Broken wing

[ladycrotalus]

Discovered one of my cochins has a broken wing. She was fine yesterday. Is there any pictures or diagrams on how to wrap it with like an ace bandage or something? I tried googling but all i got was chicken wing wrap recipes.
I tried moving it and i couldnt find any wounds. Right now i only have 10 dollars to my name until wednesday otherwise i would take her to the vet.

 

[SuziQ991]

So sorry about your cochin. I don't know the answer but here is a "bump" for you. Good luck

 

[44Wolves]

So Sorry

 

[ladycrotalus]

Thanks. Should i seperate her into a dog crate in the coop? Or should i bring her inside in a crate? Would the temperature difference cause even more stress since inside its 70 and out in the coop it is 39?

 

[cmsjr57]

Not to worry thats an easy fix; find the break get popsickle sticks or anything you can use to make a splint. You may be able to remove some of the feathers to make the whole process eaiser. If possible I like to fold the feathers down flat and wrap with a cloth then proceede makeing a make shift splint out of the popsickle sticks or some flat piesies of wood cut roughly to fit on top and on the bottom of the broken bone. you might even use 3 pieces of wood if it will all fit in place and stay put while you wrap the splint and the bone in the position it should be in. OK next wrap the broken area with duct tape or medical tape either will work just fine. Make sure you have the splint set next to the broken bone tight enough to keep everything in place, but not just real tight or it will cut the circulation and probally cause rot. I have set many wing and leg bones and never had any problems from the first time I decided to play doctor. Leave it wrapped securely in place for 4 to 6 weeks and then cut it off with sissors. It probally will not be as good as new but the bird will be able to fly to the roost if you have everything wrapped up in the position the bone would naturally grow. wrapping the wing with a cloth first will make this cut loose and come off without the tape being stuck to all the wing feathers. If you can understand what I have tried to explane this wole operation is really quite simple. You might have a knot where the bone was broken but the bird will be just fine with that. Now go set that wing bone before it won't grow back togather good and straight! good luck!
PS. I forgot to mention you can cut with sissors or pluck feathers if neccessary. But if you have to cut flight feathers the bird will likely have to moult before it can fly. and flight feathers are very hard to pluck but they will be growing back while the wing bone heals. hopefully you can set the bone without removing the flight feathers.

 

[DominaPullorum]

^.
Also, give her an 81 mg. aspirin crushed up. It'll help a ton..I had the same problem, and that's what my vet told me to do.

 

[cmsjr57]

You might want to keep her isolated until she gets back on her feed and her feet so the other fowl don't give her a rough time at first. but really this isn't all that stressfull for a chicken, BUT, the other fowl will take advantage of her weekund state and they can get pretty rough sometimes.
Now you can at least give us a post to say how things went if it's not to much trouble. You had $10.00 in your pocket when you posted the question and you should still have it. So enlighten us that helped to hear how it went. If you had trouble we might be able to give a few more tips if you need them. I hope it went well for both you and your girl.
I'm genuinely interested to know if she and you got along all right. By the way don't pay the vet for this problem it's to easy to handle yourself.
Sorry, the temp shouldn't be a problem if she is well feathered. 39 degrees isn't that cold for a well feathered chicken, especially if she is mature. the only problem I can possible see is if the other fowl move her to the bottom of the pecking order and peck the bandage off or disturb it badly. they are also bad to cause injury to the head and eyes from excesively pecking at her. you might watch for that if it happens bad then move her inside again. I sure hope this has helped.

 

[cmsjr57]

Let me add this if you are feeling like you might need a vets bill for his opinion and maybe his help. If you are worried about infection you can give ( this is an estimate only) about 1/4 cc penecillin or LA 200 or something that will kill both gram negitive and gram positive bacteria. we used to use combiotic but I don't believe that is available anymore and now we can sub. LA 200.
Your going to find a bad bruise in the wing if you cansee the skin but that is from broken blood vessels not neccessarily from a infection. BUT it won't hurt your bird to give it a small amount of antibiotics, providing you don't give to much. the shot for the antibiotics I mentioned should be given in the breast muscle or the wing muscle if it's big enough.

 

[ladycrotalus]

Sorry for not updating sooner, been working. I tried to wrap the wing with the popsicle sticks but that wasnt working, so i just folded her wing in the normal position and wrapped it all the way around so that her wing is staying in place and not hanging like it was. I have her in a dog crate inside the coop and shes eating and drinking fine. How long should i keep her wrapped up? I made sure it was snug but not constrictive.

 

[Imp]

Hi Ladycrotalus,

This was posted a few days ago. Has instructions for bandaging birds and includes broken wings.

Hope your bird does well, and gets better.

Imp

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=303640