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From: grass@ulysses.att.com (Judith Grass)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: INDOOR: A one-winged cockatiel
Message-ID: <13875@ulysses.att.com>
Date: 12 Oct 90 13:01:59 GMT
References: <1990Oct10.191352.11910@unislc.uucp>
Sender: netnews@ulysses.att.com
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In article <1990Oct10.191352.11910@unislc.uucp> chris@unislc.uucp (Chris DelPrete) writes:
>       ....
>Does anyone out there have experience with a one-winged (actually one
>and a half) bird?  She cannot fly ... she just drops.
>		....
>--Chris DelPrete

I had a parakeet that couldn't fly when I got him.  It seems that one wing
was dislocated or something of the sort.  I took him to see an avian vet.
The vet thought it was congenital and that either he'd eventually learn
to compensate with muscle power and fly, or just never fly.

The bird died last December at the ripe old parakeet age of eight.  He never
did learn to fly, but he never stopped trying.  He would hop from any
kind of height and flap wildly and land in a heap. He had an easier time than
your bird will have.  Two wings meant he could flap enough to break his fall.
I'm not sure one wing will be useful for that.  I think the wing hurt a bit 
after one of his flight attempts as he would hold it away from his body
and look unhappy.  In the normal course of things, I don't think it
bothered him much at all.

			-- Judy Grass