Living with Handicapped Quakers, Part I

BALL

The time had come to pull the Blue Quaker chicks for handfeeding. For the last 10 days, I had been anxiously following their progress. Harpie, their little Blue Quaker mother, had laid 3 eggs earlier in the month, and had seemed the ideal mother, sitting the eggs tightly from the first while being fed by her faithful mate, Split-to-Blue Quaker Good.

The chicks had hatched normally, and every nest box check had revealed quietly sleeping chicks with crops stuffed extraordinarily full. Several days after the last chick had hatched, there had been a severe disturbance in the aviary, causing the Quakers to become quite upset and agitated. We had feared for the chicks at that time, but subsequent checks had shown us chicks that appeared to be fine.

Gently shooing little Harpie off the chicks, I closed off the entrance to the box and started scooping out the chicks. The first baby was a little whale of a bird, with a bulging crop and soft grey down. The second baby was smaller than the first, but just as warm, soft and full . The third baby was very small, and as I picked it up I noticed that it felt stiff and inflexible in my hands. I passed the last baby down to David, and proceeded to clean the Quaker's nest box while he carried the babies immediately to a warm brooder.

A few minutes later, in the shelter of our warm kitchen, we examined the babies closely. The first two were perfect little creatures, but the third baby, as I had feared, had problems!

The chick's right leg was abnormally bent, crossing over the middle of the baby's body and pointing to it's left side. The right wing was smaller than the left, and did not lie flat against the chick's body as the left one did. The bent right leg caused the chick to be unable to move itself upright at all. It was forced to lie on its right side.

Despite its obvious deformities, the chick was lively and had a great feeding response. We decided that since it was showing no signs of distress, we should try to see if there was anything we could do to help the baby develop normally.

We waited for the baby to be old enough to make the trip to the vet's. Meanwhile, colorful tail feathers started to protrude from the other chicks. Both of their little tails were a lovely shade of green! At the vet's advice, we waited a few more days before bringing in the baby. As we waited, tiny blue tail feathers began to show on its tail. Our first Blue Quaker! Even though the chick was not normal, we could not help but be excited.

The baby tolerated the trip to the vet's well, packed into a cooler with a hot water bottle keeping it cozy. Our vet examined the young Quaker carefully, and then gave the baby a light general anaesthesia in order to be able to do x-rays.

We had feared that the problems that the chick had were congenital. Despite the fact that we had never heard of Blue Quakers having a problem with birth defects or deformities, we knew that as a mutation, the possibility existed that they might be prone to such problems. It was then, quite a relief when our vet was able to show us that the right leg had been badly fractured when the baby was probably about 1 or 2 days old - exactly the time that our aviary had experienced a major disturbance. The old break was clearly evident. The right wing was measured and shown to be the same size as the left, with all the internal structures being normal. Our vet felt the bent posture of the wing was due to the baby having to lie on it during its crucial formative time. Unfortunately, the baby was still having to lie on the wing, and there was no way to prop it into a better position. The leg was also a withered, useless limb, and we decided that the best thing for the chick would be to have the leg amputated when the baby was old enough to stand the procedure.

Several weeks later, we brought a one-legged Blue Quaker baby back from the vets. The baby had tolerated the procedure well, even eating 6cc of formula an hour later. The sutures were clean and dry and the chick did not experience any post-operative complications or infections. 10 days after the surgery, the sutures were removed and beautiful blue feathers began to cover the scar.

The baby began to get around in the brooder by rolling everywhere it wanted to go. Therefore, we decided to name it "Ball". Blood sexing revealed that Ball was a female.

At first, we wondered if Ball would ever be able to stand upright and feed herself. Her bent little right wing never developed well enough for her to use it to fly with, and she seemed content to propel herself around by flapping and rolling around first her brooder and then her cage. We decided to start an intensive physical therapy program for Ball.

We started by standing her up on her remaining leg and balancing her body for her as she hopped around the kitchen counter. When the program was started, her left leg was very weak and could not support her weight, but as time passed, she became able to use it to support half her weight while we supported the rest. One day, about a month after we had started physical therapy for her, Ball stood on the rim of her food dish, supporting her weight on the side of the cage. From that point on, she progressed rapidly, soon becoming able to perch while balanced on her one leg. She became adept at lying sideways in her seed cup and grooming herself while lying on bottom of the cage, so her left leg was always rested and never had the chance to become sore.

Ball was a loving and playful baby, but she was a Blue Quaker, and we felt that it would be good for her to have a mate. We selected a young Normal male for her - "Spike". We placed them together carefully, keeping a watchful eye on the situation. We didn't want Ball to be abused because she was handicapped. We need not have worried. Spike and Ball became the best of friends quickly, although to date they have not become "mates". Ball is too worried about being knocked over to really enjoy a snuggle from Spike. But they do play together and keep each other company, and that is really the most important thing.

Ball has never needed special perches or implements. She has adapted herself to the normal surroundings of any pet bird. She is happy and playful...a fabulous talker, and much loved by her owners. She remains sweet and friendly, and lives a life that is as full and joyful as any pet bird's.