# broken leg



## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

hi all, i have a bird pigeon with a broken leg, i done a search to see what to do, but could'nt find the right answer, from pigeys skeleton diagram, it is broken at the fibula, what is the best way to splint this,


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## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

Originally Posted by Pidgey 
Reti, 

That's one reason to clip the feathers real close. Anyhow, I did send an email with all the applicable pages on different splinting techniques. If it's uncomplicated, this is probably the best one though:

Pidgey 

pidgey, i had put up a threads but then fond this post, the leg is broken high up on the fibula, will te same splint work for this, it seems to have broken at an acute angle just under the joint, where s the best position for the splints of wood, thanks for your help,

In the mean time i have tried my best to splint, the bird was a bit stressed so have left it to rest


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I will PM Pidgey in regards to your question


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## eric98223 (Aug 4, 2007)

best splinting method i have found about.

take a mcdonalds drinking straw (use these because they are bigger opening split it end to end place over the affected area and use a regular human size band-aid at either end. cut it off in 10 days to 2 weeks it works great!!

E..


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## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

eric98223 said:


> best splinting method i have found about.
> 
> take a mcdonalds drinking straw (use these because they are bigger opening split it end to end place over the affected area and use a regular human size band-aid at either end. cut it off in 10 days to 2 weeks it works great!!
> 
> E..


thankyou eric, that sounds good, i have it done now like pidgey explained, but i found it a bit fidgity, i cliped all around the leg and put a stick at both sides of the leg where it's broke, the break is high up on the fibula near the joint and seems to have broken at an angle, so don't know if i should undo this and try your method or just leave it as it is,
she is resting in the nest, i put food and water in with her and she eating ok but have not seen her drink yet, she is not on eggs by the way, i just weaned two of her two days ago, Im in two minds now what to do,


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

jojo67 said:


> thankyou eric, that sounds good, i have it done now like pidgey explained, but i found it a bit fidgity, i cliped all around the leg and put a stick at both sides of the leg where it's broke, the break is high up on the fibula near the joint and seems to have broken at an angle, so don't know if i should undo this and try your method or just leave it as it is,
> she is resting in the nest, i put food and water in with her and she eating ok but have not seen her drink yet, she is not on eggs by the way, i just weaned two of her two days ago, Im in two minds now what to do,


If you've got the break secured and bandaged, I wouldn't go messing with it anymore. Just let it be for a couple of weeks and then check it. Just make sure it's not bandaged too tight. Is she in a small cage so that she can't move around very much? I had a cock bird come home with a broken leg last year. I bandaged it up and kept him in a small cage for about a 1 1/2 weeks. He was VERY unhappy about that, but he survived and is now on my race team, good as new.


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## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

I put he back in the nest box renee in her nest though she would be happier there, i am watching her mate to see if her bothers her. ifhe does i will bring her in the house to keep an eye . i done it up the best i could. it was moving about badly but i think i have it as best as possible. 
i have seen splints you can buy but they don't seem to go up the lg far enough for my purpose , the other thing i am worried about is if i don't have it in place right, she could end up with a bad limp, would this happen, thankyou for your reply renee,


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

jojo67 said:


> I put he back in the nest box renee in her nest though she would be happier there, i am watching her mate to see if her bothers her. ifhe does i will bring her in the house to keep an eye . i done it up the best i could. it was moving about badly but i think i have it as best as possible.
> i have seen splints you can buy but they don't seem to go up the lg far enough for my purpose , the other thing i am worried about is if i don't have it in place right, she could end up with a bad limp, would this happen, thankyou for your reply renee,


Well, yea, if the bones aren't together exactly right, then they'll grow together wrong, but without a lot of moving the leg about and "feeling" OR having an x-ray, I don't expect it's possible to know whether you have it exactly right or not. Personally, I think that "close to right" is better than nothing and if she limps a bit, it won't really hurt anything. If the break was in the joint, then I'd probably say different, but where the break is isn't going to cause THAT bad of a limp, even if it's not perfect. I've only dealt with the one broken leg and we just sort of guessed at how to splint it. His bone was broken completely in half. It turned out fine. And, I wouldn't buy a splint. What you did is just fine. We actually used the straw and taped it up, but either way will work.


