# Broken Leg, need help please.



## kbraden (Mar 27, 2010)

Sorry I know this has been covered 100x but I need some help.

Bird came home today, scuffed up chest, missing feathers. Her right leg is broken below the "knee" (tibula / fiblua for us humans) I know it is broken due to it is dangling and the foot now points inwards. It doesn't apprear to be swollen but is bruised at point of break.

I currently have confined her and have her on a soft, thick nest pad.

How do I splint the leg? using what to splint it? and for how long? Any other helpful info is much appreciated! 

Her appetite is good, drinking water fine. No other issues.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

It's possible to splint a broken leg on any bird with masking tape and it's pretty simple as well--that's what most vets do if it's not too complex of a fracture. You can take a look at this page and study the skeletal drawings to help you figure out the applicable anatomy:

http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/skeleton.html

In any case, you can roll up a towel into a donut that the bird can settle into the middle of in such a way as to take any pressure off of the leg easily. Sometimes, you can bring them in the house and treat them like the Queen of Sheba with food and water right in front of them and they'll behave pretty well. About the only thing they'll stand up to do is poop and if you dutifully keep that cleaned up and then gently put them back down, they can learn to take it real easy and heal up just like that.

Otherwise, you sometimes have to clip the feathers of the leg closely with scissors and use masking tape to immobilize the leg as shown here:










...and it might come out looking like this:



The break on this bird was high enough on the tibiotarsus that I extended the tape up and over the back to help it immobilize it--otherwise, following the drawings above wouldn't have gone high enough to actually do the job. I clipped all the feathers short where the tape went, too.

Pidgey


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

I have used clear plastic tubing the size of the leg as a splint. Split it-put it on the leg with a piece of tape o hold it in place.


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## kbraden (Mar 27, 2010)

ok, after looking at diagrams of skeletal system, the break is on the tibiotarsus right below the cnemial crest, I and I mean like 3 mm below crest.

So I have trimmed feathers & we are all taped up, and seem quite content over the whole ordeal.

How long does this type injury take to heal?


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Tape it just like Princess is taped in the picture above. Trim the feathers over and under the leg as well as over the back far enough to get and keep the tape stuck on.

Sky TX, the break is too high if kbraden's location is correct--it's way up above the tarsometatarsus and too far up for that the technique you're describing.

Pidgey


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## kbraden (Mar 27, 2010)

Thanks Pidgey! How long does this take to heal, a month or so?

And no, the plastic tubing will not work on this break. The tape worked tho.


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