# Pigeon with broken wing found



## ChickenPigeon (Jul 19, 2021)

For a few days this pigeon had been hanging around my bfs place, he has a broken droopy wing and is unable to fly. My bf took the pigeon into his backyard and has had him there since yesterday. He has been eating and drinking. We checked out the wing and there is a bone sticking out, i've included pictures.
Unsure what to do for him? I'd like to take care of him but will he need to go to a vet?


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

An avian vet will be the best option. They can do an x-ray to determine if the wing can be fixed or not. Don't leave him at the vet and don't let them euthanize him if the wing can't be fixed. He can still have a good life with you even if he won't be able to fly again. Thanks for caring.


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## Benzaiten (Apr 23, 2021)

Hi, I feel like a bit of a fraud giving anyone on here advice because I am very new to pigeons but I just want to second everything that Marina says. 

I found an injured pigeon three months ago and one of his injuries was a very badly lacerated and broken wing but he has healed up. Although he can't fly well enough to be released he can "fly" about three feet and jump and flap a surprisingly long way. I now have him as a pet and he seems to be happy. 

Even if you can't keep him you will be able to find someone to take care of him.


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## Colombina (Jan 22, 2017)

Hi, welcome to PT and thanks for helping him 😊!

On September 2013 we rescued a broken wing pigeon, Apple.

Her wing was droopy like the one of your bird (I remember that she tripped over it while walking). She had a bad injury under her broken wing, it had a bad smell. Have you noticed any bad smell coming from the wound? If yes, it means that the injury is becoming infected and so an oral antibiotic would be absolutely and urgently needed.

I asked for the name of a vet who treats pigeon in a pet shop (one which sells birds). Apple needed surgery, an antibiotic treatment, a pain med and a bandage.
Even if the vet is an excellent surgeon and put the bandage in the correct way, Apple can't fly. She is, however, a really happy pigeon.
At the beginning she was sad and didn't understand what was wrong (I remember that she flapped and flapped her wings like an helicopter...) but as time goes by she understood her new "condition". She has her own indipendence, she is able to do "small flights" and to jump, just for example, from the floor to the table. She walks and runs around home. She has a fantastic husband, they love each other so much.

In the bad case even your pigeon will understand his new condition and will learn how to live with it.

If you decide to bring him to a vet, please don't let euthanize him. Be very careful.
Here you can find some recommended vets in USA:






Recommended Vets in the United States


DISCLAIMER: These listings were compiled as a general resource, but we recommend that you research the vets and call the offices with questions before




www.beautyofbirds.com





Please keep us updated.


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## ChickenPigeon (Jul 19, 2021)

Colombina said:


> Hi, welcome to PT and thanks for helping him 😊!
> 
> On September 2013 we rescued a broken wing pigeon, Apple.
> 
> ...


I'm glad you've given apple a happy life!! 
i have not noticed any bad smells from the pigeon. 
Thank you for including the list. I'm just worried about how much it would be to take him to the vet? i'm not sure i can spend a lot on him. When calling would i just ask if there's a cost and how much? And would i just ask to take him back with me to ensure he doesnt get euthanized? I've not dealt with taking an animal to a vet very often and especially not a pigeon so i dont know a lot on the matter


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Phone a couple of vets to get an estimate. When you take her in, just tell them this is one of your own pigeons that got injured. They have to treat her then and you as the "owner" can refuse getting her euthanized.


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## Colombina (Jan 22, 2017)

As first thing I would ask them if they treat pigeons because I know, from my own experience, that some vets don't treat them (because they don't want to help them or simply because they don't know how to treat them..). When we found Apple at first I called an Italian vet... She didn't want to see her and told me "put a bandage"... 🙄
Once we rescued a very sick young pigeon, we brought him to a French vet and she refused to visit him even if I wanted to pay for the visit... She would have visited a dove but she didn't visit a pigeon.. The poor bird did not survive.. 

Anyway, in all honesty I don't know how much a vet costs in USA... 
When you call them you could ask for the cost of a visit then, if you bring him there, ask to the vet to show you all the possible options (I mean, surgery, x-ray, bandage, antibiotic treatment, etc etc ) and their cost. Clearly tell him that euthanasia is NOT an option (unfortunately a lot of people say that a pigeon who can't fly is an unhappy bird and so they suggest or opt for euthanasia... Believe me, Apple is a super happy pigeon...).

If you think that the vet could not believe that he is your own pigeon...well, be more imaginative 😉: the pigeon belongs to your old aunt/grandma/etc, he escaped from his cage/aviary/open window and came back home after weeks with an injured wing... You offered your help or offer to adopt him... Create your own story 😉. Also, remember to give him a name. 

Listen to all opinions then decide what to do. If they insist for euthanasia... Bring him back home. 

