# Injured Adult Pigeon



## kikimers13 (Aug 2, 2013)

Hello,

I live in Tumalo, Oregon (about 7 miles North of Bend in Deschutes County) and had an injured pigeon show up, literally, at my front door. We have floor to ceiling windows and I happened to look over and see it peering in. Initially I thought nothing of it but then noticed about an hour later it was still there peering in. 

I went outside to see if I could secure it, and it was hardly afraid of me. It did run away at first and attempted to fly which is when I realized it's right wing appears to be broken. After securing it inside I did use vet first aid tape to secure the broken wing to the body, leaving it's sound wing out. 

This bird is very, very tame. When my husband helped me set the wing the pigeon just stepped right onto his hand to perch without a second thought. It does not have a band, but I'm thinking it may have had interaction with humans before.

Currently it is secured in a very large box (tall enough it won't get out, wide enough to walk around comfortably) with seed and water. I laid newspaper along the bottom and a towel on top of that. I have indoor cats, so it's in the bathroom with the heat lamp on during the day and the heater is on right now since it's a bit cold. It seems to just snuggle up in the corner of the box during most of the day and I've caught it sleeping a few times, eating a few times, etc. so I don't think anything is wrong except for the wing being broken. It responds normally, is actively looking around, and puffs up when sleeping (no other time). 

The main thing I need to know is, how long do I care for it? I read on a few sites that I should leave the wing secured for a month, others say a few weeks. Also, what type of bird seed should I buy tomorrow? Currently I only have a wild bird mix with sunflower seeds and the like but planned to go to the pet store tomorrow. Should I keep it in the box for the short-term, or invest in a cage? So many questions!! lol

We are fine keeping it should it not be able to be released, but if we do so we aren't sure how to care for it. I suppose I'm likely jumping the gun on that, as I haven't been able to confirm if it's even legally possible to keep a pigeon where I live. 

Any advice on things it will need to get better, and things it needs otherwise for daily living in the meantime would be appreciated! And sorry for the long post, I have an issue with too much detail


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Well done so far.

You can read THIS thread, as the situation is similar to yours:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/rock-dove-with-broken-wing-69867.html

Your guy/gal sounds like a lost pet, used to humans. The thing is, with wing injury, they oftentimes will not regain full flight abilities. Look at the other thread, the part about wing anatomy. Where do you think the break is ?

Are there any Avian vets in your area ?

The food and enclosure are great. Keep that bathroom at 75 degrees F. Also, DO allow him some time to be in view of the family, given he/she seems human-bonded...maybe put the cats away and put the Pigeon up high in the box on a shelf or something. Maybe make a window in the box, covered with mesh or a screen, so he/she can look out.

I really always urge a vet visit with any sort of orthopoedic injury. If that isn't possible, then the next thing you need to do is get some antibiotic...either human or pet grade:

Penicillin, Amoxycillin, Clavamox, Augmentin, Cephalexin, Ampicillin, Ceclor, Baytril/Cipro, Enroflaxin, Lincocin, Furasin, Trimeth Sulfate...something like that. We dunno if the Pigeon was struck by something or attacked...an open wound or fracture/break allows the chance for bacterial infection quickly. The antibiotics need to be started ASAP, certainly w/i next 12-24 hours.

Ask family and friends, neighbors, etc. If there is a farm animal supply store near you, call and ask them if they have any...oftentimes a farm store will have trimeth sulfate for chickens and such...

When you find some, tell us the strength,

Also, post a pic . Thanks for caring !


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## kikimers13 (Aug 2, 2013)

Thanks for the response! 

It appears to be the radius that is broken. There is no outside wound, but that part of the wing looks a tad misshapen and swelled, not at all how the sound wing looks. 

There is one vet I was able to find in town but when my husband called she said she strictly works with pet birds, not feral. I plan on calling myself once I'm off work to see if I can explain better that it appears to be a pet bird who is lost. 

I will see about getting him/her in the living room with some sort of good view and hide the cats for a bit. I think I'm going to build a better enclosure or pick up a cage when I head into town as well. 

I don't have any antibiotics except for amoxicillin for fish in 250mg capsules. There are a few things I can try to do to get some though, and certainly plenty of farm supply/feed stores around here so I'll post what I'm able to get and the strength. 

I will get a picture ASAP as well. Thanks again!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

When you call the vet, you say it is your pet pigeon, and name him so that they will believe you. You can say that you let him out to fly and have no idea of how he hurt the wing, but showed up back home with the injury. 

Also, you don't want to leave the wing taped up for that long, or it will freeze and he won't be able to use it. I would unwrap it after a week and let him exercise it a bit and see how it goes from there.
Where are you located? There may be another vet in your area.

Also have you checked him over well to make sure there are no cuts or other injuries. If predator caught, he will need antibiotics soon. Can you look down his throat with a small flashlight? Way down and make sure there are no nodules or anything else there?
How do his droppings look?


