baby budgie foot deformity :(

IcyWolf

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As I slightly mentioned in my other post, I have begun to notice that our 2 week old budgie has a slightly deformed foot :( His left foot is fine, remains open most of the time and he stands on it pretty well(for a wobbly baby). His right foot is always curled forward as if all of his toes are pointing that way. I've been searching the net and found this Poor Baby has deformed feet... HELP and it looks exactly like his. The outer rear toe(the longer one) points forward with his two front toes and it causes him to stand on his foot like a club. I can bend the back toe backwards very carefully but it will not stay that way and it seems as if he cannot do it on his own. I didn't mean to double post but I could really use some advice. Should I splint the toe in hopes that he is young enough that it may correct the issue, at least a little bit, or should I just leave it be and see what happens? I am so upset by all of this, I would love to be able to take him to the vet and get a professional opinion, but we have had some huge money issues come up in the past two weeks. It seems the people that lived in our house prior to us tried to defraud the electric company and it somehow resulted in our meter being removed, after two weeks without any power(and our entire house is run off electric, no gas), we finally got it straightened out but it wasn't cheap and with christmas right around the corner, we are severely lacking in the money department at the moment. Normally it wouldn't be an issue and the little guy would be on his way to the doctor but it's really not an option after all of this. :( I just don't know what I should do, I've never had to deal with anything like this before. It doesn't seem to hurt him at all, he doesn't squeak or yell or anything when I touch it but if it's something that can be fixed with splinting or something, I would like to do it asap while he is still so young. I'm hoping there aren't any other serious underlying problems with the little guy. I have noticed that he is pretty small for his age, and at 2 weeks and 2 days, he still doesn't have any body fuzz, just pin feathers on his wings and tail. He's due for a feeding soon, just waiting for the last of his prior meal to be out of his crop and I will try and get some pictures of it, although my camera sucks and I have been having a horrible time trying to get clear pictures of him.
 

mcw009

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You could try making him a "shoe." This would involve cutting a piece of (ideally) plastic, or something with the firmness/flexibility of the kind of cardboard cereal boxes are made of. This would be cut roughly the shape of his foot, but slightly larger. Next you simply tape his foot to the shoe so that all his toes are positioned correctly. Ideally this would then be covered with vet wrap to keep it secure.
The risk with the shoe is taping or wrapping too tightly: it can't be tight at all or it will cut off circulation and he could lose the whole foot. It just needs to be gently wrapped to hold the shoe on the foot. If you leave the ends of his toes uncovered, you can easily monitor it to make sure he has good circulation.

This should be left on his foot for a week or so, and then he'll likely start perching normally when it's removed.

However, like that poster said, it's not a life-threatening problem. A pet budgie will get along just fine with funny feet.
 

MikeyTN

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That is nothing to worry about and like the above poster said. I've done something similar years ago. But I can't remember exactly what I did....lol....it worked what ever it was....if the method didn't work, it would be one I would keep.
 
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IcyWolf

IcyWolf

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That's exactly what I've been debating doing, cutting a piece of thin plastic, probably from a plastic folder or something. I was thinking about cardboard but it would need changed way too often, I'd be afraid of bacteria growing on it. I just fed him and took some pictures and a video. The video is absolutely horrible, it's hard to hold a wriggling baby in one hand and film with the other but you get the point. In the video you can see that he can, in fact, open his right foot but it's not like his left one. I'm debating between splinting it and leaving it be because of the circulation issues. I'm keeping him regardless, he was the only baby to hatch and I planned on keeping one, so he's mine :) I know it's something he could live with and I'd hate to try and correct it and make it worse. Splayed legs was something I was really concerned about since I've read it is very common in budgies. Both of his legs are straight, but he always leans on his right leg, I'm hoping that it's just because he is so young and unbalanced and that it won't do any damage to his little legs.
IMAG1899.jpg

Here you can see his air bubble in his crop, I have been "burping it out of him" but I wanted a picture of it as well. You can also kind of see how he leans on his right leg and his toes point forward.
IMAG1898.jpg

IMAG1896.jpg

IMAG1893.jpg


click on this bottom picture to play the video.
 