In the worst case (never able to fly again) you could adopt him or look for a family for him. 
We will be glad to help you with suggestions, advices, etc 😊. 

Btw, it's a good sign that there is no bad smell! The wound is not becoming infected! 

Please keep us updated!


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## LoveSunshine (Aug 27, 2021)

Benzaiten said:


> Hi, I feel like a bit of a fraud giving anyone on here advice because I am very new to pigeons but I just want to second everything that Marina says.
> 
> I found an injured pigeon three months ago and one of his injuries was a very badly lacerated and broken wing but he has healed up. Although he can't fly well enough to be released he can "fly" about three feet and jump and flap a surprisingly long way. I now have him as a pet and he seems to be happy.
> 
> Even if you can't keep him you will be able to find someone to take care of him.


Hey I am so happy to read this that you did this and you're able to give him a good life - so so sad reading more on this forum as we found such a sweet little injured soul by the side of the street earlier today, I honestly thought the vet would help him and the front desk lady promised us they wouldn't put him to sleep, his injuries from their description to us, sounded a lot like what you describe. And I am so sad we could have saved him. Maybe he could have recovered. I know we did the best we could with what we knew at the time but vets are bad like that. I am not even a vet and there is NO WAY I wanted him to die, if there was any way at all he could be saved. And I think he could have survived. I felt such a strong will to live looking in his little sweet eyes and I have NEVER even picked up a bird in my life ever. We just connected somehow. thats not right that vets put them down without thinking. they have every chance of life just like us humans do. I am so so sad I feel like we let the poor guy down.


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## LoveSunshine (Aug 27, 2021)

Benzaiten said:


> Hi, I feel like a bit of a fraud giving anyone on here advice because I am very new to pigeons but I just want to second everything that Marina says.
> 
> I found an injured pigeon three months ago and one of his injuries was a very badly lacerated and broken wing but he has healed up. Although he can't fly well enough to be released he can "fly" about three feet and jump and flap a surprisingly long way. I now have him as a pet and he seems to be happy.
> 
> Even if you can't keep him you will be able to find someone to take care of him.


hey we found a similar one last night and were heartbroken when the vet put him down without checking with us first as we had offered to pay something and they promised us they wouldn't just do that. they did at least try and we found from speaking to a local pigeon helping place we found since that those vets do sometimes save birds and pass them on to her - but your post encouraged me. what did you do to help him? As we didn't want to keep him being in pain with no painkillers and no knowledge? Please let me know what you did so if we found a similar one we would know how we can best help one thank you so much xx


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## Benzaiten (Apr 23, 2021)

Hi, you certainly didn't let your pigeon down, you did what you thought would be best. I'm sorry that the vet did that, before I found Echo I had no idea that vets just put pigeons down unless you insist that they are your pets. I hope that if you find another one you will decide to keep it.

When I found my pigeon (Echo) we were still in lockdown so, out of the three vets I called, only one got back to me and they told me explicitly that the bird would be euthanised. I hadn't had any experience with birds before I found Echo but I have had reptiles and it turns out a lot of their care is similar. 

When I brought Echo home it was only because I didn't want to leave him outside to die in the cold so when he was still alive in the morning I was happy but surprised. Then I got on Google and found this site and then I went on Amazon to buy the essentials that I needed. I believe that Echo had been attacked by a bird of prey so I think that I was lucky because if it had been a cat he would needed antibiotics to save him so I couldn't have treated him by myself.

As far as day-to-day care goes I gently washed his wounds in lukewarm water and put some manuka honey on him every day. Because his wounds were all in places that he might try to preen I didn't want to use anything that might poison him if he ingested it. I kept him warm at night with a small microwaveable heat pad wrapped in a towel and put by his side. I fed him with defrosted peas and offered him fresh water three times a day for a couple of days but then he started eating by himself so that was obviously much better. 

The only thing that I did that I didn't find online was I made a support for his leg out of moldable plastic called Formesta. Because his left-wing and his right leg were wounded I couldn't strap them both up as it would have made him totally immobile so I made a kind of cast that had a gap at the back and then I padded around his thigh with small dressings, that way he could put some weight on it but it was still supported enough to heal. It was actually quite similar to what they did with the baby T-Rex in Jurassic Park: The Lost World. 😄😄 

Once it became clear that he wasn't going to die but he was never going to be able to fly again I decided to keep him as a pet so I wormed him, treated him for lice and set him up in a nice cage, the only downside is that he seems to have decided that I am his girlfriend so I am trying to find him a more suitable partner.


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## LoveSunshine (Aug 27, 2021)

Benzaiten said:


> Hi, you certainly didn't let your pigeon down, you did what you thought would be best. I'm sorry that the vet did that, before I found Echo I had no idea that vets just put pigeons down unless you insist that they are your pets. I hope that if you find another one you will decide to keep it.
> 
> When I found my pigeon (Echo) we were still in lockdown so, out of the three vets I called, only one got back to me and they told me explicitly that the bird would be euthanised. I hadn't had any experience with birds before I found Echo but I have had reptiles and it turns out a lot of their care is similar.
> 
> ...


