on a special needs Parrot!

Hi thank you very much for the advice, I know vets can be fairly 'negative' when it comes to prospects but Gina is great and I am really hopeful that we find ways to overcome her disabilities. She is so cute and loving! Your comment on trimming her good wing is very logical and will definitely ask our vet about this and do some more extensive research.

Really appreciate your suggestions and advice. Will keep everyone posted!

Tana


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Tanab]

I second the advice to have her looked at by an Avian Vet. Do you have one in your area that you can take her to? As much as advice on the forum will help, she may have additional problems with her development that you should have checked.

Hi, yes we do, she's great and very good with all the birds we have taken in before. We will ask her to do a complete check and we will anyway see her every 3 months to keep a check on her development.

Thanks for the encouragement


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Kentuckienne]

Good luck with this little baby, and thanks for keeping her, one wing and all.

 

[Teddscau]

Poor kid. That's a lot of wing to be missing. While I don't have experience with that sort of birth defect, I do have experience with flying difficulties due to morbid obesity and resultant muscle atrophy, injury, and weakness due to neurological issues and bad flight feathers.

From my experience, with enough time and exercise, they can regain some, if not all, of their flying ability. Trimming her good wing to even things out sounds reasonable. Even though she has a birth defect, I definitely wouldn't clip her wings, except to make her good wing semetrical with the bad wing. However, you have to keep in mind that if you do let the good wing's feathers grow out after clipping them, they'll be prone to injury and breakage since any new flight feathers coming in won't have the protection of surrounding fully grown feathers.

I'd definitely make sure he exercises his wings at least a few times a day to build up muscle (maybe do it on some newspapers on the floor so he doesn't hurt himself). Hopefully, he'll eventually be able to fly. Although he'll never be able to fly as gracefully as a budgie, hopefully he'll be able to do short flutters from perch to perch, and be able to gently flutter to the floor if he ever falls.

When poor Rumi had her neurological episode, she became very weak and completely lost her ability to fly, and it's had a huge impact on her life. She became very insecure, and she became incredibly aware of how much her life had changed. Luckily, she's slowly grown stronger (she has her balance back, her feet and legs are strong again, and she can bite unbelievably hard again), and she's learned how to use her wings to push herself up while climbing, and she can now fly short distances (around a foot or so). From my own experience, a bird who can't fly (excluding flightless species) doesn't have the best quality of life. I'm not saying to euthanize those who have lost their ability to fly, as they still have a great life (heck, blind, legless parrots can still enjoy life!). I'm just saying you should definitely try to help him be able to at least fly from perch to perch.

Heck if morbidly obese Lara (I honestly thought she could die any moment from heart disease) could lose all that weight (you have no clue how grossly overweight she was. She would get out of breath just walking across a perch. She actually jiggled when she moved, she was so fat), and regain strength in her atrophied wings, I'm sure your boy could eventually fly short distances. Anyways, good luck with the little guy!

 

[Tanab]

Poor kid. That's a lot of wing to be missing. While I don't have experience with that sort of birth defect, I do have experience with flying difficulties due to morbid obesity and resultant muscle atrophy, injury, and weakness due to neurological issues and bad flight feathers.

From my experience, with enough time and exercise, they can regain some, if not all, of their flying ability. Trimming her good wing to even things out sounds reasonable. Even though she has a birth defect, I definitely wouldn't clip her wings, except to make her good wing semetrical with the bad wing. However, you have to keep in mind that if you do let the good wing's feathers grow out after clipping them, they'll be prone to injury and breakage since any new flight feathers coming in won't have the protection of surrounding fully grown feathers.

I'd definitely make sure he exercises his wings at least a few times a day to build up muscle (maybe do it on some newspapers on the floor so he doesn't hurt himself). Hopefully, he'll eventually be able to fly. Although he'll never be able to fly as gracefully as a budgie, hopefully he'll be able to do short flutters from perch to perch, and be able to gently flutter to the floor if he ever falls.

When poor Rumi had her neurological episode, she became very weak and completely lost her ability to fly, and it's had a huge impact on her life. She became very insecure, and she became incredibly aware of how much her life had changed. Luckily, she's slowly grown stronger (she has her balance back, her feet and legs are strong again, and she can bite unbelievably hard again), and she's learned how to use her wings to push herself up while climbing, and she can now fly short distances (around a foot or so). From my own experience, a bird who can't fly (excluding flightless species) doesn't have the best quality of life. I'm not saying to euthanize those who have lost their ability to fly, as they still have a great life (heck, blind, legless parrots can still enjoy life!). I'm just saying you should definitely try to help him be able to at least fly from perch to perch.

Heck if morbidly obese Lara (I honestly thought she could die any moment from heart disease) could lose all that weight (you have no clue how grossly overweight she was. She would get out of breath just walking across a perch. She actually jiggled when she moved, she was so fat), and regain strength in her atrophied wings, I'm sure your boy could eventually fly short distances. Anyways, good luck with the little guy!

Thank you for your reply. Since reading up about disabled parrots on the web I have been pleasantly surprised just how well some do, shocked that some have no legs at all and still cope.

Gosh you must have been through a lot with your girl.its wonderful to hear that people like you persevere, many would just give up. So good to hear that she is much better too.

Our little one is very strong for 4 weeks, she actually climbed up the side of the cage, though she is not in it, she actually did and we watched her. We have been exercising her wings, so that's for this advice, making her flap a bit o get used to it.

I was a bit worried about the preening but she seems to be getting that right as well. We shall see what the vet says on Monday when we see her.

Thanks for replying and we will keep in touch

John & Tana



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Teddscau]

If you want a healthy, long-lived budgie, don't adopt a colour mutation (yellow and albino seem to have the most problems). Most of my budgies are colour mutations, so they aren't the healthiest. I love them, and I'm definitely not trying to discourage anyone from adopting homeless colour mutation parrots.

Sorry, could have sworn you said your pionus was male! Anyways, it's good to hear that she's strong and that you've been exercising her wings. Hopefully she'll be able to eventually fly a little. Keep us updated!

 

[Tanab]

If you want a healthy, long-lived budgie, don't adopt a colour mutation (yellow and albino seem to have the most problems). Most of my budgies are colour mutations, so they aren't the healthiest. I love them, and I'm definitely not trying to discourage anyone from adopting homeless colour mutation parrots.



Sorry, could have sworn you said your pionus was male! Anyways, it's good to hear that she's strong and that you've been exercising her wings. Hopefully she'll be able to eventually fly a little. Keep us updated!

She is a Pionus (Maximillion), so cute, will definitely keep you all in the loop

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk