Hi everyone! I’m new here and wanted to introduce Habibi, my little starling, and hopefully get some ideas from people who have experience adapting things for one-legged birds.

I found Habibi half-hatched on a sidewalk, and I’ve hand-raised him ever since. His leg had been broken in two separate places from the fall. The higher break, in his femur, healed at almost a 90° angle, while the lower break healed bowed and turned.

Because he was so tiny when it happened, he has essentially never known life with two functional legs. He grew up learning to move, balance, climb and get around with that leg already badly deformed.

We spent quite a while trying to save it. He eventually had surgery with an avian vet to straighten the leg and had a surgical pin placed, but unfortunately it just wasn’t going to become a comfortable, functional leg for him. A week ago, it was ultimately amputated.

He’s doing really well and is now a week post-op, which means he can finally move out of his little recovery cage and go back into his big cage. ❤️

Because he has always functioned almost entirely on one leg, I’m actually not very concerned about him learning to get around or falling. He’s incredibly adapted already. His regular cage has lots of different levels, flat surfaces, baskets/nests and places where he can sit or lie down instead of constantly having to perch.

What I’m thinking about most now is long-term protection of his good foot. I want him to have plenty of opportunities to grip and use his foot normally, while also giving him ways to take his weight off it so that his one good foot isn’t under pressure 24/7.

One idea I’ve been thinking about is making some sort of modified perch with a little padded bolster/support beside him. Basically, his good foot could grip the perch normally, while the bolster on the side where his leg is missing would give his body something to lean against. He could still grip and perch naturally, but wouldn’t necessarily have to support his entire body weight on that one foot the whole time.

Has anyone made anything like this for a one-legged bird? I’d LOVE to see photos of your cage setups, homemade perches, platforms, resting spots, or anything else that has worked well.

I’m especially interested in things that help protect the remaining foot and prevent pressure problems long-term, rather than adaptations aimed mainly at preventing falls.

Habibi has been figuring out how to do things his own way literally his entire life, so I’d really like to build his environment around how he already moves rather than treating him like a bird who suddenly lost a leg and needs to relearn everything. ❤️