# Trouble wrapping a broken wing



## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

I'll be brief, found a pigeon with wing drooping/dragging. No open wounds or bleeding. He/she is very alert. Drinking and eating very well. I'm a having an awful time trying to wrap the wing. I'm afraid to further injure this beautiful creature! The injured wing keeps sagging down again under the bird when wrapped. What am I doing wrong?


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

http://www.pigeonchat.net/viewtopic.php?t=2115
if you cannot do it, you can simple tape his tip of the long feathers over the body, so at least he is comfortable.
Good luck.
Thank you for taking him to safety!


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Thank you Dima. This is my first attempt at a rescue. No rehabbers want pigeons - kinda sad. Perhaps I'm not wrapping the gauze tape tight enough??


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

marizzle said:


> Thank you Dima. This is my first attempt at a rescue. No rehabbers want pigeons - kinda sad. Perhaps I'm not wrapping the gauze tape tight enough??


I know what you mean. Because of the shape of the body , when it moves the gauze will slide down. Be very careful with wraping him too tight; pigeons have air sacs inside the body all over.
I would start first warping his body, rather than the broken wing on the outside as the instructions says. And you can go arouns the body a few times. After wraping you can put some tape on the edge of the gauze on the upper side of his body. The worst it can happen is that some feathers will break.

You can choose the easy way, not wrapping, because if it;s not corectly done the bones may heal unproperly alligned,,,Get a big towel and roll it and make it like a dounut and put the pigeon the the hole. He may want and will come out if he can see. So you can cover the cage or box where you keep him to stay still. But make sure he eats and drinks. Does he?


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Dima, Thank you so much - the tips are great!! He seems healthy except for his left wing. We're feeding him wild bird seed and whole grain bread crumbs and water - bottled water only. Good appetite, he's messy (lol) and he seems to be drinking and hydrated. We have him in a medium dog carrier in his own room, nice and quiet. I won't disturb him tonight, but I'll try again tomorrow and I'll let you know. Once again. thank you!


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Where are you located? We have quite an extensive resource referral list.


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Charis, we are in Fremont, CA.


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

I believe I'm wrapping correctly; however, the width of the tape appears to be too wide for his body size. It seems to be impairing him at the "hip". Even though he'll grip my finger with both feet he will not stand. He's totally stressed out right now! So am I!


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Here is a link with some info Pidgey and others, and myself, provided.

Last fall a avian vet near Antwerp showed me how to do a figure-8 wing wrap. Even with the comments added during the demonstration, the whole thing took less than 2 minutes. He attached one end of the tape to the equivalent of a "kitchen cabinet" handle, held the bird with one or both hands. All I did was watch.

A quick turn or two of the tape around the long feathers of the wing (but not over the secondaries), then over the back, under the other wing, and several times around the body, until the 50-cm or 18-inch piece of tape was used up.

He rotated the bird (rotating around its long axis, from beak to tail) while taping it. So, the bird was first right side up, then belly up, the right side up again.

He said you can tape the tip of the wing to the tail feathers if you feel it's necessary. Pigeon can't reach that far back when it's taped.



I'm having trouble posting this.


http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/broken-leg-59344.html?highlight=broken+humerus


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Larry_Cologne Thank You! I cut the gauze tape to about 1 1/2 inches wide and will try again tomorrow to do the wing and tape the end feathers to the tail so the wing won't drag. I also have a call into a vet. No avian vets nearby.


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Had trouble posting yesterday. Website would "freeze." Hope today is better.

Avian vet Dr. Peter Coutteel near Antwerp, who did the demo wing wrap for me last fall when I brought in a pigeon with a broken right humerus, too late for correction, used a brown silk take maybe a half-inch wide, very common at supermarkets and over-the-counter places in Europe (Germany and Belgium, to be overly precise). It's not super sticky, and when he quickly removed it from my pigeon, only a few soft downy feathers from under the wings remained stuck to it.

Dr. Kamphausen, the head doctor at the large Taubenklinik Essen ("Pigeon Clinic Essen" in Essen, Germany, a place with three or four avian vets and staff handling mostly racing pigeons and fancy pigeons) told me he used inexpensive masking tape (roughly 1/2" to 3'4" wide) that painters and just about everybody uses when they mask off areas not to be painted or borders. Artists also use it. It, too, is not very sticky (unless it stands in sunlight for a long period of time and becomes more or less permanent).

