# Help Pigeon In Pain (leg)



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

HELP PLEASE HELP!!!

Ok first off, my pigeon is about 1 months old, old enough to first start flying. Today, his brother started flying around in the cage wonderfully. I wondered if he can fly as well, so i tied a piece of cloth on his leg (left) and let him fly. when he fly, the cloth pulled on his leg and he fell down. 

Moments later he started limping on his right leg and his left wing is out as if to balance himself. I looked around and i found that his leg (left) is kind of swollen at the ankle. It isn't that bad but it is still swollen. I got anxious and called my friend, Max, he said that my pigeon's leg might be splayed, and I don't know what that is. 

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my pigeon and please please tell me how to fix the problem.


----------



## Matt D. (May 12, 2007)

If it is now splay leg then it must have been because it got pulled on by something... http://www.siegelpigeons.com/catalog-loft-nestbowls.html on the bottom of that page... if could have been pulled out of socket... you need to go to a vet or put pics up here for us to look at.


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ijacker said:


> HELP PLEASE HELP!!!
> 
> Ok first off, my pigeon is about 1 months old, old enough to first start flying. Today, his brother started flying around in the cage wonderfully. I wondered if he can fly as well, so i tied a piece of cloth on his leg (left) and let him fly. when he fly, the cloth pulled on his leg and he fell down.
> 
> ...


ijacker.........I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt for a second....what ever made you think that you should tie a string around the birds leg and THEN let it fly????
Was the bird walking fine BEFORE you did this??? If so, the leg has been injured by what you did. It may be broken or sprained........I really have no idea and I suppose that someone who knows more about these things will be along soon. PLEASE don't EVER do this again? The bird has no way of knowing that he is tied to a string and that he can only fly so far. If his brother was flying around the cage (how big is this cage?) and this one was NOT flying around in the cage, then that tells me that this one was not quite ready to try flying yet. If the bird is only 30 days old, he's just on the verge of learning how to fly. Just because the birds are the same age, doesn't mean that they can both do the same things. 
How many pigeons do you have? I don't suppose there's any way that you can post of picture of this birds leg?


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

im sorry but I can't take pictures of the leg, but i'll describe it as best as i can.

ok, the leg on the left compared to the right seems to be able to bend back and forth with ease, while the one on the right seems to be staying in place. it only seems swollen at the ankle, my friend came over to my house and said that its not splay cuz it wasnt tangled in anything, but it was just pulled on really hard so it could be mislocated.

ive just had him wrap my pigeon's leg up with cloth, i put antibiotic on it and some fluid that he bought over that could radiate heat on injured legs.

please help


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Can you tell us where you are in case there's someone nearby you? We have members all over the world. I expect this bird is in pain and it really needs some medical attention.


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

ok, i feel really bad about this already so please post helping suggestions or something only please, thankyou. 

the cage is about as wide as the height of a refridgerator and as long as the height of a refridgerator as well. i have 4 pigeons in all (2 - the parents, 1- the brother, 1- the injured bird.)

and like i said already, ive set his leg in cloth and he's in his nest, im just worried that he can't eat because he doesn't seem to want to move around alot.


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I believe the bird has a broken leg, from your description. If that's the case, there's a possibility that it can be fixed, but we would need to tell you what to do.


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

im in orlando fl, pine hills


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

ok, so what can i do?


----------



## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

ijacker, sorry your pigeon was hurt.

I'm hoping the leg was just bruised. Take a bath towel and roll it into a donut shape with the opening just large enough for the young pigeon to rest comfortably when you put him inside. The purpose is to get the pigeon's weight off that leg.

Is there a specific reason you tied something to his leg? Just curious.


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

We've got members in Florida, but I don't know if there are any in Orlando. I'll have to do some checking on it.
Was this bird eating on it's own yet or are the parents still feeding it? I'm assuming that you are young..........like a teenager.........if I'm wrong, please correct me. Is there any way that you can bring the bird inside?


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

ok i'll try that.


