# Help! severly disabled chick!



## Guest (Jul 13, 2011)

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!


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## poohdog (May 16, 2010)

Depends on your attitude to your birds...they can manage surprisingly well if provided with the right perching..I have one with one leg at an angle...gets in her way all the time but she manages.I just provide her with her own space and a nestbox so she can rest properly.


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2011)

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?


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## petzplazaUK (Feb 21, 2011)

i have a cockateil who has one leg (other amputated years ago from what i think was infection - shes arescue bird) she manages fine to geta round and perch etc and shares the avairy with the others , i also have another whose siblings were attacked by the parents he has a leg that sticks up and again he manages fine , one of my african greys also has toes missing 9due to parentS) and manages fine , the wing however i wouldnt have a clue with, they do adjust to disability very wekll especially if its from a younga ge as theyve never known any different .

have u checked to make sure you dont have mice or anything that could be freaking the parents out and causing them to do this?? as that would make them attack chicks to save them from predators , i certainly wouldnt put any more chicks with the parents


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## Bullymastiff (May 6, 2010)

Agreed with above, dont put anymore chicks with the parents, sounds like somethings going badly wrong. 
Sounds like they are being scared and are not feeling secure enough OR 
there is some illness or genetic problem, they should not keep mutilating their chicks. Are they un-related pairs? are they in single cages or aviary?


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