# Injured Jackdaw. Cute bird



## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

I've found a jackdaw with a broken wing. After a lot of chasing around in a open area in the middle of the city, I was eventually able to corner him and take him to the vet. The vet splinted the wing, cut off some feathers, put some oil on the injury and said to keep him in a cage and he will eventually fully recover. 

I've had 2 injured pigeons before and despite not being a big believer, they really did fully recover. But this time I am a little more concerned cause the wing just looks disgusting. 

My important questions are:

1) Will the jackdaw eventually recover ?
2) Should I wash the oil the vet put on the wing ? 5 hours have passed and I've just let him like that. I intend on leaving the oil like that. 
3) Should I put more oil the next following days on the injury ? The vet said something about it but tomorrow it's sunday so there might be a problem finding oil. 
4) What should I feed him ? I gave him some grain and vegetables but he only ate some grain. He is an urban jackdaw.


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## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

And my secondary, not so urgent questions are:

1) Will he eventually get friends with me ? Jackdaws are super smart but so are pigeons. The crow family and pigeons are among the only 5 animals that recognize themselves in the mirror. But when it comes to pigeons, they are not that friendly because of their fear. I didn't get too close with any of the 2 injured pigeons that I had before because they are too afraid of human contact. They still come to the window and are more friendly than other pigions but nothing too special. 

Giving that the jackdaw is not that afraid and also a pretty aggressive bird, does this mean he will be friendlier ? Also, he always looks me right in the eye when I look at him, something that pigeons don't really do. Maybe it's their slightly more binocular vision or they really have more interest in humans. 

2) How much time will it take for the wing to heal ? 

3) Will the feathers removed at the vet really grow back ? The vet said they will but who knows how much that will take ? Big, important feathers that make up the wing were removed, I don't think he can fly without them.

PS: I will post pictures tomorrow. Jackdaws are really cute birds despite being from the crow family. They are by far the cutest, cuter than magpies and are the only crow-family bird to have a cute name in Romanian language.


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## bootface (Jun 29, 2017)

We can't know if the wing will recover. It depends on the extent of the break, how old it is, how well it was splinted.
The oil seems strange. Do you know what kind it is? I can't imagine why the vet would do that.
Corvids like meat, insects and sweet fruit best. Wet dog or cat food works well.
Wild corvids are more stressy than wild pigeons, in my experience. The tame corvids I know are more fearful than the tame pigeons I know. I doubt you'll develop a very deep relationship with him. It's hard to build trust when the bird is cornered in a cage.
The bone should heal in 2-3 weeks. It will probably take longer for the flight feathers to grow back, it's really strange that the vet would clip them. You'll have to wait for a molt.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

I have never rehabbed a jackdaw but rehabbed a crow baby. I fed him small mealworm pieces, moist dry cat food, pieces of earthworms, fruit, small crickets, small pieces of nuts, etc. i imagine your friend will recover nicely depending on the break and likely could get very tame. Thank you for rescuing him!


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

I googled jackdaws. They are apparently highly intelligent and can talk.there are a lot of great youtube videos.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=51-WqSCIskE


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## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

Sorry for taking so long to reply but I had problems with my computer and also been very busy. I am a little concerned about him. The injury is pretty bad to be honest, it also has a big wound that didn't heal too much so far. About the splinting I don't know. The vet said it isn't perfectly straight. 

I was with him to the ved many times cause he keps taking off his bandage. They are indeed smart birds, corvids are among top 5 smarted animals along with dolphin, cimpanzee, elephant and octopus. They can pick up locks, it's not a big deal to keep spinning that bandage until it is removed even if it's wrapped up in a complicated way. 

Also, almost all feathers from the wing have been removed. Vet said they will grow back but I am a little concerned. Also today, after taking off his bandage, due to strugling around while at the vet, there was some bleeding with ugly old blood from inside the wound. 

He hasn't got friend too much with me either despite a week passing. Will he ever get tamed ? 

The ved said he's gona be allright but remember there is no such thing as a vet good at birds. I'm a little concerned about the situation.... the wound is pretty big and almost all feathers from the wing have been removed


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## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

And another question: there are some feathers, especially big ones, that have not been pulled out but just cut and left with the starting part of them standing. I asked the ved if they should be pulled out and said that no, that that would somehow be bad for them growing again. 

What do you think about the feathers ? Even if they do grow back, how fast can they grow back ? I don't think "a couple of months" that the vet said is correct. A wing is made out of big long feathers


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## bootface (Jun 29, 2017)

You really need to keep the bandage on at all times. The bone will not heal unless it is constantly splinted. You can make tags of vet wrap on the wrap so he has something to pick off without ruining the bandage. You'll have to check and redo them often. It's also likely it isn't wrapped correctly if he can get it off quickly.

