Macaw Toes

[Marian]

I have a Catalina Macaw which I recently adopted. She only has 3 toes on each foot. Two front and only one back. Both of the toes on her inner foot (where are thumbs are so to speak) are just stubs. Is this cause she is a hybrid or is it just a physical defect? She was owned by the same family for 14 years, handfed by them even before she had feathers and has been to the same vet (my vet) for all of those years so I know nothing happened to them.

Just wondering.

Marian

[kensbuns]

I was told once by a very wise bird person if you actually take time to look at the birds in the pet stores you will notice that alot of them are actually missing toes. Sometimes it happens because the parents chew them off. It can happen also from a birth defect I believe. There could be lots of reasons but I do know that there are alot of birds out there with missing toes.

[Carrie Robinson]

I have an African Grey missing two toes off each foot and they are like nubs. When they took him out of the nest, he was that way. One bird breeder told me it might have something to do with the humidity in the breeder box or possibly a parent chewed them off. He does fine and has no problems.