Blind baby lovebird

[Wrennec]

Hi all. First time posting here. I was unsure on whether I should post it in the baby bird section or here but I settled for here since it pertains to disability. Recently my lovebirds had a clutch of chicks and to my surprise one of the chicks is an albino. When me and my mother were feeding the chicks and taking them out for play time, we noticed something very odd. The chick, despite having eyes open, can neither find the syringe nor seems to react to any sort of visual stimuli. All the other chicks, even the youngest (Megatron), go nuts for the syringe and react to fingers. Banana, our albino, does not. Banana reacts to my voice and my touch but he doesn't seem to be able to see very well if at all. I know albinos are notorious for having poor vision so here's where I came to this forum for help.

I have a few questions. First of all, how is weaning going to work? I understand weaning for sighted chicks but I have absolutely no idea how I'll do it when the time comes for Banana to be weaned. Second, should I get his wings clipped when he starts to fledge? All of my other birds are fully flighted and normally I'd never ever even consider clipping but I understand blindness is a a special case. Third, is there anything else I should know? I want to give Banana the best possible life and I'm prepared to do whatever it takes. We took all the babies to the vet for a check up and disease testing. The vet said they're all healthy and growing like they should (This was when Banana was young so we didn't know he was blind. Banana is currently 15 days old).

Last thing I want to say is it's very odd that the baby is albino. Neither parents are albino or even lutino. Genetics are really weird.

 

[Karearea]

Hello! Lutino is a sex-linked recessive mutation, which means males can be split and females cannot. Since neither parent were visibly lutino, that means it must be the father who's split. And, since females only require one copy of the gene for it to show up, Banana must be female!

 

[Wrennec]

Hello! Lutino is a sex-linked recessive mutation, which means males can be split and females cannot. Since neither parent were visibly lutino, that means it must be the father who's split. And, since females only require one copy of the gene for it to show up, Banana must be female!

Wow!!! Thank you for letting me know! The father visibly is an aqua turquoise opaline and the mother just a normal wild type so you can imagine my shock when Banana's eyes opened and feathers started to come in! Genetics are fascinating but I'm definitely not breeding this pair in the future now that I know the father is split to ino! I just feel so bad for Banana because she can't see due to her mutation

If you know anyone who has any advice on how to care for a blind baby please send them my way! I'm not new to caring for special needs birds since I have a disabled rescue african grey but I have absolutely no idea how to care for a blind bird.

 

[BHays]

I believe there is a user on a parrotlet forum that I peruse every now and then who owns a blind parrotlet - would you be interested in my reaching out to him for suggestions?

 

[Wrennec]

I believe there is a user on a parrotlet forum that I peruse every now and then who owns a blind parrotlet - would you be interested in my reaching out to him for suggestions?

Hi! Just an update for everyone, she started off as a red eye but after a few weeks her eyes darkened and she can fully see now! I think her eyes were just extra sensitive in the beginning or they weren't fully developed yet. I found out she's a pallid and she's doing quite well! Weaning on time, eating pellets, flying, taking baths, and getting more confident in herself.

 

[BHays]

That's amazing! So happy!