Help from other breeders

[cockatielscanberra]

Hi
We have been breading cockatiels for some time now (7 or so years). This year we have come across an issue I would like your help with.

One pair of our cockatiels have bred three babies. One of the babies does not have any eyes. The parents are looking after all three birds and feeding them well. ATM it has just got pin feathers and is the second biggest of the three. The other three appear normal. The male father we have had for 3-4 years and the female we got at the beginning of this season. Neither had bred before.

I'm concerned that the baby will not be able to look after it self as it won't be able to see. And will not be able to fly easily or find its food? We are watching it to see what happens? Anyone seen or heard of this before? Any suggestions on what we should do?
Tia

[Laraine]

I haven't seen this before and I have been breeding Cockatiels for years. It's sad, maybe Mike Avinet might be able to advise you.
I have a budgie with very poor eyesight and he seems to get around the aviary OK.

[avinet]

I'm sorry I missed this when you posted it - not sure why I did but hopefully this isn't too late for you.

We had a budgie once that was also blind from birth - he has eyes but just couldn't see at all - totally blind.  He shared a cage with several other pet budgies we had at the time and coped just fine.  He was able to move around the cage OK - could find the food and water without a problem, as long as nothing changed.  If we did change things around it took him a day or too to memorize the new arrangement and then he was fine.  The other budgies treated him as a normal bird. 

The only thing was, we had to keep him clipped - once or twice we didn't clip him soon enough after a moult and he obviously didn't know where he was going, collided with obstacles, and got scared.  So you will have to keep the cockatiel clipped, as well as in the cage most of the time so a decent sized cage will be needed.  He should learn to eat OK - just pecking around a cage he will find food and start eating it - it might take a little while longer than the normal babies and maybe a bit of help from you in putting him on the feed and water dishes (shallow water dish).  Also handle him a lot as a baby so he is used to being handled and will happily settle in to being a pet bird, although personally I would probably hand raise him myself rather than leaving it to the parents.

I would think it highly unlikely that there would be any further blind babies from the pair, chances are it just was a random event and not an inherited gene.  However if another blind baby did turn up then separate the parents from breeding with each other and pair them up with different mates since if it is an inherited gene it is highly likely to be recessive.

cheers

Mike