# I Have a pigeon in my garden with a broken blood wing



## robbie_gibbs

Hi guys, im worried about this pigeon i just found in my garden! it seems to have been in a fight because theres feathers every where! the pigeons wing is hanging down and theres blood all over the wing! apart from that he seems to be able to walk around fine! I did try to catch him last night but he was getting realy frightend and upset and flapping everywhere so i left it! in case I caused him further damage! I have put some trays of bird seed, cat food & water out hoping that it will help him keep his strength up! hes now resting under a bush! and walking around only now and again! 


Do you think I should leave him be or try again to catch him againI just dont want him to use all his strength and possibly injuring himself while trying to get away!

Thanks guys 

A man with a poorly pige


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## Charis

Please do catch the bird and bring him inside. If you have a small animal kennel that would be a perfect thing to put him in. If not that, an over turned laundry basket will work.
If the wing is broken, the bird is an easy target for a predator and he probably has escaped an hawk or cat just now. That creature may still be on the hunt for him. After you have him secure, we can advise you further.


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## John_D

Hi

Well, the only way to really help him is to catch him and put him somewhere safe in a cardboard box or a cage. He may get stressed but it may also save his life.

Do you know what kind of pigeon - e.g., a feral 'street pigeon' or wood pigeon? They have somewhat different temperaments - ferals are far less readily stressed.

It is quite possible this bird could have been injured by a cat, in which case it will need antibiotics soon as poss.

Can you let us know what area you are located?

John


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## robbie_gibbs

I am in birmingham, UK, smethwick West Midlands 

I will take a photo now and post it online give me a few mins


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## Feefo

Hi Robbie,

We have a member near you, I have e-mailed her to see if she can help in any way.

You could also telephone Wildlife Rescue (Burton-on-Trent)
07780742748. They *might *be able to collect it, maybe catch it if you can't

It sounds as if it cold have been hawked, which requres antibiotics. If it is a woodie try to moveslowly and smoothly, no sudden movements, so that it doesn't get too startled. Avoid looking at it straight in the eyes, that makes them very uncomfortable !

Cynthia


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## amyable

Hi,

I'm in Little Aston Nr Aldridge/ Sutton. I'll give you my mobile if you need me to help you catch it I'll drive over and get it.

O7775592566,,
Janet

Keep us posted. Thanks for trying to help.


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## robbie_gibbs

Thank you! it would be good if someone knew what they was doing could help! 

here take a look at the pictures just took a couple of mins ago! 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/dan_sullivan/IMG_0213.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/dan_sullivan/IMG_0212.jpg

thank you for your advise! I will go and see how the pigeon is holding up now! I have a large net so I will try again when it comes out into the open! my main worry is he might further injure himself!


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## Skyeking

Feefo said:


> Hi Robbie,
> 
> We have a member near you, I have e-mailed her to see if she can help in any way.
> 
> You could also telephone Wildlife Rescue (Burton-on-Trent)
> 07780742748. They *might *be able to collect it, maybe catch it if you can't
> 
> It sounds as if it cold have been hawked, which requres antibiotics. *If it is a woodie try to moveslowly and smoothly, no sudden movements, so that it doesn't get too startled. Avoid looking at it straight in the eyes, that makes them very uncomfortable !*
> 
> Cynthia


Follow Cynthia's advice and then CATCH him, this is a woodie! They are different behavioral birds then feral pigeons.

Thank you for helping him.

i would not leave any cat food out with him out there as that will attract cats.


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## amyable

Sorry did I just miss your call? Please call again if you did,

Thanks

Janet


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## Feefo

Thank you, Janet! 

Robbie, it is a woodie. And they have a tendency to panic and flap around a lot. Just be slow, firm and gentle. The main thing is that it needs to be caught. Good luck!


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## amyable

Just on my way to try and catch it.

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

its at the back of my shed at the moment! still sitting on that plant pot! 

I just called janet and shes gonna come help me catch him! and hopfully she can help him! .......hes still sitting peacefully! got my net and a box ready! i'll keep you posted! 

Thanks guys


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## robbie_gibbs

Janets just came to my house and we caught him pretty quickly and now janets put him in a box and took him away! 

I feel better now knowing the birds in good hands! 

Thanks a lot for that janet!  hope you can help the little fella back to good health


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## Feefo

That is wonderful! Thank you both so much for saving her (she looks like a hen to me!).

Cynthia


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## robbie_gibbs

A hen ? I cant tell, i've been calling her him haha  

Also I would like to thank all of you for your help and advice!


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## amyable

Hi Robbie,

Well just got home and letting 'her' settle down before I give her a good look over.

The wing looks very bloodied and there is a wound around the chest but not sure how old it is. Will report back once I've bathed it and had a look through the rest of it's feathers.

Well Robert is a dab hand with a fishing net  and so she didn't get too stressed being chased around.

Thanks for caring and taking the trouble to look for help.

Rob obviously wants to know how things go so I'll keep you posted on here if you like as we go along.

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Thats wonderfull janet, yes we caught it pretty quickly! good thing it was in a good position to trap! a lot better then my attempt last night hehe! 

