Some new questions about Beaker, my no-flight finch & socialization.

[haylo]

I posted on here when I was thinking of getting beaker & once I'd taken him home 2 months ago. I just have some new found questions / am in need of some advice. Sorry this is so long. Fair warning, I don't know if the photos of his wings would be consdiered "graphic" (no blood, but they're not in great shape.)
TL;DR at bottom.

Beaker here has been with me for 2 months now, and he's come a long way - He's in his own (large) cage, and has been visiting by Bailey once or twice (Shockingly, without any sign of incident.) He makes a lot of calls, and has officially joined the club in learning how to beg for food. (I was seemingly taking too long yesterday morning and he stood by his bowl and beeped a loud, three times. I was very proud, I'm sure the budgies appreciated such a move.)

I'm hoping to schedule a vet appt. for sometime next month (that's about as close as my vet gets.) Although, bad wings aside, he's doing well. I have gently checked him out myself once or twice and the second time I snapped photos of his wings so that I could leave him alone and have a point of reference for the vet when we go.

However, I'm getting kind of nervous for him. I don't think he will ever fly, at least so far there has been no change in his wings that I can make out. This isn't a shock but he's also still very afraid of me (naturally) I'm planning to try and hang out passivley more & more - but I'm also nervous about his socialization.

I don't want to introduce a second bird right now because I don't know if he would be prone to being picked on, and I want to make sure I have a clear idea of his health beforehand. But, I know finches are SO social and don't neccasairly connect well with other birds (so, while he has seen the budgies, it's likely not doing much.) But realistically, in a similar vain, I'm nervous at the risk of ending up with four solitary, social birds in one room. My two budgies live apart across from eachother, and I'm not sure how I'd even pull that off but I cannot deprive Beaker here of socialzation from his own species.

Will he be okay over the next couple months alone?

Does anyone have experience keeping disabled bird out of their usual social groups due to their disabilities? Is that OK? Or possible?

I've thought about turning on some kind of TV, maybe birdie TV (other finches) but I'd be worried I'd just get his hopes up in some kind of way.
Not sure if that'd help. I do have a small radio I could run for him he might enjoy.

He is very vocal and actually pretty active at this point, all things considered, he seems content to me but I am only human.

I'll admit I've considered the potential of someday having to surrender him, I have a reputable local parrot resuce, but the idea of doing that is pretty impossible for me. I knew from the get-go if I really turned out to not be able to support him long-term, it was an option but I would rather not put him through another set of homes, vet appts., etc. If he needs a companion, it's not out of the question for me - I just can't see it being the right move right now, but at the same time, I feel badly possible depriving him of that and making his life worse.

Sorry for the long post. TIA.

TL;DR:

Beaker here is a zebra finch, I got him about 2 months ago from a petsmart that had him for adoption due to his wings not working. I took him home on a half impulse because I was really nervous someone would pick him up just for being free, and he wouldn't get the right care. He's doing fine, vet appt. pending, but I'm nervous for him socially since I'm not sure if introducing another bird is the move or even feasable right now. Learning how to balance traditional and specialized care has been a struggle of mine and Beaker is particularly difficult.

My main questions -

Will he be okay over the next couple months alone if that's how long it is? I.e I kept my first budgie, Bailey, single for about a year --as I spent most of my time with him instead-- before we met Benji - and even today, I am both of their "companions" as they don't interact face-to-face often. (One territorial, one blind. It's an odd pair. They CAN play nice though.)

Does anyone have experience keeping disabled bird out of their usual social groups due to their disabilities? Is that OK? Or possible?

Learning how to balance traditional and specialized care has been a struggle of mine, even with my blind budgie, but Beaker has been particularly difficult in figuring out. TIA.

 

[Jcas]

I’m glad to hear little Beaker is doing well! What a cutie . I’ve never seen wings quite like his; curious what the vet thinks.

As far as him being solitary; my personal opinion is that he’s probably better off as the only bird in his cage. I think the risk of him getting picked on or pushed away from resources by other birds because of his disability is pretty high. Sadly, in my experience, birds do not seem inclined to be kind to a bird who is “ different.”

To me, just the fact that he has other birds in the room does count for something. Even if they aren’t the same species and don’t directly interact, he still has some company in the room so he’s not truly isolated.

From what you’re describing, Beaker sounds pretty happy and settled and I think you’re doing a great job making sure this special little guy is living a good life. Just my two cents

 

[haylo]

I’m glad to hear little Beaker is doing well! What a cutie . I’ve never seen wings quite like his; curious what the vet thinks.

As far as him being solitary; my personal opinion is that he’s probably better off as the only bird in his cage. I think the risk of him getting picked on or pushed away from resources by other birds because of his disability is pretty high. Sadly, in my experience, birds do not seem inclined to be kind to a bird who is “ different.”

To me, just the fact that he has other birds in the room does count for something. Even if they aren’t the same species and don’t directly interact, he still has some company in the room so he’s not truly isolated.

From what you’re describing, Beaker sounds pretty happy and settled and I think you’re doing a great job making sure this special little guy is living a good life. Just my two cents

I appreciate it! He's done very well so far, I'm actually really impressed with him. Budgies have been my first & only birds so I was really nervous to take him in but no regrets so far. I'm also really curious what his case is! I had assume maybe a wing-clip but it doesn't look it, and I don't think he's had much growth back.

