# canker, misaligned beak baby needs a home



## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

hi, i was brought this little baby 10 days ago, he had a terrible case of trichomoniasis he was emaciated and dying when he arrived.
he's responded very well to flagyl and i see no more lesions in his throat, the last chunk of stuff that came out was rather large and has left his beak unaligned, he does seems to eat seed well, i'm still hand feeding.
he is very imprinted because i couldn't put him in with the healthy babies i had.
i would love to find someone in massachusetts that would be willing to take him in after he is weaned and had his full course of flagyl, because he may not be able to get enough to eat on his own in the wild.
i think he is going to be a very pretty boy or girl, looks like he's all black at the moment.
anyone had any experience with a bird with this beak problem before??


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

He is so sweet! Much like our Piglet was when we found him.

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Piglet copes fine in the aviary, he can pick up food with no problem but his beak needs trimming from time to time.

Piglet didn't imprint when he was a squeaker, but as an adult in the aviary he suddenly decided that we were OK and started using us as a perch. 

Cynthia


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

i wondered if i taped it in the proper position at night maybe it would align better, might be worth a shot


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

he IS super super sweet, he would make a great pet


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> he IS super super sweet, he would make a great pet


I agree! He is lovely!

Cynthia


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

altgirl35 said:


> i wondered if i taped it in the proper position at night maybe it would align better, might be worth a shot


It's worth a try while the beak is pliable.


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## Mindy (Apr 2, 2009)

I have a little bantam chicken that is almost like that. She eats from the side of her mouth and only from the left side and has trouble getting alot of food, but keeps on trying all day long. I trim the top beak every now and then when it get to much of a curve on it. I'm always checking her crop making sure she eats enough and I feed her soaked cat food that she can grab ahold of. Also one time she had a big bump and couldn't eat from the side anymore so I hand feed her for about two weeks and the bump disappeared. Its really amazing how they look alike. Yours is very cute.


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

Altgirl, (s)he's beautiful!! Bless his/her heart Let me talk to my co-purveyor of pigeons and perhaps (s)he can come here after (s)he's well. I presume (s)he will be able to join the loft??? How much individual care do you all think (s)he'll need? The reason I ask is that we will be travelling quite a bit this summer and having someone stay at the house to feed/water/pull eggs/etc. The one young woman does have some (read: limited) pij experience - - - the other (my sister ) has none  and really isn't interested in getting much. I want to be sure this beauty would be ok when we're not here.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

i think he will be fine, sounds like he may need his beak trimmed on occasion, he eats better than the older babies i have! he's a little piggy, he's come so far in the short time i've had him, i thought he was going to die in the night the first night, i can usually tell when they are to far gone and i really thought he was but he proved me wrong thankfully.
i think you would just have to watch his weight, do you have a gram scale?? i would weigh him every week until he levels off.
i'll know more about how well he eats once he's weaned, let me know soon as you can, so i can give him some love and affection i have been dying to give him but have been holding back because i wasn't sure if he would be released or not.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

i think we should name him scissors


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

I just got the green light!!!! YIPPPEEEEEEE!!!! Now he needs a name befitting of where he's been and how hard he's clearly been fighting. I'll leave that honor to you as his rescuing mom We'll be counting on you to give him all that special lovin' now!!!

We'll be going away the last weekend of May, then gone from June 9 - 15. He's 4 weeks old? How much longer will he be on the Flagyl? Once Canker is "cured" is it really "gone" (back to normal level) or will he need follow-up medicating or other health care because of it? I don't even know what "trichomoniasis" is. Oooooooh - the flood gates have opened!!!  I'm so excited!!!!


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

I presume he's a feral, yes?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

*I'm glad you're going to take him.*



wolfwood said:


> I just got the green light!!!! YIPPPEEEEEEE!!!! Now he needs a name befitting of where he's been and how hard he's clearly been fighting. I'll leave that honor to you as his rescuing mom We'll be counting on you to give him all that special lovin' now!!!
> 
> We'll be going away the last weekend of May, then gone from June 9 - 15. He's 4 weeks old? How much longer will he be on the Flagyl? Once Canker is "cured" is it really "gone" (back to normal level) or will he need follow-up medicating or other health care because of it? I don't even know what "trichomoniasis" is. Oooooooh - the flood gates have opened!!!  I'm so excited!!!!


This is a pretty good explanation of canker/trichomoniasis from Colin Walker.