Yes that wound looks very nasty and sore!  must be very painfull for the poor little might! 

Thank you for coming and helping me catch it! I would'nt have known how to handle her! I never held a wild bird before!

Thanks for letting me know I look forward to hearing to how she gets on! 

thanks

Rob


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## amyable

Hi,

Well it's a very serious compound break by the looks of it. The poor bird has a puncture wound in the wing and it feels unstable in the centre but there is a big bone protruding from the top of the wing, the Carpal joint I think it's called.
Unfortuantely it maybe a couple of days old and so I don't know if this could be fixed, and try telling a Woodie not to flap it's wing because it keeps coming back out every time it does.

I've given it some Aconite and Metacam to try a help with shock and pain but she is very badly bruised.

I'm going to attempt some sort of splint and try a strap the wing for now in an attempt to stop the bone protruding.

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Hello, ohh that must be painfull! Well I would say it happend yesterday afternoon! because when I got back home about 5 we seen a pile of feathers in our garden! so it must have been attacked then! Also theres a couple of other pigeons who come in the garden to eat the seed I put out! but one of the pigeons seems very aggressive to the others and pecks them! So I dont know if that could have done anything! 

Well at least shes in good hands im sure you will do everything you can! 
thanks for letting me know! 

Rob


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## Feefo

Poor little thing! They are so stoic, but I am certain that they feel pain just as we do.

Have you got enough antibiotics to treat it, Janet? If you start a course I can put a top up in the post on Tuesday.

Cynthia


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## amyable

Hi Cynthia,

Luckily Jayne popped some in the post when she saw my other Woodie post so thanks I have enough for a course now.

Rob, I know the other Woodies are a bit territorial at the moment, I see them having a go in my garden aswell. This injury is definitely a cat at least with the puncture wound and with the force it must have had to apply to break the bones.
I'm trying to find some way of fixing the wing in a stable position for a good while, they have such a strong flap and can pull most things apart. Wish me luck. 

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Yeah some of the neighbours have cats so its probly one of them then! Well I think its great what your doing! im glad i found this site! I realy hope she pulls through so good luck with her! 

Thanks

Rob


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## amyable

Oh boy has she got some fight in her !!

All my clever attempts at making a splint she managed to demolish with one flap. 
I've just had to tape it to her body with cohesive tape for now. So she's tucked up in bed now with some anti-biotics and pain relief and I'll leave her in peace until the morning. 

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Well maybe thats a good sign! it shows shes keeping her strength up! she certainly knew how to doge me last night! ....she certainly a fighter that one! 

Well im glad shes been cared for in the best possible way! 

thank you very much for keeping me up to date with her! I cant stop thinking about her!


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## amyable

Rob,

Just an update in case you're wondering how she is.
I've had her strapped up and have made her a large home in a cardboard box with a perch and food and water in easy reach.
She doesn't appear to eat much on her own so am hand feeding her defrosted peas and sweetcorn a couple of times a day.

She's quite calm as I do this until she's had enough, then she gets annoyed so I put her back in her 'apartment'. She seems quite comfortable although rightly disorientated with these strange surroundings, but doing ok so far.

Here's a picture of her snazzy blue bandage. 










Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Hi Janet, 

Thank you very much for letting us know! and thank you for the picture 
me and my mom was talking about her today and wondering how she was getting on! she certainly has become the talking point! Its nice to know shes been well taken care of and holding her own! ...you did a great job with the bandage! I never knew they could eat peas and sweet corn! 

Well thanks for letting us know her progress I realy like the picture 

Thanks 

Rob


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## amyable

It's a pleasure, will keep you posted as we go on.

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Thank you, that will be great


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## Feefo

She looks very comfortable, Janet...well done! I know just how difficult they can be to handle! 

Cynthia


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## PigeonQueen

Well done Janet!!! What a relief that you managed to catch this piggie! I know s/he will be in caring hands. Will send you a letter today for back up. Thanks for yours by the way! Jayne


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## amyable

Thanks both, she's being a very good patient, (for a Woodie)!
I think she tried to have a bath in her water bowl this afternoon. 

I'm a bit nervous about changing the dressing as I know as soon as I release this one she'll put all her strength into flapping and if anything has improved at all under there it could be undone in a second.
I have no idea if the bone is still in place or if it would stand any chance of knitting even if it was end to end with the other piece of bone. I think it will be a miracle to be honest as she struggled so much while I bandaged her up.

I'm hoping it will be ok to keep it on for another couple of days before I have a look to see how the puncture wound is doing.

Good news is she's pooping really well and had obviously been eating some seeds for herself aswell today, so I think she must be feeling alright.

Janet


Jayne: glad the post made it !


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## robbie_gibbs

Thats good to hear shes eating herself! and pooping alright! so apart from the wing the body functions are working! lets hope that wing can knit together! thanks again  

Rob


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## amyable

Hi Rob,

Not sure if you're still following your Woodie's progress so will just post an update.

She's still with me and is keeping well as far as eating and pooping goes!! In fact a very healthy bird.