Last night another example occurred to me. Although I have been vegetarian ever since my third pigeon rescue *Pidgiepoo* flew off in a local park in 2005, I had rotisseried a number of chickens in my Sharp microwave combi-oven. If you can envision a plucked chicken on a rotisserie, wrap the tip of the wing (comprised of the two large, fused bones analogous to human fingers) with tape, run it straight across the back of the chicken (by tuning the rotisserie spit), go under the other wing, and under and across the belly. 

This should keep the bones more or less aligned in the proper position for fusing. The fused and healed area will probably be a little thicker and lumpy than it would be if never broken.

Since the tape sticks to a rather large surface area of feather, it should stay in place. 

I have taped splayed legs once, and a broken leg, and have not been very successful (the pigeons won the battles of wit and will), so what I pass on is hearsay (from good sources), not my personal experience.

Larry 

;Tape


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Finally got wing wrapped, attached pics (hopefully)...


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

The problem inherent with an elastic bandage (it appears that you used one) is may be that he cannot breathe easily, since birds have 6 air sacs, and one should look at anatomical drawings to see where they are. I'm not there to see what is what, and maybe everything is perfect. My avian doc's approach was a "minimalist" one.

However, I will let someone else with experience in this comment further. Don't want to be the superfluous and erroneous chef in the kitchen.

Can he walk or stand? 

Larry


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Larry_Cologne, he's hasn't been vocal ("quacking") yet. His leg is able to move freely, but he's not yet standing on his own. I held him until his breathing calmed and assisted him with drinking some bottled water. He resting now. I check on him approx. every 20 mins. Advice is welcome since this is my first attempt at rescue.


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Please help. Yesterday notice pigeon passing blue liquid. Today same with diarrhea. Not eating not standing. I think I'm losing him!!!!! What can I do??? PLEASE ADVISE ASAP!


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

marizzle said:


> Please help. Yesterday notice pigeon passing blue liquid. Today same with diarrhea. Not eating not standing. I think I'm losing him!!!!! What can I do??? PLEASE ADVISE ASAP!


Blue poop?
What are you feeding him? Is he eating on his own?
By the way: it's a beautiful pigeon!


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Feed him wild bird seed, whole wheat bread crumbs and bottle water. Cage has newspaper and soft white cotton rags. He's not standing or eating today, just laying there. I have him on my lap, breathing is shallow


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

I lost him. I have to know what I did wrong!


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Yesterday morning noticed bluish liquid and smelly poop with normal consistency. Have always fed him peas, bottled water, whole wheat bread and wild bird seed. This morning same bluish, smelly poop, but with diarrhea. Extremely lethargic, didn't eat or drink, laying down not standing, very weak, couldn't hold up head then he passed away. What could have taken him so swiflty?


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

For now all i know is that his only problem was the wing; so my first guess is , probably, wrapping his gauze to tight on the body and that constricted his air sacs and organs. The color of the poop has to do usually with what he ate. Also bowel problems or bile could have to do with it.

I am sorry you lost him.


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

He kept wiggling out of the body wraps, so I wrapped his wing only. Kept it wrapped for a few weeks then removed a few days ago. He could raise his wing some, but not all the way. Everything was normal until yesterday. I feel aweful about losing him.

Thank you all for the advice. This site has been a great resouce.


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

If he was attacked by a predator and had wounds ( wound might not be visible ) he probably had an infection and he needed antibiotic. Also it could have been smashed by a car or something and he had some internal hemmoragie.
It's always traumatic to have a pigeon dying in your hands. I am sure he died knowing he was loved. Pigeons just know it. Do not refrain to help any other sick pigeon. Now you know the basics. You tried the best you knew to save him. 
I rescued a pigeon who was attacked, his wing was dropping...but he was in such a bad state of health that i was worried his neck was broken, even though i was at the vet, she said the wing is not broken, but it was broken, I taped it over the back..with no success...i was more concerned with his other problems. He was on antibiotic and he recovered in 3 weeks..Sadly his wing is broken, but he is safe in my place and now has a mate which can fly. He is the smartest pigeon i have...


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## marizzle (Sep 22, 2012)

Thank you so much Dima for your very kind words. And thank you for sharing your rescue success story, it made me smile among the tears.

I will always help an injured animal to the best of my ability. It's so unfair that pigeons are so harshly labeled. They really are quite extraordinary.

Thanks again, M


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