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Amoxycillin for fish is perfect. 

I agree, call back the vet and tell them this is a domesticated pet, not a Feral.

There's no such thing as a 'good' wing break or fracture, but if it is to be one bone there, the radius is a good one since it is being supported still by the Ulna. So, if that's what it is, there is more hope than usual for a decent recovery.
It is swollen.... but there is really NO wound anywhere ? Sometimes a bb gun shot can leave almost no entry wound....are you certain there is not the smallest skin break near the injury (look on top of wing and under, too.

Swelling means you gotta start antibiotic soon. If you cannot get the Pigeon to the vet today.....start Amoxycillin. Can you go to a pet store and get either a 1cc, 2cc or 5cc plastic syringe ?

You then have to create as liquid suspension of Amoxycillin. Crush 1 pill and mix it with 2cc hot water. Crush it up to a fine powder, and put it in a small jar or pill bottle, add water and shake vigorously.

Then you wanna dose .3cc (which is a very small amount) two times daily, min 8 hrs. apart. To do this, hold the pigeon in your lap, cover her back with a towel and have someone gently hold her still. Pry open her beak with 2 fingers, insert the syringe not very far, maybe to the middle of the beak/mouth, and gently lay some liquid onto her tongue. Not the whole 3cc, just a bit. DON'T squirt it into the back of the mouth.
Close the beak. She should swallow. Then repeat. For .3cc you will need to do this 2 or 3 times.

Give 10 days of Amoxy.

If a vet is not a possibility, you will need to do a wing splint like in the other thread. But it'd help if we could see some pics first.

I must respectfully disagree on a 1-week splint/wrap......it should be 10 days. 
If it is a break, at 1 week the scar tissue will still be growing to stabilize it. If you remove at 7 days... and she starts using it, it will still be unstable and all of that healing would probably be for nought. 
10 days is fine, nothing will freeze up; and with the antibiotic it will put you in a safer zone. (I would prefer not getting into a digressive argument about this on this thread. I have had 3 different certified Avian vets at 3 different practices do wing wraps on around 12 different pigeons in my day, all of them insisted the wrap stay on between 10-14 days. No ill effects resulted from that time period).

Keep it up !


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## hamlet (Oct 26, 2004)

Jay3 said:


> When you call the vet, you say it is your pet pigeon, and name him so that they will believe you.


Hello. Once there was an avian vet who charged less for wild birds including pigeons.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

hamlet said:


> Hello. Once there was an avian vet who charged less for wild birds including pigeons.


Well many vets won't see a pigeon unless he is your pet.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Birds have hallow bones and so they tend to set quickly.Because of that you have limited amount of time to set the bone. The best would be to get the pigeon to the vet today or tomorrow.
I don't give advise without first hand experience. That being said,the first bird I had with a broken wing, was 30 years ago. The vet instructed me to leave the wrap on for 2 weeks. It was too long though and the result was the wing was frozen, leaving the bird unable to fly. Since then, I seldom leave a wing wrap on longer that 1 week...10 days are the max.
Also, when the vet wraps the wing, pay close attention. More than likely the pigeon will get out of the wrap and you will need to re-do.
You asked about what to feed the pigeon...most feed stores carry a pigeon see mix and that would be the best to feed. You can look for dove mix, in the pet store and to it add dried lentils, dried peas, brown rice, small pop corn and chopped raw peanuts. Pigeons need a lot of protein and peas are a good source.
I also want to mention, as you said the pigeon is in a box, make sure it's light enough so the pigeon can see. Pigeons don't eat in the dark. Give the pigeon a towel to stand on. I put a paper towel over the towel and then change the paper, when soiled, rather than the towel.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Also...if you do need to give a liquid medication...if you open the pigeon's beak, you will notice there is more room, on right side of the pigeon's throat than the left.[ The trachea is on the left side of the throat. ] You can put a 1cc syringe down the throat, at the back of the tongue and on the right side to medicate. If you do it this way, the pigeon won't spit it out and you will know the pigeon is getting all of the medicine.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Jaye said:


> *I must respectfully disagree on a 1-week splint/wrap.*.....it should be 10 days.
> If it is a break, at 1 week the scar tissue will still be growing to stabilize it. If you remove at 7 days... and she starts using it, it will still be unstable and all of that healing would probably be for nought.
> 10 days is fine, nothing will freeze up; and with the antibiotic it will put you in a safer zone. *(I would prefer not getting into a digressive argument about this on this thread. * I have had 3 different certified Avian vets at 3 different practices do wing wraps on around 12 different pigeons in my day, all of them insisted the wrap stay on between 10-14 days. No ill effects resulted from that time period).
> 
> Keep it up !


