Help! severly disabled chick!

13 Jul 2011, 23:32

Hi i breed bengalese finches as a hobby.

I bred a black-brown hen myself and decided to keep her. I paired her with a pied chestnut. They sat on their eggs fine.

But when they hatched she was defensive of them but didnt feed them plus she then started to mutilate them so i immediatly took them away and fostered them myself until i got another pair of bengalese to adopt them.

One baby (there was two of them left) has had a couple of toes bitten off and i cant seem to find that chick now as i have around 20 chicks atm but the other chick. Has had a foot competlely bitten off and a gnarled toe left on the other (half a toe).

The chick has healed perfectly. the wounds have closed up and being fed by its new parents. It is just getting some pin feathers on its wings.

But i am very worried about him as will he even be able to perch on a branch? His wings are ok. Im thinking should i put him down now whilst he is young or just wait and see.

Have had no experience at all with this sort of thing but his foot is completly gone on one leg and not alot on the other one either.

What do i do? ADVICE!

13 Jul 2011, 23:37

Quite a few members here have finches missing legs for various reasons. Animals are remarkably tough, and what would disabilitate us for life (or, at least, cause lots and lots of bitching), is simply a minor inconvenience for the finches! They survive fine, and your baby will live a full and happy life (or, should I say, won't be anymore ill-fit for life than your other finches) ;)

~Nathan

14 Jul 2011, 05:15

Hiya thanks for the reply.

I had another chick hatch this morning and i put it under a foster pair as its original parants had huge babys ans they would of crushed it to death. The pair had 2 chicks already so i put a egg i thought was dead in with them and the new chick. i went back to look earlyer and the egg had gone. i think they ate the egg and the dead chick inside it. BUT the new chick i gave them is now missing half a wing, i think they have eaten part of its wing when they ate the egg. mistaking it for the dead chicks wing or a maggot which i have fed recently.

Im thinking it wasnt intentional due to the fact that its been fed!

What do i do with this chick?

14 Jul 2011, 21:43

I have never heard of finches mutilating their young, but I am only a beginner. This must be terrible for you to see happening. Have you had good breeding results in the past?

14 Jul 2011, 23:55

well to be honest im a beginner aswell. I have had a miserible breeding year so far and i thought as i had loads sitting on eggs that it would pick up a bit. But 2 out of 3 sitting rejected their young. Leaving me to rear them. I have now managed to put them with new parents.

So out of 21 chicks hatching i have saved 17 of them

15 Jul 2011, 00:21

I was hoping someone more experienced than me would help you try and work out both what to do with this latest chick and I guess more importantly in some ways, what is causing the problem in the first place.In the meantime what if we try and start to eliminate a few possibles and someone else is sure to add more ???
Firstly though, what you decide to do with the chick with half a wing depends on how well it needs to fly or how important it is that it flies well.
As to what is causing the parents to turn on their young, I really don't know, but are you sure it's actually the parents and not something like mice?
These are a breed of finches renowned for their parenting, so if it's definately them rejecting and harming their chicks is something stressing them, like overcrowding, too much competition for food, nest disturbance,....how big is your aviary? how many pairs are in there, has something changed recently that's giving them a strong message that this is not a good time to raise young?
Hoping these questions might trigger something helpfull for you.

15 Jul 2011, 01:47

It was the hens first time breeding and she is around 8 monthes old. Plus the cock bird was also young. Im putting it down to this.

There are no mice, over crowding etc as they are in breeding cages inside. 1 pair to a 3 ft cage each. The parants that rejected those chicks were first time parents aswell.

I decided to put that 3rd chick down with half a wing because it was also missing most of its leg. On the same side of the body.

15 Jul 2011, 08:32

I would just check and make sure that these chicks are not getting fibres caught around wings and toes causing them to fall off.
What sort of nesting material are you using? Synthetic or natural fibres? Look really closely at the chicks. You may need some magnification to see them.

Do you have a rodent problem in the aviary. Does it smell of mice urine or can you see mouse droppings?

Do you feed seeding grasses & could these be affected with ergot?- a sticky fungus which grows on grasses usually during warmer & wetter periods. The ergot produces toxins which causes the blood vessels at the end of the body extremities ( ie toes and wing tips) to die & so drop off.

You may have a rogue bird as well, but these usually kill chicks rather than just biting toes/wings off. Do you keep any small parrots with your finches?

Sorry for all the questions. I hope they help.