One-legged parakeet
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:08 pm
I thought some of you may be interested in knowing how well parakeets can do with one leg.
I have attached some photos of my bird “Sky”. Sky had a very unlucky start in life- her mother died two days after she hatched and her father refused to feed her or her brother, Jolly, who was 4 days old. I hand fed Sky and Jolly using Harrison’s Bird Diets formula and both did very well and were weaned at about 6 weeks of age. Four weeks later disaster struck. Sky got her leg caught in the space between the side and floor of her cage and actually ripped it right off at mid-thigh. Miraculously, it stopped bleeding by itself and Sky survived with only a few stitches to the stump.
Within days Sky learned to balance herself using her tail against a nearby perch. She preens by hanging upside down from a perch where she can reach all her body parts without falling. She is now 3 ½ years old and lives happily with her mate, “Puny” who is also handicapped. He has “French Molt”, a viral disease which stunted his growth and damaged his feather follicles, leaving him without primary wing or tail feathers and unable to fly. Although they are unable to mate because of balance problems, Sky lays infertile eggs and broods them with Puny at her side, perfectly happy with their pretend family.
I want to encourage anyone with a bird that loses a leg not to give up hope- they do just fine without it!
I have attached some photos of my bird “Sky”. Sky had a very unlucky start in life- her mother died two days after she hatched and her father refused to feed her or her brother, Jolly, who was 4 days old. I hand fed Sky and Jolly using Harrison’s Bird Diets formula and both did very well and were weaned at about 6 weeks of age. Four weeks later disaster struck. Sky got her leg caught in the space between the side and floor of her cage and actually ripped it right off at mid-thigh. Miraculously, it stopped bleeding by itself and Sky survived with only a few stitches to the stump.
Within days Sky learned to balance herself using her tail against a nearby perch. She preens by hanging upside down from a perch where she can reach all her body parts without falling. She is now 3 ½ years old and lives happily with her mate, “Puny” who is also handicapped. He has “French Molt”, a viral disease which stunted his growth and damaged his feather follicles, leaving him without primary wing or tail feathers and unable to fly. Although they are unable to mate because of balance problems, Sky lays infertile eggs and broods them with Puny at her side, perfectly happy with their pretend family.
I want to encourage anyone with a bird that loses a leg not to give up hope- they do just fine without it!
She's certainly a resourceful little girl, isn't she?! Just like other disabled critters she works with what she has rather than worrying about what she doesn't!
