Pigeon Progress

After 2 weeks treatment I decided to remove the wing bandage from the young Woodpigeon to check the condition of the break. It looked reasonable enough, but the joint was thicker than the other wing.
This was to be expected, as the bone heals it forms a callus over the break. The problem is, the break was right at the wing joint where three bones meet, the Ulna , the Radius, and the Carpometacarpus. 
The worst possible place for a wing fracture, as the movement and flexibility of this joint is essential for flight. I could see the wing was drooping slightly, but still clearing the floor at least. As I observed the bird, it suddenly decided to take off from the table, flew about 6 feet and crash landed on the floor!

That was yesterday, today I let it wander around the kitchen and again it decided to take off, this time from the floor and landed on a shelf successfully ! 
I don't want to get too excited about this as the flight was anything but smooth, but nevertheless it was flying. Bearing in mind it has lost almost all it's tail feathers, and these will take a few weeks to grow back, and has probably never flown before in any case, I think I can take a positive from todays events.

Will continue with the anti inflammatory medication to try and reduce the swelling at the joint. I don't want it causing any damage by flying too much too soon, so will keep it indoors for a while yet before putting it in the aviary....still keeping the fingers crossed ! 

Pigeon Progress

The pigeon I have been treating after it's upper Mandible was pushed through it's lower mandible, is still with me. After letting it go the other day it returned to the Aviary and the other night it appeared to have respiratory difficulties. I could hear it wheezing badly with mouth open all the time, it sounded like an asthmatic in great difficulty. After consulting the avian web and my avian adviser down south I took the bird indoors into the warmth of the kitchen.

In view of the fact that the birds mouth was closed for many days the possibility that it was dehydrated and had a lung infection was very real. I made up a glucose type mixture which was water, salt, and sugar, that would help re-hydrate the bird. In addition my Avian adviser recommended Antibiotics tubed into the crop for any lung infection. After 3 days treatment the pigeon has ceased wheezing and is happily eating and recovering well. (short vid below)

The downside, is the kitchen is a mess with bird seed everywhere, but it's happy flying from kitchen unit to unit and looking good. I should be able to release it within a day or two.