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## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

Thankyou renee, i will leave it as it is and hopefully it turns out ok, 
I though about taking her to a vet, but decided they could not tell me any different , from what i read on here and advice from yourselves, and also saves me a few $$$ but if really needed i would spend it,


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

jojo67 said:


> Thankyou renee, i will leave it as it is and hopefully it turns out ok,
> I though about taking her to a vet, but decided they could not tell me any different , from what i read on here and advice from yourselves, and also saves me a few $$$ but if really needed i would spend it,


I think you'll be ok. Other than taking an x-ray, the vet couldn't do anything more than you've done. If it was life and death, it would be different, but it's not THAT serious and we just have to play doctor once in while when we can. Good luck and let us know how things go.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Sorry, just never made it online today until now. The fibula is more of a vestigial bone (somewhat uesless) and doesn't have a lot to do with the mechanical functioning of the leg. I'm guessing that if you went here:

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

...and looked at one of the lower drawings of the leg, you probably saw two names pointing to a portion of the leg, the "fibula" and the other the "tibiotarsus". The tibiotarsus is the real leg bone there and the fibula is actually more like a toothpick that lays alongside it. Anyhow, they'd both be broken if either one did.

The higher up it is, the worse it is. What'll help the most is to make a real soft nest out of a towel for the bird to recline it while it's healing for the next couple of weeks. It'll try to stand up to poop but if you make a hollow under the vent, it might keep that to a minimum. When you're taping one of them up in a splint, the wood is more of an afterthought--it gets most of the strength from the tape itself. The trouble with a break way up there is that the it's pretty tough to immobilize the true knee (where the patella is) seeing as how it's more encased in body skin that "out there" like ours is. They're kind of in a perpetual squat.

If you go to this one:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=108665&postcount=14

...and look at illustration "A", you'll see a broken tibiotarsus (midshaft, by the way) that would be broken further down that what you appear to be describing.

Pidgey


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## markymark (Dec 26, 2007)

you can buy plastic casts to put on i use them and always works ok for me in the past,


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## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

markymark said:


> you can buy plastic casts to put on i use them and always works ok for me in the past,


Thanks mark, i seen them but i have it done up now with a splint, hope it works out ok,


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

What happened to this thread? Where are all the posts that were made?


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## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

Lovebirds said:


> What happened to this thread? Where are all the posts that were made?


renee it was my fault at the start, i put the thread on twice, the other thread i think is still there. by the way that hen laid an egg today.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I just combined both threads, so some posts may sound off a little.


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## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

Thankyou pidgey , yes they where the drawings i was looking at, and as you said it's the tibiotarsus". that i am sure is broken, i could fell it at the break, it is at a bad angle from what i could feel, i followed the drawing as best i could and put in position as best as possible, i closed her in her nest box and took her mate away, in the nest i put a towel and hollowed it to make it more comforable for her, when i checked today she had laid a egg, i took the egg away, but i was going to anyway put a dummy egg under her because i have enought young for my purpose, she seems contend, she has food and water right in front of her. i dont want to undo what i've done and hope i have made a decent job of it, i hope later i can report back good news. thanks for the help and all the others for their good advice.


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## Snowbird Sue (Dec 31, 2007)

Jojo, sounds like you did right, so lets hope for a real good outcome. Hope she heals up nice, too.


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## eric98223 (Aug 4, 2007)

everyone i talked to when mine broke its leg (it was way above the knee and compound) said those casts they sell are too big. i used a straw and 14 days later took it off. it hobbled around a couple of days and now you could not pick it out of the group
E..


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## jojo67 (Jul 14, 2007)

*boken leg*

Just to let you know the bird is getting about much better now, but it is still limping a bit, but hopefully in time it comes right, 
Thankyou for all the help and info ,much appreciated


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

I'm glad the bird is doing well. Please do keep us posted and send photos if you can!  

Terry


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