MikeyTN

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Did you try to remove the excess bubbles out of the syringe first before feeding? I think one of the things I was doing to correct the foot issue is to use a perch training while they were growing up. I think I used to make them stand on it about 30 mins at a time and do it several times per day. I even place their toe properly. I think I started it pretty young too...its been so long ago....but it did work for me to correct the issue.
 

mcw009

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He is a real nugget. I think a shoe or splint would need to be changed very frequently anyway to accommodate growth. I'd also be slightly concerned about messing up the growth of the foot.

It is something that can be corrected in a mature bird, so if you do decide to try to fix it, I'd suggest waiting until he's a little older anyway.
 

MikeyTN

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About the bubble issue...make sure the food hasn't gone sour, that could give you bubble issue. Or even a bacterial infection. Keep an eye on him to see. There's many things that can be an issue, but I've also remember a few of my baby budgie used to do that and they were just fine. What formula are you using? His pin feathers looks fine, that's how they look...
 
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IcyWolf

IcyWolf

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I'm using kaytee exact formula and I just bought it a week ago and just opened it yesterday so I don't think its bad. And I never reuse formula once it's been mixed with water. It seems like when he is hungry he gulps down air. I just had him out to check on him, his temperature and such, and he needs to be fed soon and he knows it! As I was holding him he was peeping and swinging his head around as any hungry baby does and here's the crazy part. I could see his crop filling up with air. It was slow but I could definitely see his little "air bubble shoulder pads" forming and they weren't there when I took him out of the brooder. It's like as he peeps and begs for food he is swallowing air. I literally told him that he wasn't an inflatable device so please stop inflating yourself lol. It's not really that big of a deal for me to get the air back out, I've done it so many times in the last two days, as long as it's not hurting him(and it doesn't seem to be) that I've kind of just gotten used to it. The only problem is that when I'm feeding him and have to keep stopping to "burp" him, that it takes quite a bit of time so I'm constantly watching the therm in the formula to make sure it stays warm enough and the biggest problem, he starts to get tired. He's so little, at this point all he really does is eat and sleep, after about 20 minutes of being awake he starts to doze off on me, and I can't feed a sleeping baby. I'm hoping that it's something he will grow out of, he has to realize at some point that he can't eat air:rolleyes: Every time he does it though, I can't help but think of a certain panel in one of my favorite comics:
noodle_snackJTHM.jpg
 

MikeyTN

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LoL....he'll grow out of it soon enough! From his pin feathers, it looks like he's gonna have some blue on him...
 
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IcyWolf

IcyWolf

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Yep, his parents are both blue and I know they can throw blue pied babies because one of my adults is theirs from when the previous owner had them and he is a blue pied. Is there a way to tell if he will be a standard blue or a pied from his pins or is it just a wait and see kind of thing?
On a good note, I figured out what part of my problem was. I was making the formula too thick. It wasn't pasty thick but it had some consistency to it, kind of like a cream based soup consistency. I just gave him another feeding and he didn't eat a whole lot so right before I put him back in the brooder, I just put some of the heated water on the spoon for him and he chugged it down! It was amazing how fast he sucked it up! So I mixed up some new formula that was way thinner, about the consistency of, say, chicken broth, and what do ya know, he filled his crop up real quick! I still had to burp him once or twice, but I think the swallowing air is something he'll grow out of, like you said. I can't believe I did something that stupid, but I just didn't really think about it. I've always reared larger parrots and even at a young age they would take fairly thick formula, and I always had a fear of making it too watery because the more water, the less nutrition they're getting. I didn't even think, little tiny bird, equals little tiny throat lol. Hopefully his skin will lighten up now too, he was showing some signs of dehydration(reddish skin) but I was blaming that on these air bubbles filling his crop.
Thanks for all of your help guys! Oh, and Mikey, one more thing, should I be feeding him through the night? I did last night, but every time I feed him I make sure his crop is empty. I haven't really been keeping to a set schedule, although it is roughly every three hours. I have just been checking him and whenever his crop is almost empty, I wait about a half an hour and then feed him again. By then, his crop is empty and he's ready for more :)
I'm waiting for the point where I have to explain to my family that if they want me to be at their holiday functions that I will have a baby parrot in tow lol. Even though I could just make sure I'm gone less than 3 hours, that would be a huge pain and I don't trust leaving him unsupervised since his brooding box is on a heating pad. I have been checking it every half hour or so to make sure it's not getting too hot, I don't trust those things.
 

