Angel Wing Questions

[adrian]

My bird injured herself when I taped her wing, and I used waterproof medical tape as described... I am afraid to do it again, but she is just over 1 month old and I want to fix it.

It does seem to make her uncomfortable...

Is there a "least intrusive" way of going about this...?

Edited for clarification: by injure I mean she pulled blood feathers from her other wing and bled a lot.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
Taping the wing only and not securing it to the body like I described is the least intrusive way and my birds hardly even bothered about it. If you havn't done that try it. In her case if that doesn't work (and I'd watch her for 24 hours to make sure of what she's going to do and if need be remove tape and switch method if need be- it pulls some feathers but they will survive losing some feathers) I would use wide tape and tape both wings and around her whole body and protect all those feathers from being messed with. If she cant' reach them she can't hurt them, and while the taping makes them uncomfortable because they are not used to having things around their body, they'll get over it and it is for their own good and because we are responsible for them, sometimes we have to do unpleasant things to them for their ultimate good and they just don't understand it. The only other way is some avian vets can fix it with very expensive surgery. If she won't leave it alone I'd protect it under tape whether she personally likes it or not. She needs to learn to deal.

 

[adrian]

Sounds like a good, no-nonsense approach to me.
My only concern was her own mutilation of feathers due to the tape. If I taped both wings, all around the body, she would be extremely uncomfortable but at least would not be able to access those precious blood feathers to break. In four days, would it be alright to remove it, or should I wait longer?

 I tend to want to give her access to water daily, so that she stays clean, but a week without bathing water would be unfortunate. Beyond that, though, I want the angel wing to be corrected.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
I didn't restrict my birds access to water. Once I taped them I released them to go about their business which they did per normal until I caught them back up to remove the tape. I wonder if you taped BOTH wings only but didn't tape them to her body, if that would make a difference to her. Maybe she is uncomfortable that only one works or something and if they were both restrained if she'd relax. Just a thought. You're other option is to hand pull all her blood feathers, and that hurts like pulling a hangnail off your toe. Pulling one to stop bleeding is one thing, pulling them all..gosh that's painful.

 

[adrian]

Well, I used sports tape to tape the wing into its natural position, and actually used a tensor bandage wrapped all along the body to restrict her access to her feathers. However, the tensor bandage fell off and now, just the wing is taped. She seems more comfortable with just the wing taped instead of the whole body and is not picking at it or any feathers. I think last time I taped the wing, I did too much. This is very minimal, but keeps the wing in place and doesn't bother her.

She is just over a month old; how long should I keep the tape on? I thin it's waterproof. Her wing feathers are still growing, and are still blood feathers. Is there a chance this will fix the angel wing?

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
Leave it for at least 5 days, even 7 wouldn't be overdoing it. Then take it off and see how the wing goes. It may fix it permenantly or it may return. If it returns, as soon as you see it, tape for another 7 days and then remove. If neccesary do it a third time. A few cases refuse to correct but most times it corrects them. I am so glad your goose is happier. Get this, one of the geese I untaped a couple days ago chewed one of his blood feathers to a stub last nite and had dried blood all over his wings...silly goose. He'll recover though.

 

[adrian]

Yep, that's exactly what she does to her wings. She chews them to the very shaft of the feather, which remains only as a bloody stump, and she gets blood all over her feathers. I then have to pull the shaft but there isn't much damage done. She never acts differently because of it. I have noticed she does this when something is bothering her, or if she's really hungry overnight. She's a little fussy.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
Yeah, I'm not sure why he did it. Tonight I'll be sure to toss them some hay to be sure they aren't hungry in the morning. I just raked out the pen and the hay bits that were in it- maybe it is hunger. The only other thing I can think of is it or the wing felt weird after being untaped. I'll just leave it and keep an eye on it to make sure there are no complications.

 

[adrian]

I've noticed that sometimes the wing feathers are taped down oddly and sometimes the shaft will bend. It's really awkward and would probably bother them quite a bit. As for the hay, what sort of hay do you get and do they like it? Alfalfa? Timothy? I don't raise geese in huge numbers, so can you get hay that they'll eat from, say, a pet store? I'd thought about feeding them hay but never actually got any...

This is off-topic, but my pellets make them smell really bad. Is there anything I can give them to substitute the pellets?

 

[BlueMoon]

re: pellets - try organic feed. Maybe grass cuttings or something with slugs? lettuce?