Angel wing

[Ourgosling22]

Hi everyone-I posted earlier but I think I put in wrong place. Still trying to figure out the navigation on here.
I think one of my 2 goslings has Angel Wing along with whatever is going on at hip joints. I have been doing everything suggested for vitamin deficiency but apparently something is not working. I saw on some posts about wrapping his wings. I’m thinking of trying to find an avian vet Was trying to do what I could myself before things got worse.I posted a picture just taken of him. Any thoughts or advice?

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

You can also cut the end off a sock and put it on like a shirt
Many people do this

 

[Isadora]

It does look like angel wing to me. Glad you're supplementing the extra vitamins. Take a look at this thread. It shows how to wrap the wings.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ucks-how-we-wrap-to-mend-it-pictorial.644239/

 

[Ourgosling22]

It does look like angel wing to me. Glad you're supplementing the extra vitamins. Take a look at this thread. It shows how to wrap the wings.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ucks-how-we-wrap-to-mend-it-pictorial.644239/

Ok thank you-will take look at link you posted. Don’t I need to feed him something different or change diet? Also any thoughts on swollen hip areas?

 

[Isadora]

Ok thank you-will take look at link you posted. Don’t I need to feed him something different or change diet? Also any thoughts on swollen hip areas?

What are you currently feeding them?

 

[Goosebaby]

Angel wing can be corrected at home without a vet by wrapping the wings for 3 or 4 days.

I’m not sure what’s going on with the hips though, if you suspect a problem that probaby should be looked at by an avian exotics vet. That’s more of a serious issue.


Angel wing can be caused by an incorrect diet and a mix of genetics. Some would suggest lowering to a lower protein and carb diet as that can help to prevent it but sometimes there isn’t really anything you can do. Once it appears the only way to correct it is by wrapping the wings.

What actually happens with angel wing is that the new growing feathers are growing to fast and heavy for the bird to hold their wrist in the right position and it causes the wrist to twist, the twist becomes permanent if not corrected immediately.
Luckily for your gosling you caught it early.

Sometimes you can get a whole gaggle of goslings and only one will develop angel wing, it just means that one gosling’s genetics caused their metabolism to be a little different than the others. I’ve wondered sometimes if a deficiency could also cause it.

If the other gosling is fine I don’t think it’s necesarily to change the diet, maybe something more might be going on. What feed are they on?

 

[Goosebaby]

He’s ok
I think I found a vet but was on hold so long and didn’t get chance to call back. I ran out of vet wrap so going to get more. I watched a few videos plus link on wrapping. One showed just wrapping the wings and the others showed wings plus body. I was leaning on the one with the wings stabilized against the body figuring it would be better. Do you think it matters?

When one of mine had angel wing (my little girl Tuesday) I wrapped just the wing and it did the trick, wrapping it with the body will probably give it more stability but it isn’t always necessary.
Keep in mind it usually doesn’t take too long to correct, usually 3 or 4 days. You can also remove the wraps at night.

If you can’t get find a vet don’t feel too bad, it really isn’t surprising, only avian/exotic vets will see birds and even among them not all of them will see “poultry.”

Now if rickets is the issue you should probably get some vitamin D3, it could be a calcium or phosphorus deficiency but usually with rickets it is usually a deficiency in D3. You can keep giving B vitamins but it really won’t help with rickets because that isn't the cause.

Something important to remember, vitamins like the Bs and C are water soluble, so overdoseing on them isn’t really much of a worry, even if you take/give to much the excess gets filtered out of the body quickly.
However vitamins like D and calcium are NOT water soluble and it’s harder for the organs to filter them out and they can build up in the blood stream and cause serious health problems. I’m not really sure what the appropriate amount is to give to a gosling, hence why I though it would be a good idea for a vet to determine if there is a deficiency or not first.

 

[Goosebaby]

You can also cut the end off a sock and put it on like a shirt
Many people do this

i wouldn’t advise that method because goslings like to pull them off. Some are better at it than others though.

 

[Goosebaby]

Some foods are good sources of D3, phosphorus, and calcium.

Cooked soybeans, egg yolk, spinach, and kale.
Spinach and kale have oxalic acid which is an anti nutrient however, it basically absorbed up vitamins, so it shouldn’t be fed with every meal, as long as you don’t feed it to them constantly they’re excellent for their health.

 

[Goosebaby]

First and foremost I’m not a vet and I can’t really say what’s going on, especially only looking at photos but even in person I can’t really say what going on, a vet can diagnose better than I can, but looking at the wide leg stance with the angel wing it could be rickets.

“Rickets in poultry is caused mainly by deficiencies of either vitamin D3, calcium, phosphorus, or calcium-phosphorus imbalance. Rickets in poultry occurs frequently by using old feed, in which vitamin D3 has been destroyed by rancidity.”

From https://tvmdl.tamu.edu/2020/03/30/r...ch vitamin D3 has been destroyed by rancidity.
Rickets occurs most commonly in young meat birds; the main characteristic is inadequate bone mineralization. Calcium deficiency at the cellular level is the main cause, although feeding a diet deficient or imbalanced in calcium, phosphorus, or vitamin D3 can also induce this problem. Young broilers and turkey poults can exhibit lameness at ~10–14 days of age. Their bones are rubbery, and the rib cage is flattened and beaded at the attachment of the vertebrae. Rachitic birds exhibit a disorganized cartilage matrix, with an irregular vascular penetration. There is an indication of impaired metabolism of collagen precursors such as hyaluronic acid and desmosine. Rickets is not caused by a failure in the initiation of bone mineralization but rather by impairment of the early maturation of this process. There is often an enlargement of the ends of the long bones, with a widening of the epiphyseal plate. A determination of whether rickets is due to deficiencies of calcium, phosphorus, or vitamin D3, or to an excess of calcium (which induces a phosphorus deficiency) may require analysis of blood phosphorus levels and investigation of parathyroid activity.

From https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...iciencies-in-poultry?query=Rickets in poultry
In most field cases of rickets, a deficiency of vitamin D3 is suspected. This can be due to simple dietary deficiency, inadequate potency of the D3 supplement, or other factors that reduce the absorption of vitamin D3. Rickets can best be prevented by providing adequate levels and potency of vitamin D3supplements, and by ensuring that the diet is formulated to ensure optimal utilization of all fat-soluble compounds. Young birds have limited ability to digest saturated fats, and these undigested compounds can complex with calcium to form insoluble soaps, leading to an induced deficiency of calcium. Again, this situation cannot be diagnosed through diet assay for calcium but rather through excreta assay of this mineral. Diets must also provide a correct balance of calcium to available phosphorus. For this reason, ingredients notoriously variable in their content of these minerals, such as animal proteins, should be used with extra caution. In recent years, the use of 25(OH)D3 has become very popular as a partial replacement for vitamin D3, with reports of greatly reduced incidence of rickets, especially in poults. This metabolite is similar to that naturally produced in the liver of birds in the first step of conversion of vitamin D3 to 1,25(OH)2D3, the active form of the vitamin. The commercial form of 25(OH)D3 is therefore especially useful if normal liver metabolism is compromised in any way, such as occurs with mycotoxins or other “natural” toxins in the feed that potentially impair liver metabolism.”

Now it may not necesarily be rickets, a vet can better diagnose the problem.