MikeyTN

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Is he about 2 weeks old? It's been so long since I handfed budgies, hard for me to tell the age of them anymore by the looks. You can tell the coloring sometimes by the pin feathers, but sometimes you can't. Like the babies I'm handfeeding right now, my last batch for a very long time unless I have to do my friend's babies....The pin feathers is growing out a lot more and I can tell it's a Pearl not a heavy pied like I thought, but I am still reading from the pin feathers. But I'm pretty sure about it so it's gonna be another girl. The lady wanted two boys, I guess she just have to deal with just one. There's no need to feed him throughout the night, I would just start early like at 7am, 12pm, 7pm, 12am that was my feeding schedule before with budgies close to 2 weeks old. You thicken the consistency as the chick gets older.
 
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IcyWolf

IcyWolf

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Just fed him again, I know you said he doesn't need fed at night, but I'm always up anyway lol. I'm like a live-in 24 hour, on call birdie servant if you haven't noticed :) And I just wanted to update that his skin has gone from a darkish red to a medium pink. :) He's still not that light pink he should be yet but the fact that his entire skin tone has changed that much in a 4 hour period is amazing! Hopefully he will bulk up a bit now that we got all this worked out. He seems to be using his other foot more now too, I think he may have just been a bit weak before from not getting enough food/water. And it doesn't help that when he was being parent fed for the first two weeks, the parents were eating only seed. I offer them pellets and fruits/veg, all kinds of stuff but they won't touch it yet :( Although I should throw it out there that I officially got ziggy and billie off the seed. They only get a tablespoon or so, twice a week now, although billie still protests the orange and purple pellets and is sure to leave me a bowl full of them, untouched at the end of every day :rolleyes:
 

Mayden

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Hey Icywolf - I wouldn't worry about his foot even if he does end up with a toe going the wrong way, Merlin had a really bad foot when he was 8 weeks old and with some light physiotherapy we got it so he could use it to grasp things, one little toe the wrong way shouldn't affect how he'll perch etc. He'll get used to it since he was born that way. :)
 
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IcyWolf

IcyWolf

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I'm not going to worry about his feet, he's obviously not in any pain and it already seems to be getting better and better. Now that he is getting my hydrated, I can even see a change in the color of his feet. Before they were a pinkish red color and now they are a normal whitish grey. He's making more attempts to stand on both of his feet now and I have seen him bend all of his toes. :)
 
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IcyWolf

IcyWolf

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Sorry the pics are kind of blurry, he doesn't really sit still too often...
IMAG1903-1.jpg

IMAG1902.jpg

IMAG1905.jpg

IMAG1906.jpg
 

Mayden

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Hes so precious. Good luck with him, i think hes gonna be a budgie with real attitude!
 
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IcyWolf

IcyWolf

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He's so great, I love him! He's getting the hang of spoon feeding, I tried syringe feeding but his beak is just so tiny, he seems to like the spoon better, and I've done it both ways with several birds and I don't really have a preference, it's just whatever works best with that particular bird. It's funny though, I've never really been a big fan of budgies but this little guy is changing all of that. I have a nestbox on another pair, they have never breed before to my knowledge, but they have become very chummy with each other. I haven't seen them in the nestbox at all but I know they have been because there are shavings from inside of it on the bottom of their cage, so hopefully they will lay soon too :)
 

MikeyTN

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We have 3 boys, they want to mate badly!!! But its not happening....one of the boys is in love with max the cockatiel. Levi the parakeet help raise max's babies. Levi feeds Max, they get along great!
 
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IcyWolf

IcyWolf

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That's hilarious! You're poor birds are gonna grow up thinking they are paratiels :p

I can't help but keep looking at other pictures of babies his age and they all have fuzzy down covering their bodies. The only feathers this guy has are the pins on his tail, wings and the top of his head, the rest of him is just bald skin. I told my SO that if he doesn't grow any feathers in we'll have to start collecting little doll sweaters to keep him warm ;)
 

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