Gouldian Finch Injured Toe

[jasonk]

Somehow my male Gouldian Finch managed to rip out one of his claws!

I noticed he was sitting slumped down on the perch and he kept looking under himself at his foot.

On a closer look I saw the tip of one of his toes is missing and its got a black scab of dried blood on the end.  

He seems depressed too and in pain, sometimes holding up the leg and not sitting right on the perch.  He is not flying about and active as usual, but he is not sleepy or puffed up.  

Will his claw grow back?  Will it heal and then he won't be in pain?



I have had so much bad luck and frustration keeping this species.  He is my last Gouldian finch and I bred him myself.  He is very tame and will always fly to me, sing and do his little dance at the aviary mesh to me. 

I had problems with the other Gouldian finches as they kept getting air sac mites, having freak random fatal accidents, escaping, being killed by snakes, getting sick for no obvious reason etc etc.  

I keep other finch species as well as exotic song birds (which I have had no health problems or freak accidents with). 

The Gouldian Finches seemed cursed with bad luck, or they are just inbred and poor stock in my country (Thailand).  

If he can't get better I will give up on this species, as I can't stand the heartache when they die, and can't waste anymore money on them (they are very expensive to buy). 

If he does get better I will get him a female and give breeding them one last time.  

I did get them to breed several times, but each time only one or 2 chicks hatched.  It also took me months to break them of the habit of dry seed addiction.  They would only eat dry millet mix and refused all other food.  The one I have left loves his egg food and vegetables as he was born here and learnt to eat them at an early age.

[Marianne Marlow]

I'm not sure that anyone here is that familiar with Gouldian Finches.

But if your finch is not behaving normally after his accident, I'd worry that he was in pain and perhaps in need of antibiotics. Is it possible to get him to an avian vet?

I think that if that is not possible, you may need to find a finch forum and ask advice with them.

I hope he gets better, I'm sorry for the bad experiences you have had.

[Hezz]

No, a claw will not grow back if the tip of the whole toe is missing. He probably is in some pain. Some cayenne pepper dampened and rolled into a ball and put in him mouth, preferably under his tongue should help, and a gel from an aloe vera leaf put onto the wound itself will give some relief as well as fight any infection that may wish to occur. Once the injury has healed he should be fine without the claw. Many birds survive and thrive with missing claws, toes and even feet.