Jaye, you came in and disagreed with me, not the other way around. But that's okay, you have a right to disagree. But by adding that you prefer not getting into a digressive argument on this thread, you are now saying that you want the last word on the topic. That is not okay. I and others do have the right to give advice and try to help. And by always adding that 3 different certified vets gave you such and such advice, sounds as though that makes your advice correct and others advice incorrect. But as we all know, even vets disagree on most things, especially pigeons. I just don't feel the need to drudge up imaginary (cough) vets to prove my point. No response required, as you normally prefer.


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## kikimers13 (Aug 2, 2013)

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I was able to get the pigeon to a local "snowbird" retired veterinarian at her vacation home, she happens to play tennis with my mom and was willing to see the bird. She set the wing with some self adhesive wrap and after some thorough searching she was able to find the tiniest of lesions on the under side of the wing so she thinks the bird may have gotten a compound fracture. It's such a small wound its hard to tell if the bone breaking punctured the wing or if a predator got it. She cleaned it up and dressed it before she set the wing. The pigeon has already managed to wiggle itself out of the tape, so we had to wrap it one more time at home.

She also recommended Erythromycin as she said that birds can be prone to respiratory stress/infection after trauma and being removed from their environment? I researched it a little when I got home and that seems to be the case but I wasn't sure if it's recommended for pigeons specifically. She didn't see a problem with the Fish Amox I've been giving him/her though she did of course stress that it would be better to have a prescription. I think I'll stick with what I've got though. 

Overall the bird seems fine. It was breathing heavy when we got home from the vet's house but has calmed down, slept for a bit, and drank. I've been making sure to give it water via syringe just in case and it's very tame about it. I don't even have to force it into it's mouth as it'll just drink from the syringe as I push water out. 

We built a bigger enclosure out of wire cube shelving per some ideas I got from this forum and other sites. We made sure to give it a nice dark area of the cage to relax in and have it in our office now where there's plenty of company and sunlight. We also have a couple bricks in there that it's obsessed with perching on. It's also an easy room the regulate the temperature in. The bottom is lined with a couple towels with paper towels on top (added those after Charis suggested that). I also bought dove seed at the pet store. Is grit something I should look into getting from a feed store?

Since there's some debate on how long to set the wing, I'll probably go with 8 or 9 days. The vet recommended a week, but I'm thinking 9 days would probably not push it too far. I'll keep an eye on it for now and if I feel like I need to get it into an actual veterinarian office I'll definitely do so. So far, so good.

I'm trying to locate my digi camera. I'll post pics tonight hopefully. Sorry for the delay on that!


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## Miss-Sassypants (Sep 25, 2010)

Hi there,
Your pigeon sounds so cute and obedient! My heart melts just by reading your post! She/he seems to know what is expected of her and obey. Soooo cute! I really hope you will consider keeping her! As long as she is in a safe zone in the house, away from the cats, she should be ok. And I believe, if you have a talk with your cat and explain that the bird is family, the cat will leave it alone. Of course, never put predator and prey together in the same room, and always keep an eye on both of them.

I'm very excited to see pictures of this adorable bird! I can imagine him/her peering into the house through the glass window.. how cute!

Good luck with the wing injury. Keep us updated on her progress. I hope you will name the bird soon!

Thanks for caring!


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

All sounds good...8-9 days, sure...split the baby !  That should be pretty OK.

Amoxy is a wider-net antibiotic than Erythro....your vet friend is right, Erythro is targeted more for respiratory infections, but if she didn't see a problem with Amoxy, I would tend to stick with that just because it's more of a catch-all antibiotic.

The enclosure sounds great. So now just keep an eye on whether she manages to wriggle out of the wrap...they can do that as you have discovered and you don't want them to be out of it long if it happens.

Also be aware of some typical red flags: listlessness, droopy eyelids, puffed up feathers most of the time...stuff like that. If you see any of that....let us know because this means something is up.

Keep up the good work.


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## jafacanyan (Jul 17, 2013)

How is your bird coming along? Post pictures


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## kikimers13 (Aug 2, 2013)

So far everything is doing good. She (or he) has wiggled out of the bandage 3 times now. Still taking the antibiotics well, and eating too. The seed we picked up has peas in it and she goes nutso for those, threw her food around this morning trying to dig just those and the sunflower seeds out. She's fairly stable now with her wing set, and isn't wobbling around and falling down anymore. 

The only time she puffs up is if she's sleeping or sees herself in the mirror that's in the cage. She gets a little nervous now when we handle her but I think she's tired of getting her wing re-wrapped and a syringe put in her face. She's just eager to be put back down once everything's taken care of. She still takes the antibiotics from the syringe without me having to force it in her mouth. I attached a picture of the cage, and one of her. This was her enjoying some food before we re-wrapped the wing this morning, which is why there's no wrap visible. 

We also decided on a name: Luna.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Cool...yes, try to keep on that wing as best you can. They can be a hassle sometimes.

Everything sounds good...the cage bar spacing ain't fantastic, though, she can get her wings or head caught in the bar spacing that wide. Something to consider.

Looks pretty good otherwise !


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