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

yes, i am young, 15, and yes i can bring him in for the night


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

oh and yes he was eating on his own before this incidence


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I think bringing him in would be best, IF he's eating on his own. Unless someone has other suggestions, I would suggest wrapping the leg, in case it it broken. If it's NOT broken, then wrapping isn't going to hurt anything, but if it IS broken and it's NOT wrapped, the bird could be lame for life. 
A broken leg will heal in about two weeks, but of course that depends on what type of break we're talking about and without x-rays, there's not way to know FOR SURE what kind of break it is. 
I see another member is on line that deals with this sort of thing regularly. Let's see what he thinks.


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

ok ty soooooo much


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Ok, I'll tell you what we did for a bird that came in from a race with a broken leg.
We took a small piece of cloth and wrapped it around the leg. Then we took a straw, a regular drinking straw, and cut it just to the size to fit the part of the leg that is (maybe) broken. Wrap the straw around the piece of cloth. Then wrap the straw with medical tape. You don't want to wrap it extremely tight, cause of course you don't want to cut of circulation, BUT, it needs to be snug enough so that the bird can't bend that part of the leg. You need to feel the leg if you can, very gently, and try to determine if the bones are back together, because once wrapped, the bones will fuse back together. 
What I did with my bird, was kept him in a small cage for about a week, so that he couldn't move around so much. After a week, I put him in a bigger cage and after that he was back in the loft with the other birds flying and everything. They heal pretty fast, but if possible, you want to make sure the leg heals properly. I'll assume there's no broken skin or anything? 
There are some drawings somewhere. I'll see if I can find a link to them and it will show you what I'm talking about. Hang on.......


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

ok, thankyou soooo much! i did all that but without the straw, i used a piece of cloth to do it and it's pretty good, i'm just concerned about feeding him... and is it okay if i put him in like, a small bowl or something because i don't have a small cage for him, he don't move around alot either, he just lay there.


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Go here:

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

...and see if you can describe exactly where the problem is.

Pidgey


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

ok, thankyou, let me see.....


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ijacker..........the calvary has arrived........Pidgey is SO good at this kind of stuff. He can help you, so you're in good hands now.
THANKS Pidgey!!


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

oh god, i hope i spell this correctly, i think its the tarsometatarus


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

by the way, i think i saw your thread on another website Pidgey


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

i think it could also be the lateral condyle


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Sorry... had to go to a Ten Tenors concert!

There is a deal where they can get a dislocation in that joint. If you were looking at the bird from directly up above, and the bird was in a squat with its nose pointing 12:00 and the tail at 6:00, what time is it with the tarsometatarsus of the affected leg (and which leg is it)? If it's a dislocation, then the tarsometatarsus is going to be pointing a bit off and the foot should be rolled a bit, too.

Of course, we could also be looking at a break. There's no blood?

Answer when you can.

Pidgey


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I'm not sure but maybe LuisO lives in Orlando. If he does, perhaps y'all could meet and he could take a look at the leg. I sent him an email so we'll see what happens there.

Pidgey


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

sorry, it is midnight here and i just woke up (6:30 a.m), the leg is able to bent back and forth at the ankle, but it cant twiss around like you said, there is no blood but like a piece of skin fell off at the ankle, not too big just a little bit.

i checked on him this morning, he seem to be just laying there, his head keeps looking around as normal so i think the pain is gone atleast. 

im just wondering on how am i going to feed him? he hasn't eaten since yesterday.


----------



## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

You can try to put some seed in front of him and a little bowl of water and see if he is eating on his own.

Reti


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Well, we don't want it to twist around. It's better if it won't. Does it look like it's in the wrong place or is pointing the wrong way or does it look fairly normal except for the swelling? 

Here is a thread that deals with splayed legs, you can look at the pictures and maybe it'll help you understand a little better:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=17869

Pidgey


----------



## ijacker (Jan 11, 2008)

no it looks normal except for the swelling, there is NO BLOOD whatsoever, none at all, and i tried putting water and food infront of him, he just pecks it with his peak but doesn't eat.


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Well, then, I guess you're going to have to just keep him nestled in a towel for several days and see if it's going to heal okay. It's best if they keep it tucked underneath them in a somewhat normally reclined position. I've got a bird in right now with a broken tibiotarsus that's so good about staying down in the towel nest that there's no need to even splint the leg. It usually takes about 10 days to two weeks before they start playing with it again.

You might have to put a little food down him to get him to start eating again.

Pidgey


----------

