Breeding with Disabilities

[garymc]

First up - no not me!

In my current collection I have 3 birds that I consider to be seriously disabled.

Bird 1 is a cock black rumped double bar who cannot fly anymore than three inches above the ground - if the aviary were 100m long he might make it the top he he tried from end to end - surprise surprise he fledged four chicks from a nest built in an artificial site which I still have no idea how he got up into

Bird 2 is a one legged lesser red brow hen - after two years of trying she has just fledged her first nest of two chicks - whilst she has trouble perching on branches after about 10 rounds of clear eggs they seem to have got the knack

Bird 3 is a 98% blind crimson finch hen (can touch her if I move slowly). She has just bought out a round of 5 (last week) and is back sitting on eggs. She is in an 8m long x 2.4m aviary. I try not to move any of the food dished around to much.

There was a time when I housed birds like these in a cabinet to make life easy for then. Time constraints have meant that they need to sink or swim - they have certainly taken to swimming


Would be interest to hear of other peoples experiences in breeding with birds with disabilities

[Diane]

I have a Orange Breasted Waxbill cockbird that only has one foot. I wouldn't sell him and other than his foot he seems perfectly healthy so I wouldn't want to euthanise either. He gets about as fast and nimbly as my other OB's even hanging on the wire, so much so that you wouldn't notice his missing foot unless it was pointed out. Time will tell if he can produce successfully.
So now Captain Long John Silver has a permanent home.

[SamDavis]

I've had one legged finches breed in the past. But the non-flying doublebar and the blind crimson - amazing!

[Nathan Morleyy]

I used to have a female Gouldian finch that only had one leg but sadly she died.

Thanks Nathan

[tonytoast]

You know Gary, these stories never cease to amaze me....and more importantly, I guess they give hope to the many littlies who may have ended up in the wheelie bin....as long as they are not suffering, and yours certainly are not, and they have adequate space and access to food & water, then I think it is awesome to give them a chance.

I recently had a little OB who damaged her wing in the trapping cage...she is now paired up with a cock OB and they are nest hunting (although she is still a bit young). Furthermore, just this week I noticed a young Ruddy who fledged last week who has a similar wing issue....it too will also be spending his/her life in my aviary.

[TheFinchMan101]

I used to have a small little silver quail whose leg was tragically injured beyond repair and had to be cut off. She lived to a total of around 3 years and had very good breeding instinks but because of the leg she couldn't balnce and wasn't able to get the eggs under her. Although this was the case she had always tried her hardest and also got some to hatch but because the weather was 40 plus they ended up dyeing.

It was even more disheartening because she died on the least suspecting day of the year.............. Christmas.

[BENSONSAN]

That's very cool Gary! Just goes to show how much determination they can have

[finchbreeder]

As long as it is caused by an injury and is not someting they can pass on why not let them breed. And good luck to the dtermined little beggers. Nothing is ever knocked off round my place unless it is in pain. Just build "staircase" perching so they can flap up to the next leval.
LML

[Tiaris]

Had a fair few one legged hens of various species still breed well. Most severe example was a Red Siskin hen with the leg missing from right back at the torso. Never had a one legged cock still breed though. I've always put this down to their inability to mate properly.