Special Needs Birds

[Granny_Mike]

I am the pet person of ten parakeets. . . My grandchildren wanted parakeets like mine and their father told them they could have them but not at home. . . So, can we have them at YOUR house? What's a grandma to do? Then they decided to have babies! I found homes for most of them, but I have some which can't go to other's homes because of handicaps. They don't seem to feel handicapped, and seem to enjoy life despite one bird having lost a foot due to an accidental entanglement which wasn't discovered until it was too late, and another bird was hatched with a crippled foot, and then we have Tiny Timmy, who was hatched with his legs on backwards. I strongly suspect the pet store where they got their birds may be inbreeding and this might be the cause of the deformities. I'm not allowing any more breeding to go on. I just take the eggs out when they lay them. I don't know what else to do. They are so devoted to each other, I just feel I can't separate them without making them unhappy. Timmy can fly, and hover in one place for a bit and he crawls around on his belly and plays with his toys. He especially likes bells, but he has a tiny teddy bear he fights with now and then. I was so discouraged at first by his problems, but then I read an article in my BIRDTALK magazine which was about "special needs" birds and I decided that I would just try to work with Timmy and find a way for him to be happy. I never clip his wings because he CAN fly, and once in a while I let him out and let him fly. When he gets tired, he just lands on the floor and I pick him up and put him back in his cage. He's such a dear little thing! I would love to hear any ideas about further things I could do for him to make his life as pleasant as possible, and perhaps hear from others who have birds like Timmy.

[catschair]

Sounds like quite a family. I know we have quite a few folks here with special needs fids, so I am sure you will get some advice soon. Keep up the good work!