That's kind of where I'm at, at least right now. I definitley want more definitive answers from my vet on his sort of... particular condition, I guess, but I've stories in the first place of Zebra's in particular picking on other zebra's so the fact he's more prone as it is, that's a big factor for me!

I hope the budgie give him some kind of solace/ company. Bailey flies over on occasion and he actually seems fairly OK with it. For the first few weeks, he would stand on one side and jump in that direction, I think he was curious about them? It's interesting.

I played the radio today and I think he enjoyed it? He's also been letting me get a bit closer w/o totally freaking out, if I'm slow & gentle which is expected, it's good. Thank you again! It really is a case-by case thing so I'm always looking for other thoughts lol, and I really appreciate it!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I agree with the above by Jcas. Beaker may get picked on by other finches. As sweet as we think finches are, they can be pretty mean and aggressive to other finches.
It's likely he won't fly if as you say his wings "don't work". When you say they don't work, do you mean he can't extend them both and flap them properly? Are both wings a problem or just one? If it's one wing that doesn't work, it could be because it was fractured and didn't heal in the correct position.

What are the dimensions of his cage? Have you tried letting him out of his cage to test whether he can fly now? It's hard to tell whether a bird can fly in a cage unless it very large. If he can't fly you can still let him out to hop around the room and get some exercise and it won't be hard to catch him to put him back.
If he truly can't fly and never will, he is best off alone and in your care. Anyone else who adopts him likely won't take as good care of him as you do. They may put him in situations with other birds that put him at risk for injury. His potential loneliness is outweighed by him being so much safer.
Thank you for giving this little guy a chance.

 

[haylo]

I agree with the above by Jcas. Beaker may get picked on by other finches. As sweet as we think finches are, they can be pretty mean and aggressive to other finches.
It's likely he won't fly if as you say his wings "don't work". When you say they don't work, do you mean he can't extend them both and flap them properly? Are both wings a problem or just one? If it's one wing that doesn't work, it could be because it was fractured and didn't heal in the correct position.

What are the dimensions of his cage? Have you tried letting him out of his cage to test whether he can fly now? It's hard to tell whether a bird can fly in a cage unless it very large. If he can't fly you can still let him out to hop around the room and get some exercise and it won't be hard to catch him to put him back.
If he truly can't fly and never will, he is best off alone and in your care. Anyone else who adopts him likely won't take as good care of him as you do. They may put him in situations with other birds that put him at risk for injury. His potential loneliness is outweighed by him being so much safer.
Thank you for giving this little guy a chance.

Thank you.
I want my vets opinion before I say anything for certain, but essentially - he can flap, extend them -- he actually gets a decent bit of heigh just with a jump. But he cannot fly because his wings aren't grown out enough, and seem to not be able to grow. I'm not sure if it's possible it's genetic or if it was from some kind of poorly healed injury when he was younger, I'm hoping a vet might have a more definitive answer but we'll see. Both have problems but his left is MUCH shorter and it's much more visible on that side.

This is his cage - it's 31"; L X 20.5"; W X 40"; H - with 3/8" bar spacing - it was my dream cage for him. It's meant for chinchillas so it came with platforms (& ramps that i don't use) but it lets me give him a chance to use the height (I pad the bottom well. He likes to launch off the top.) and have a good larger space to play in.

He came out during cage cleans (by accident, from a carrier..) the other day and did OK but immediatley ran to underneath Bailey's cage where I had a hard time reaching him.

I've thought about letting him out into one of the tents I use for Benji' to fly safely in order to give him some extra flight room, but I don't want to keep grabbing him. He did seem comfortable outside though, so some outside time may be on the horizon for him even if it's tent-based. I just want to make sure he's comfortable. He has been in the tent and done well. (My quarantine cage was eventually just not great for him, so before I got his cage he spent a couple days in the larger tent. )

As far as it looks, he probably(?) will not fly, but he's got a LOT of personality and I hope I can give him a life where he can let all the personality and energy out no matter if it's flight or jumping or running.
I really appreciate the input. I've seen so much talking about how they really need a flock, but honestly, I've also seen the exact stories about the kind of violence finches can manage and can't see it being best for him.

His potential loneliness is outweighed by him being so much safer.

Thank you for this by the way, that's kind of the connection I was having trouble with. Appreciate all the input. My birds give me everything I could ask for (from the joy to the mess.)-- so I'm thankful & happy to try my best to give it back to them.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Wing feathers only get replaced a couple times a year so if he had his wings clipped short or lost the flight feathers somehow he may still gow them back.
If they grow back he will probably be able to fly. I trimmed my baby budgie Joey's wings a tad too much when she was at fledgling age. I sometimes do this so they don't get injured flying too high and too fast, and it usually doesn't prevent flying but all she could do is what you describe as fly hopping up and down and only going forward a couple feet at a hop. It didn't bother her because all she wanted to do was follow us around and sit on us anyway. Her wings feathers were replaced at about 7 months old and now at 10 months she flies like a fighter pilot.
The vet can examine her wings and tell you if she just had a bad trim or some other problem.
I adopted a new budgie, Cora, a couple months ago. She was an escapee and a very strong flier. I wanted to give her a lot of out of cage time but I had broken my foot and couldn't chase her around the room up high to catch her so I trimmed her wings enough so she couldn't get more than three feet of lift. Now she runs around rhe room and flies up to the cage and up to the windowsill. At least she's safe and so am I. The rest of my budgies are fully flighted but they're cooperative with going back in the cage at night.