Nature of the disease

The disease canker is caused by a protozoan Trichomonas columbae. This is a microscopic single-celled organism. It lives within the digestive tract of pigeons, in particular the throat and crop, and can also involve associated areas such as the bile duct. The organism is fragile in the environment, only surviving for a few minutes once outside the bird. This helps with control of the disease and means that the birds cannot become infected from the loft or immediate environment as happens with other diseases such as worms and paratyphoid. The organism (trichomonad) requires intimate contact between birds to be spread and is usually transmitted by saliva or pigeon milk. Saliva contaminates food and water. As a pigeon drinks, the organism swims away from its beak and, when another pigeon comes to drink, it not only drinks the water but also the trichomonads there. When a pigeon sorts through grain, each dropped grain contains a small amount of saliva. In this way, the disease can also be spread through a feed hopper. Adult birds 'billing' can transmit the organism, as do parents when feeding their nestlings.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

oh good, i'm so happy i can give him sum lovin! he's so sweet! yep he's a feral, he'll be done with the flagyl on saturday, trich will be gone for good. he shouldn't need any additional medicating, i gave him baytril for 5 days as a "just in case", i dewormed him once and will do again this saturday.
oh i'm so happy he will be cared for, i'll pm you my phone number
btw, i taped his beak tonight, let hope that my experiment works or at least helps


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

Give him a nose kiss for us (he'll be getting lots of 'em here at Wolfwood...so he might as well start getting used to it now )

When do you expect him to be weaned?


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Good luck with him! I'm glad he'll have such a wonderful home to go to after already being in a wonderful home.  He is sure a cutie.


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## lwerden (May 31, 2008)

I just love happy endings. Bless you Altgirl 35 for saving him and Bless you Wolfwood for giving him a forever home. He is sooooooooooo cute.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

I am so glad that his future home has been settled so quickly and so happily! 

Cynthia


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

me too! not sure when he will be weaned, been feeding him 3xday because he was so skinny, he does eat well from the seed shaker also, and that's easy to do if you wanted to be momma for a little while.
gonna have to play this one by ear, i wanna see if taping his beak at night works at all, if i see no changes in a few days you can have him in a week or two if you want to continue feeding from the seed shaker, but if i do see changes (cross your fingers) i might want him to stay for a little while.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

should we name him, clipper??  lol


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

Ah - Jodi your his, Savior........ I love reading all your posts..... 
and WOLFWOOD... HOW LUCKY are YOU!!!! This IS ONE lucky little Pijie!!!! All I gotta say.. is BOY is s/he gonna be spoiled at WolfWOOD! Love a Happy ending!


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

thank you, it's so nice to get a pat on the back once in a while


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

Hi Jodi - just came on line ... I'll give you a call in a bit.

I really like the name 'Clipper' and it fits right in with the Nautical/Exploration theme that seems to have developed here at Mistwald Loft. Looks like we have 2 out 3 votes - - - I'll work on getting the 3rd

Sounds like he may do well to stay with you for a bit - if that's okay. We are going camping the last weekend of May (although ... with a cage ... and a baby bag ... he *could* come with). Oh man! I can already see that this little guy is gonna get _ME_ in trouble

(I've already put my foot down and said "No Bengals go camping" ... and now I'm gonna suggest we take a bird?  But hey - it's a trailer - with hard sides - and he'd be in a cage ..... )


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

clipper is still doin good, no changes with his beak with the taping of it, had to continue with the flagyl, still found a lesion day before yesterday, i debrided it out and don't see anymore, gonna keep him on it for at least a few more days. 
he can come to you this weekend if you would like to continue feeding him with a seed shaker, it's easy and i only do it when his crop is real empty in the morning and last night he had a very full crop so i just tubed in a little water to be on the safe side. 
he's eating really well on his own, especially now that i mixed in a little game crumble into his seed, he really likes it.


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

Thanks for the update! Do you have any photos ????

We do have his temporary cage all set up and waiting and we'd love to have him join us "as soon as" but, as we had talked last week, we'll be going away in 2 weeks (weekend after Mem.Day) with no one on "Bird Duty". Not good for him.

Also - how long before the canker isn't a concern for the other birds?


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

on the canker question i think we should put it out there for every one to answer, a normal course is 10-14 days and i started him on it on the 26th i've had him on it way past that.
he did have it really, really bad the worst i've ever seen, i got some very large chunks out.
i wanted to be very careful taking out the chunks because one time i had a mourning dove with it and it had eatin into her artery and as soon as i started rubbing it and it started to come out, she bled out in my lap, it was awful. i have no idea if that last lesion was alive or not at this point it shouldn't be but i'm not 100 percent positive on that..


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