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This afternoon, Icame in the den to let the critters out for a spell, and first thing I noticed was one chick appeared to be "stuck" in a rather odd position, trying to eat from a seed dish inside the cage. On closer inspection, I saw she had her left leg wedged in the bracket that holds the main door shut -- just an "L" shape of metal, but just about the size of a 'tiels leg. I suppose she had tried to slide down the rail and somehow got her leg wedged in the opening of the bracket. I tried without luck to get it free, but she bit the hell out of me so I had to go get my "woolies" to handle her, then it took quite a bit of effort to get her leg free. What I saw horrified me. She has a compound fracture in at least 2, if not 3 places. Being the time of the day it was, the vet was closed, so I had totake her to the other emergency clinic which does not normally see avians. I begged them to at least give her someting for the pain, which I guess they did, but also sent home a bottle of what amounts to amoxycillyn ??? Never understand someone else' thinking, but anyhow thanked them and brought her home. I'll be at Dr. Walker's at o830 in the a.m. when they open. My worst nightmare is the leg will have to be amputated. I've seen one-legged birds who do remarkably well, but not the size of a cockatiel. Hard to tell who's chick it is, but Emi thinks it's one of Suzie and Chirps. Not a good dayy for me from time I got up this morning, went back to bed to warm up, then slept tilll after one p.m. Guesss I was a tired little pup or something. Sorry for negative reports,but I call 'em as I see 'em.

Sad Sam

Just another reason they should be caged when they are not supervised...

Sorry to hear of the accident today Poor little birdie.

OMG that is awful. I wish you the best the poor little thing....

christie wrote:Just another reason they should be caged when they are not supervised...

I couldn't quite picture this and thought the chick WAS in the cage from what Sam said? Poor baby....I hope she is ok Sam and that the leg can be saved. Best wishes to you the chick!

I think she was inside the cage because he was going to let them out for a spell and the seed dish was inside the cage.

Sam, I'm so sorry to hear about the little chick. It sounds so terribly painful. I hope she doesn't have to lose her leg. Is Dr. Walker in the Atlanta area? I had not heard of him or her and I'm just curious because I live in Georgia. I take my birdies to For Pet's Sake with Dr. Hutcheson and Dr. Shepherd.

My apologies, I read it wrong. I thought the bird was outside the cage and got stuck on something in the room. Either way, it is a horrible thing to happen to a bird and I hope the baby makes it, with either one leg or two, as long as it has a good life.

we took suziette to Dr. Walker this morning as soon as they opened,, and he took one look at the leg and said it had to come off. Blood circulation had ceased and was blue. He gave her some gas for the pain, then took the leg off, and kept her for a couple of hours to see she was OK. Sent us home with more pain meds, and she's already climbing the cage, sitting on a perch, but when she screams or makes noise, the rest go nuts, so we had to move her to the den for the night. 'She's a strong little birdie, and Dr. Walker found out she can still fly and got lose from him and his assistant! Wound up taking her home in a cardboard box till we got in the car, then I took her out and cuddled her the rest of the way home. She's eating, which is a good sign, but have to take her back in 2 weeks for a checkup to make sure no infection has gotten started. I have antibiotics out the gazoo, for just about everything under the sun. She might just turn out to be one of the best birdies we have if she'll just tame down a little. I can visualize her sitting on my shoulder peg-legged and all, snuggled up against my face (wishful thinking), but always wary of those razor sharp, needle point beaks. Her squeaking lets me know she's still probably in some pain, but Dr. Walker said no more pain med till tomorrow I hate it when I KNOW something is hurting and can't do anything about it.

She'll make it just fine tho.. I don't need any more cockatiel funerals this quickly. 3 in less than 2 years is a bit much for my old nerves to handle.

Sam

catjsykes ,

Dr. Walker and Dr. Iverson are both here in Augusta, and they are the only avian vets within 100 miles, or the UGA facility at AHN.

Sam

aw poor little love
Gosh Sam, I reckon you could write a book about all the antics your birdies get up to

So sorry to hear about the baby's leg, but glad to know that she can still fly and will do good.. Give her extra snuggles for me & Rosie.

My birds never fell for the plastic egg trick until i bought some fake resin eggs from NHbird supply. I sat on those resin eggs for more than a week. I think the resin holds the heat so it feels like a real egg.