Where is the wound? Is he on antibiotics? Are you applying anything to the wound? If it's under the wrap, the wing might need to be splinted so that you can treat it without messing up the break even more. 

The feathers are a non-issue. They do indeed grow back in a couple months. Birds regularly loose and grow back their primary feathers. But there's really no reason to pull or trim feathers in order to wrap a wing. There shouldn't be any feather damage if it's properly wrapped. 

He's not going to learn to like you when he's in pain and you're regularly grabbing him!


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Thank you for continuing to care for him. Hope he is all better soon. Hopefully he will become your friend after he heals. It took our injured Phoebe a while to get friendly, after her wing healed. Then she was a total love.


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

This is a good site for wrapping a broken wing. It's best to wrap it and leave it after cleaning the wound and antibiotics would help keep any infection at bay, especially as you say it looks disgusting - I'm assuming it's weeping or the like. He could also have pain relief such as metacam/malixicom as he's probably experiencing pain too. 
http://wildliferehabber.com/rehab-data/wing-fractures

Thank you for looking after him and caring. I too love jackdaws but over here they are one of the birds that can legally be culled, along with crows, pigeons and magpies as well as a few others. Yes we are supposed to be a country of animal lovers but I can say sure as hell we aren't - not judging by the way we pick and choose what deserves to live and what doesn't. Makes me so angry!


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

FredaH, I agree with your statements about these wonderful birds.


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## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

Thank you all for the help. He is indeed on antibiotics, applied twice a day to the wound from the start. The problem is, he was basically to the vet every day of this week cause of taking off the bandage. 

Today there was another problem. The vet tied and elastic piece of plastic gloves around the bandage to keep him from taking it off. The problem is, it was too tight and the wound got very very swollen and I have just noticed that right now after like 13 hours. I took of that elastic and tied it around much more loosely so it's applying no pressure. 

I am right now going to put some ice on the wound. Is there anything else that should be done cause of this swallowing ? Should he go again tomorrow to the vet or is it enough to just leave him like that and it will get back to normal in 8 hours after I wake up ? (I am going to sleep)


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## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

He's causing me nothing but troubles. He ran away and got under the closet and it took 3 hours to get him out. I had to empty the closet, move all the furniture, etc. Then it took another hour of icing to get the wound a little smaller. I got most of the bandage out while doing that and put it on again. It took only 5 minutes to get it off. 

The good part is I went to the vet because of that and she gave him an injection + some other stuff and then wrapped his wing without a splinting but with a special substance under it and said it would be great if he could last 3 days without taking it off. This is probably because of the wound not healing at all these 2 weeks since I've caught him. 

The vet said the bone already linked a little, that it's somewhere at 40% linked. What do you think about this ? Should the wing get splinted again after these 3 days ? 

Sorry for not being too coherent but I haven't slept this night because of all these problems.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Chupachups, sorry its been hard. Am up also with just three hours sleep because of a sick frog and have to go to work again like a zombie. Sounds like your friend is healing well-- the feistiness is actually a great sign. Dont know how long until the bones are mended but would put him in a cage or carrier while he is mending to prevent any more escapades.  am envious tyat you have such a wonderful and intelligent companion. We kept Phoebe in a small bird cage for about a month to make sure her wing had mended but put toys so we could interact a lot with her. What started as biting me turned into tug of war then loving grooming of me after a while.


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## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

I just woke up in under 3 hours and need to go again to the vet cause he took it off again. There is just nothing we can, he will keep taking it off.


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

He's too clever or his own good and he's being a little minx giving you the run around like that. He's very cheeky though.


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## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

For the moment, the vet left him without splinting cause she said the bone already linked up and is like 40% recovered. He is not moving around too much so it might heal without the splinting in another 2 weeks of just staying chill. 

By the way, I improvised a perfect cage out of the laundry basket which is a big one. I've put a stick in there and it's just like a huge expensive parrot cage. If you ever need a big improvised cage that's what you need to do. You can even buy one cause it's way cheaper than a super expensive parrot cage. It probably costs 12$ compared to 300-500$ and it's exactly the same thing, even a little bigger.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Great idea for a cage! Glad to hear he is healing. Am still jealous that you have a jackdaw...they are really smart.


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## chupachups (May 5, 2016)

HELP ! There is a big problem. The wing did not link straight at all. It needs to be re-broken and linked again. Is this a complicated operation ? Is the bird in pain right now because of the wing not linking straight ?


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## bootface (Jun 29, 2017)

You would need a highly experienced avian orthopedic surgeon to do that, and even then he’ll likely never fly well. He’s probably not in much pain now that the bone is healed.


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