Baby IRN, all four toes facing forward- can't walk properly.

[Fiorella]

Hi everyone, i recently bought a blue IRN, the breeder told me she was about 4 weeks old.
-1st problem: she had nearly all her feathers, except by her crop and bottom. But she could hardly stand. Is this indicative of a four week old?

She has now started standing and walking around (this is where my main question comes in) and after a week or so of wing fluttering, today she flew about four metres for the first time.
Q2- Is this indicative of her being around 5-6 weeks old?

My MAIN question and source of worry is that her feet are acting a bit strangely, instead of having them all opened up, two toes facing forward and two backward, when she is standing normally and trying to walk, all four of her toes generally face forwards and she seems to be hobbling more than walking. SOMETIMES she stands in the correct position but it seems to feel a bit awkward for her.
The weird thing is that she is perching normally (sometimes her feet will go back into the funny position, but the perch forces her to perch normally again.) The breeder told me I should wait about three weeks for it to fix itself because it has to do with the fact that it's so young. Im trying to give it as much exercise as possible as well and if after these three weeks nothing has happened I'm taking her to a vet... For now, does anyone have any advice regarding this? or have they heard of this before and do they know how it can be fixed?

[Melika]

Sorry I had hoped someone who knew the answer would post. I don't want you to feel as if we are ignoring you though.

The advice to let him perch sounds pretty good. Similar to splayed legs, keeping them in place trains the legs to be straight as the muscles strengthen. But as you said you are taking him to a vet- did you take her yet? How are his toes now?

[Fiorella]

Hi, yes I actually took him on that same day. I got him tested for PBFD (he's free of it) and sexed as well (it's a boy! )
Regarding the initial problem, the vet told me that he had multiple fractures in his legs from when he was very young and his bones had hardened that way due to either what the breeder had fed him or due to his parent's diet. For that reason his feet will always be a bit curled and he will never walk like a normal parrot (two toes forward and two toes back) although sometimes his feet do straighten out for a bit, he said that it is not painful for the bird and he will always be a bit clumsier than other parrots due to his problem but it is not such a major issue that he would recommend surgery to straighten the bones.
I still love him the same and have bought him wider perches so that his feet can maybe get used to being open and possibly strengthen the muscles, he doesn't seem to notice that his feet aren't how they should normally be and he is a very happy boy

[ellieelectrons]

Well done for taking him to the vet and being so responsible. You were obviously more repsonsible than the breeder. Have you told the breeder? The breeder should consider changing their handraising diet or the diet of the parents as the vet suggested.

Whilst its great that you are taking such good care of him, it's kinda awful that this could have been avoided by feeding an appropriate diet.

Ellie.

[Melika]

Agreed. Though even the best breeders have been through periods where they had increased fractures due to a dietary change they tried. Inform the breeder so that they know.

I was reading just recently about a local breeder who started feeding a corn based mashed as nestling food. The breeder birds were ignoring their seeds and pellets and only feeding the mash to the chicks. The chicks were not getting what they needed nutritionally so they begged for food even at night. This resulted in fat, nutritionally deficient chicks that had folding fractures.

How much better it will be twenty years from know when more is known about parrot nutrition! Even today it is something that is largely anecdotal.

I am glad to hear your boy is happy and otherwise healthy. May you have many years together.