Aw bless you thank you so much for taking the time to reply its so appreciated. 
I am really trying to find out what any experts here would have done. Not to keep going over the same sad story to rehash it and over analyse it but just so if we ever do find another one we will be able to offer more help. So you didn't have any painkillers and didn't give him any? but he had some sort of peck wounds on him? Or blood marks? Was he OK letting you do that for him? I bet he enjoyed the honey  

As ours looked completely fine other than his right wing was away from his body at a really awkward painful looking angle. He was just sat at street level by the side of a pavement looking like he couldn't move. He didn't even flinch when I went to stroke the top of his head. Was expecting to get pecked or something! His eyes looked really alert and happy to see us. He somehow managed to scoot over to my fiances foot while I was gone getting the car and he rested his little head on his foot as if to say, thank you for saving me and for caring. I've been crying on and off all day. I know that's a bit silly as I can't bring him back, but we honestly connected and he trusted us. I know he could still be alive now the poor little thing. I've only met one pet bird before in my life, a friend of a friend helps a parrot rescue so she has these african grey parrots that pluck their feathers out from some kind of trauma and she helps them recuperate. He really would have pecked me LOL and his beak was WAAYY bigger than our little friend last night. 

The not so nice lady at the vet told us when she said she had put him to sleep that his wing was really badly injured (didn't say exactly how) and bones were sticking out (we didn't see any but didn't want to move his wing at all as didn't want to hurt the poor sweet fella) and also he had a bad injury under his wing that was badly infected. At least they said they tried giving him antibiotics. 

We've been looking up pigeons for some of today and I didn't know how fast their little hearts beat, so they must have really fast metabolisms, so I guess that means infections can get worse faster than with us?? I just want to know could we have done anything at home to save him that wouldn't have put him in any pain or made him worse? As a local rescue would have been able to help us with antibiotics wouldn't they and how to give them?? And we had colloidal silver and could have cleaned any wounds somehow? Or made some salt water solution to clean it with we have iodine too. 

I saw some other posts on here that some wounds can be really deep and you really need to know what you are doing to clean it properly and not let it scab over. I didn't even want to try moving its wing as it just looked so sad and painful. He was apparently fully grown but has such a sweet little small body I didn't even know how to pull its wing out to check. DIdn't ever occur to us to look at his body to see if he was wounded we just trusted the vet to help him.

Im just so sad because it's not just this sweet soul I connected with but just the way our life here and vets who surely get into the profession to help animals can just somehow get used to thinking, aw well, never mind its only another life theres no point saving it. He wanted to live. And I know he could have.


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## Benzaiten (Apr 23, 2021)

Hello again. I'm sorry that you have been crying but you did what you could for him, most people would have walked past and not even bothered to help. You sound like me, you have fallen in love with pigeons! 

Echo had several injuries when I got him, one on the front of his chest, one on his side under his wing, his wing was also pulled away from his body and one of his legs didn't work. He was really underweight so I think he had been attacked a day or two before he was found and honestly I don't think he had the energy to object to my help. He had a lot of blood on him and, as I said in my last post, I was sure he would die so I just wanted to give him somewhere peaceful for his final hours. 

I have had the experience rescuing reptiles and a lot of the products I used on lizards can be used on birds too but thank god for Amazon Prime and next-day delivery.

There is a wildlife centre near me but they take in foxes, badgers, ravens, birds of prey, and even deer so they don't have the space for pigeons. If I found another pigeon I would take it to a vet that specialises in reptiles and birds and be sure to tell that it is my pet. I have had* SO MUCH* great advice from this site and I have asked a lot of stupid questions here since April. 

These pictures aren't very good but you can see his injuries fairly well. the top one shows his chest injury, the second one shows the wound under his wing and the third one was him about a week after I got him, he still couldn't really walk at all then.


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## LoveSunshine (Aug 27, 2021)

Aw bless you well you’ve done him proud that’s so cool you made a little splint for him too with that special moldable stuff xx does he have a littlepigeon friend? A mate? Where do you keep him?! Did you even find out if his wing was broken? Did you extend it or handle him somehow? I watched a little YouTube video last night of a vet in new York inspecting one someone rescued and he was moving their wings in all kinds of ways to see where it might be injured I had no idea you could move them so much or they could. Obviously he knows what they are supposed to do and we don’t. Would definitely have brought him home and made him a cat safe area if I had my time again xx thanks so much for reply xx


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## Benzaiten (Apr 23, 2021)

LoveSunshine said:


> *does he have a littlepigeon friend? A mate?*


Not yet, I really need to find a female bird that can't fly so that is proving a bit difficult at the moment. I am trying to find him a girlfriend because although I think he is still quite young he would have left behind a family when I brought him home so I want him to be with other birds again. 



