# Pet Jackdaw-ANY advice appreciated



## Xafaeri (Aug 29, 2014)

You can skip below the backstory for the questions 

My family are a very animal orientated family with my grandad being a vet and myself an educational animal presenter (the kind that promote conservation etc). As a result a LOT of unwanted animals get dumped on us. A few years ago I was working on a filmset with my then boss that involved using a few crows (all legit, licensed etc at pinewood studios). An aquaintance of his had rescued a young jackdaw from a cat-attack. She expected it to die and put it in an empty aviary in her garden. It did not. So instead she reared it to adulthood and then gave it to my then boss - who quite frankly did not have the time to care for a bird with a permanently disfigured wing and not so great balance. Because I was there on the day I got given it to care for but he never asked for it back and TJ officially became part of the family and bonding well with my mother. Unforunately due to my work I wasn't able to be around that much in the first year or two. When I returned it was to find that TJ had milkyish eyes and is a bit scraggly looking. I went over everything and his diet seemed in check and we cannot find a conclusive explanation to it. If anyone has ANY idea please share. So to fast forward it he's just permanently moved in with me so he/she can get all the attention that's deserved. I'm going to be getting a DNA test done but think it's possibly a female (as far as I can tell there isn't an easy way to spot without having perfect looking species side by side??).

1. any of you experienced birds eyes going milky and a possible reason for it?
2. also some of his feathers grow out pure white despite only being a few years old?
3. He has terrible balance but the avarian vet I saw said that to amputate the wing (which is dropped a little lower than his normal one) would make things worse and ofc removing BOTH would be traumatic to say the least. BUT because of this lack of balance and being in his old cage he often bashed his tail feathers which are ruined (making his balance even WORSE). Will these grow back how long will it take, is there anything I can do in the meantime? It's short like an african greys 

My personal expertise is in reptiles so I'm ont 100% on where to go from here. His sad wing scraggly and has a few balance issues that I think would be helped if his tail feathers grew properly.

PS: I know realistically it would have been kinder if his original saviour hadn't saved him or at least taken him to a vet to be put down. All that was out of my control and I would and HAVE done that myself. But after seeing him so handtame, talkative and affectionate - that spark of life as he plays with his jingly ball or sits on my lap or steals some of my spaghetti when I'm not looking... I think it went too far to turn back. So I'm going to do whatever it takes to make him as happy as possible. Anyone with any advice is MUCH appreciated.


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

1. Milky eyes can result from damage to the cornea (which could be physical damage or from infection). Only a vet can advise on that.

2. White feathers on black corvids is very common, and nothing to worry about.

3. Alas, keeping any disabled bird is going to end up with feather damage. Having to clamber around all the time means more abrasion to the feathers. Being kept in cages/aviaries means more things to bash feathers into. Reduced balance means it harder for them to preen the tail. The tail feathers grow back once a year at moult. If the feathers break, that's it until the next moult. You can make a tail guard to protect the feathers, but with a bird that is never going to be released into the wild, or even able to fly, this is pointless. Tail guards are normally used on raptors and long tailed birds recovering in captivity that will actually be released.

I would get the eye checked out, and have the vet look at the bird's general body condition. Scraggly feathers could be a sign of other problems that need addressing. If you feel the jackdaw's quality of life is not good it would be kinder to have it put to sleep. If it's healthy and 'enjoying' life, then that's fine, but the moment that changes you need to really consider what's best for it.


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