she started to perch on her perches today! she still has no toenails. and we are going on week 5 is this normal? and also.......she is drinking her water out of her little cup. yay! how do i get her to start stepping up. i tell her step up and she does nothing. what is the process of getting a baby to understand step-up.

good luck on the step up! I have never seen a bird w/ no toe nails before! All of the ones I have had or handfed had them!! Maybe someone w/ more expertise will chime in on this

ok I just did a quick search and found pictures of Quaker babies at 23 days old w/ toe nails!

She would normally have toenails. I'd think either the parents nipped them off in the nest or it's a "birth defect".

To start her stepping up, press gently against her lower breast just above her legs so she pretty much has to step up until she gets the idea. Give her lots of praise each time and it won't be long before she's eager to do it.

What a sweet baby! To get Clyde to step up, I just kept sticking my finger in front of his feet and telling him to "hop on" until he started doing it because he wanted me to pick him up and figured out that was what he had to do. He was afraid of hands when we got him and it took a couple of weeks, at least. But now I don't even have to say anything, I just offer my finger and he hops right on. If he wants me to pick him up and I'm not doing it -- I do occasionally have other things to do -- he'll lift up his little foot and reach for me. It's so cute. Jadyn will get it, too. Just keep working on it.

she is...infact.......chewing on her feet. how do i stop her....from doing this horrible thing....

She'll learn step up as she grows, just press gently against her chest and say 'step up' and then when she does it give her lots of praise... but if she's still a little wobbley it might be a little difficult.

As for the toes, my guess would the same as Buddy's. My friend has a clutch of baby Jardines right now and one of them is missing a few toes, her guess is the parents bit them off when he was young. If they weren't bitten too high up I think the nail still might grow with some time but I think it depends how high up they were bitten... unless it's a birth defect.

They adapt really well to different problems so it shouldn't be a problem in the future but she'll probably have some issue with perching as she won't be able to grip as well as a bird with toenails would, I'd definitely recommend some flat perches like this one (look for 'handicapped perches' or 'flat perches' or 'special needs perches' or birdontherocks Casey has a manzanita flat perch even though her feet are normal, she loves it and it gives her feet a break from perching.

I wouldn't think she would be eating her own feet, they do chew on their feet when they groom etc. but I'm not sure... Good luck, hopefully some others have some more insight!

Joey was born with a missing toe from each foot and no claws at all. He manages just fine. He uses his beak for climbing.