What might have caused a broken nail?

[BlinkingLizard]

Tonight I noticed that my cockatiel has a nail broken off all the to the edge of the toe, and I feel terrible. I don't have any idea when this happened. His behavior has been normal, but I've been very busy with work and not home as much. If anything happened while the nanny and the kids were home, they didn't notice, or didn't realize what it was. Anyway, the toe looks fine right now, no swelling, no limping, and no active bleeding or scab. He's social, begging for people food, all the usual behavior. I inspected the cage and there are a few bloodstains on one perch and the bars in one area. I've had pet cockatiels for almost 40 years and I've never had this happen before. I'm wondering what some possible causes might be. There are no other pets in the house, so that's not it. My children are still young and on occasion will scare Quinn by poking things at him to see him fly. The babysitters and I discourage this behavior, but it happens sometimes. Quinn is fully flighted, though, and generally just flies where they can't reach. So could his nail have gotten stuck when he tried to fly? Are broken nails a symptom of malnutrition? Do birds every bite their own nail off from stress? Quinn recently lost his bird companion, a lovebird he used to share a cage with.

I will be keeping an eye on the toe, but avian vets are difficult to get to where I am (no car) and I don't have a relationship with a vet here. The last one I took my birds to I wasn't impressed with, either.

~Lizard

 

[GaleriaGila]

Geeeeeeeeeee... could have been many things. GLAD TO HEAR that the injury seems minor and on the way to healing.

I'm most worried about the panicky flying when the children poke at him. I myself would concentrate on monitoring/consequating/stopping that behavior.

If you can manage it, it might be GREAT to have one of those fancy monitor-thingies that lets you spy on the situation when you're away...

 

[BlinkingLizard]

Even if I had a video feed to my apartment, I wouldn't be able to check it very often during the day. But in three weeks the kids start camp, and after that they will be in preschool, so they will be home without me around much less often.

~Lizard

 

[plumsmum2005]

Quite difficult to tell really, anyway you could put a pic up of the foot and nail?

Yes it could be all or any of the suggestions you mentioned.

As you mention malnutrition do you have any particular concerns?

 

[Flboy]

What kind of cage do you have? The wire,'canary' style have trap points at every junction! The welded, all though not perfect, are much safer. Very glad he didn't break the toe!

 

[BlinkingLizard]

I'll try to get a pic and post it later. I don't know how to tell if the bars on the cage are welded or like the canary cages. It's from the same company as the one in this link, but not this exact cage (it is similar, though).

Marvelous Gable Large Cage

 

[BlinkingLizard]

Okay, here is the best picture of the toe I'm going to get. Any closer and my camera loses focus.

And one more, just because he's cute.