LoveSunshine said:


> *Where do you keep him?!*


He lives in a big dog crate in our spare room, as he gets stronger and more confident he will also have a walking area in the room where he can roam about more. I tried not to interact with him too much at first because I hoped that I would be able to release him back into the wild but once it became clear that he will never be able to fly I started working on him being more of a pet. He is quite aggressive towards me, cooing and pecking me but he totally ignores my mum and is afraid of my boyfriend. 



LoveSunshine said:


> *Did you even find out if his wing was broken? Did you extend it or handle him somehow?*


His wing was hanging off, it had been pulled away from his body and the wing itself was damaged. I did look at it when I got him but, to be honest, I was worried that I might totally detach his wing if I messed about with it too much. He can flap both his wings but the right one doesn't have any power to lift him, I worry about him being out of his cage because he still tries to fly and he might land awkwardly and hurt himself.

Here he is what he looks like now, he likes his little xylophone and will walk on it when I put it on the floor, if I make noises with it he comes over to listen too.


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## LoveSunshine (Aug 27, 2021)

Aw That’s so seeet


Benzaiten said:


> Not yet, I really need to find a female bird that can't fly so that is proving a bit difficult at the moment. I am trying to find him a girlfriend because although I think he is still quite young he would have left behind a family when I brought him home so I want him to be with other birds again.
> 
> 
> He lives in a big dog crate in our spare room, as he gets stronger and more confident he will also have a walking area in the room where he can roam about more. I tried not to interact with him too much at first because I hoped that I would be able to release him back into the wild but once it became clear that he will never be able to fly I started working on him being more of a pet. He is quite aggressive towards me, cooing and pecking me but he totally ignores my mum and is afraid of my boyfriend.
> ...


😢 Aw thats so lovely - you've done him brilliantly - hats off to you and well done you that's so good to hear xx I just know that could have been our one too with a bit more knowledge. Knowledge both of what the likely outcome from taking him to the vet might've been AND how to home treat, what local help is there etc. 

I posted on the original post I made that we left a message with our most local pigeon rescue lady in Bristol today and I'm going to donate the money I was more than happy to give the vet for helping him - to a local rescue so that they can help more birds. Maybe ours was a female and could've been a mate for Echo bless them. How do you know Echo is a male?! Are you certain?! Thats so sweet he likes his little xylophone. I guess they do get bored on their own. I think its so sweet that they mate for life. Echo looks pretty healthy and content for now?  on a spiritual level he must be so grateful that you rescued him, well so grateful he pecks you each time you see him haha! I was expecting to get pecked when I picked our one up and s/he was so calm and mellow and sweet I was really surprised. 

Thats so interesting too that you said his wing was hanging off but looking at him now it looks like it at least folds up in a decent position? So it must have healed somehow OK. I am so sorry now that we didn't check over the one we found. On ours his right wing was folded back in a really awkward way. He certainly had had something bad happen to him as he was just huddled on the side of the pavement looking really sorry for himself and didn't object at all to us picking him up or anything. Didn't make a sound the whole time we were holding him. Looking at the video of the vet on youtube testing another birds wings, maybe ours wasn't so bad the way it was it just looked really bad when we found him x 

I do wonder whether the injuries were as bad as the vet said. The first lady was lovely and assured us there was no way they would put him down but the next lady just seemed like we were inconveniencing her with our phone call checking how he was. "And [of course] we put them both down" , (someone brought in another one they rescued from a buzzard - met the same fate very sadly).

Honestly like you I was just really worried of hurting him more and literally had never even picked up or touched a bird in my life EVER so main priority was not to hurt him any more through my lack of knowledge of how their bodies work and what direction the wings are supposed to move in other than the obvious! 

ANYWAY lesson learned, in the future I will certainly bring any injured birds I find home and give them the best possible chance, I am going to reach out to local rescues and see what we can do to help them and learn a bit how you can check birds over without hurting them. They must have rescue birds at their places already that we can meet and see if they will let us pick them up and meet them  

There was a really sweet video on the palomacy website of this chinese american guy who has an aviary with I think 10 birds in in his garden, guess you need space for it. It didn't look huge nor too hard to build, I'd really like to know how many people bring injured pigeons to the local vets in say a week or a month - how many calls the local rescues get and how we can best help. Like, how many birds can you put together in how much space and would you just get hundreds of calls a month or what sort of scale could be helpful?

I'm going to go see some local places and see what they need. My sadness has turned into a bit of proactivity now. Everything happens for a reason, I guess. Do you think some local rescues or rehabbers might be able to help you find a mate for your Echo?? xx Where are you in the UK? We are SW - Bath / Bristol area. x


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