Her wing has proved to be unfixable as I thought although I've tried my hardest. She has two open wounds where bones are protruding and I did expect the one in particular didn't have much chance of healing as it was on a joint.
I phoned three different vets to ask if they'd treat a Woodie with such an injury, I decided it was best to be upfront as to what was wrong rather than just taking her in, and could tell that if I'd left her with any of them, she would have been PTS as she is unreleasable, so I had to do what I could for her here.

After splinting and strapping the other break twice, she still managed to dislodge the wing each time after a couple of days so the bones never got a chance to start knitting so I had to give up trying and I decided to see what nature would do for her. Even if that break had healed she wouldn't have been able to fly because of the other injury.
Ideally the part of the bone that was protruding needed to be cut back to skin level for there to be any chance of the hole filling in.
Then I was amazed yesterday after letting her have the freedom of the room she's in for some excercise, to find the portion of bone lying on the floor.. Absolutely what needed to happen had happened naturally thank goodness and it had broken off right where it should. So I hope the two big wounds will eventually fill in now at least.
It would be ideal for the wing to be amputated at the wound site as it drags on the floor and has no stability, but I have to say she's one strong bird as she still manages to get out of her box and onto the edge of the bath in one big flap still using that shoulder. The chances of finding a vet to perform that though is very slim. 

So she's doing well although she must be extremely bored with her own company by now and it could be a while before these wound heal over so she's stuck with me for a bit longer.

I will keep you updated when I have some more news and hope you are well. 

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Hello Janet, 

Thank you very much for letting me know how she is!  oh yes im glad you've posted because I was wondering how she was getting on! we was only talking about her again the other day! and I check my inbox daily to see if any messages come through about her! Well its a shame her days of flying are over! but at least shes keeping her stregth up and is been well looked after by the sounds of it! good thing that bone just natualy broke off lets hope those wounds heal up! sounds like your doing a great job looking after her! Yes im very well thanks hope you are too, I was best man at my mates wedding 2 weeks ago and had to make a speech which was very nerve racking :S but apart from that im all good thanks  

Well thank you very much for letting me know her progress I always check my inbox to see if any replies have come through!

Thanks again 

Rob


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## amyable

Just an update on Rob's Woodie.

She is still very well and healthy. Her wing is slowly healing itself naturally which has been quite interesting to watch.

The other bone that was protruding also dried and came away where it was open and I had to gently encourage some hard dead tissue that had formed around the bone to come away and after that the hole was clear of any obstruction. I did put her on another course on antibiotics as it had a bit of a smell to it.
She's had a week of me flushing out the wounds to try and encourage them to heal from inside and they are both doing well. Obviously the wing hangs down but she has a lot of strength in it and can fly up to a perch a couple of feet off the ground so I feel it gives her balance.

I've taken her out to spend some with my other residents so she can see the outside world at last but she does tend to sit and watch the Woodies that come into the garden longingly, but at least she knows she's not alone now!

So although it's been a long process, she's doing well and coping with all I've thrown at her as far as being handled a lot. She's a strong resiliant lady. 

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Hi janet, 

Thank you for the update! well its good to know shes still doing fine! we often still talk about her! Its nice to know shes out mixing with the other pigeons! its good that she can manage a couple of feet to a pearch! and its good that the wings starting to heal up nicely! ....shes a very lucky pigeon to be in such good hands! i'm happy I was able to find someone to nurse her back to health! My mom says it's realy nice of you to keep us updated!  it's been well over a month or so now aint it ?

Well thanks again 

Rob


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## bluegirl

Well done for being so caring.


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## amyable

*Going To Her New Home!*

Hi Rob,

Sorry it's been a while since I updated but I've been waiting until I had some definite news for you about her long term future.

Great news is Mrs Woodie, (not very original I know), is going to a new forever home tomorrow.
She's been healing here nicely but she really needs to be settled in a proper environment for her, (not my bathroom!).. and live amongst other Woodies for her to be really happy again.
I have been very lucky to have found her a great place out in the country in South Wales with loads of room, and with a bit of luck you never know she might just find a mate to live her life out with, albeit a Woodie with a Welsh accent.. 
She's tucked up in bed now ready for a long drive in the morning.

Here's a recent picture of her.










She's been sharing her perch for the past couple of weeks with two mischievous juvenile Collared Doves that I've hand raised and trying to teach them some manners. They're coming to Wales tomorrow to go to a new home aswell.










Wish her all the best and thanks to you again for taking the trouble to find her help when she was injured, you know where to come if you find any birds in need again.

Take care

Janet


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## robbie_gibbs

Hi janet, 

Wow that is so good to hear that shes recoverd and is off to a new home to mix with the other birds again! you've done a fantastic job in nursing her back to health! when I found her in my garden we thought she was a goner with all the blood on her wing, we thought there was nothing we could do! ....i'm just thankfull you came and took her in what a lucky pigeon! 

Also its been realy nice of you to keep me updated on her progress so thank you for taking the time to do that! 

south wales hey? the funny thing is my grandad was from wales so there is welsh in the family lol 

She looks great thank you for the photos

Well yes I wish her all the best in her new home and hope she meets a welsh woodie and lives happy ever after  

What a happy ending 

Thanks for everything janet  

Rob


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