How to Amputate a DUCK WING?

[Bananarose24]

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Muscovy Duck, 4 months, 5pds

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Was attacked last night---roughly 18 hours ago, now has a broken wing with bone exposed, bone CANNOT be put back inside the tissue

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
See above Question-18hrs

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
No

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Was attacked last night---roughly 18 hours ago, now has a broken wing with bone exposed, bone CANNOT be put back inside the tissue.
There are other small tissue injuries, Nothing Major--missing some feathers.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Attack from what we believe was a Fox.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
I got her to drink some water from a syringe tonight.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Normal-Green

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Brought her inside, cleaned ALL Wounds and the area surrounding the exposed bone with Dilluted Iodine. Then put the wing in a natural position, wrapped it with Gauze, then Cling. She has been wearing that for about 6 hours now and is just fine with it on.

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I plan to treat her myself, along with my husband. We cannot afford to take her to a vet. Though we will be calling a few Wild Bird Rescues just to see if they can help in anyway.
I really believe her wing should be amputated, there is NO BONE attaching the WING to the BODY. It is completely cut in half and exposed. ALL of the tissue is still intact.. so we either do it ourselves or ???

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.---I do not have one right now, may take one tomorrow.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
-She is now in a Playhouse, which is inside of a Pen that we made today. She has Hay Bedding. And she is in there with her sister. I will not separate them.



We had 4 Muscovies. The fox attacked sometime last night. We found 2 of them dead this morning. One Injured with the broken wing and other small tissue injuries. And one was completely unharmed.

She has been completely calm each time I've picked her up or touched her. But, she is keeping her head up, drank some water tonight from a syringe.
I really think she has a chance, but, I believe that wing needs to come off. There is No Way for the bone to heal, it has been exposed to the air for over 18 hrs...

Please share ideas, suggestions or procedures for Amputation if you've done it before..
We will be some Wild Bird Rescues tomorrow to see if there is anyway they can help us.

 

[tamelroy]

I am not an expert, I tried to look it up for you and I couldn't find anything that showed how to do it.

Is the break by the joint? If it was me and it was near the joint I would cut it there. Or maybe see if there is a vet that could do it for you. I don't know where you are, we have a school that works on animals, but for us they are pricey so I dunno. I wish I could help you more.

I wish you luck with this!

 

[Bananarose24]

I'm not exactly sure if it is near the joint or not. I would have to check again.
We are going to call a rescue that is not too far from us. They deal with exotic birds of all kinds (they have a 1 winged Eagle @ their facility that they nursed back to health several years ago).

We're hoping that they can either do it for us for a fee (or for a whole bunch of volunteer hours) or that they can walk us through it somehow..
Please, if anyone has any experience with this, or has done it before, give any ideas or instruction you may have!!


The duck made it through the night--she has her head up high, alert and oriented. I think she is going to make it. Been over 24 hrs now since it happened, I know we are not out of the woods yet, but, she is on her way! Now we just need to figure out her wing..

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[chickensioux]

OK, I have seen many amputations (former vet tech). I will tell you what I would do and you can decide if this is what you would like to try. The site where the bone is protruding is probably the place and I would cut the rest of the wing off there. You can choose to go up higher on the wing to a joint but this will be more painful. You can deaden the area by holding ice on it for several minutes before making the cut. Do not use any antibiotic that has any kind of pain killer in it. Take large good scissors and quickly make the cut and then hold ice on it again. Do this with the ducks head under a towel, it tends to keep them calmer. You will def. need 2 people to do this. After you have removed the broken part, look closely at the wound on the wing. If the edges of the skin have started to heal, you may need to "debride" the wound which means to freshen the edges of the wound by cutting the edges of it off (just a very tiny, thin area of skin from around the wound). This way it will close better. I personally would put a stitch or two in it. Pull the skin over the end of the bone and stitch it. You can use a strong thread. Soak a needle and thread in rubbing alcohol for an hour before beginning. Put a couple of stitches in the wound, do not make them very tight. A little loose in case of swelling. Keep using iodine before, during and after this procedure on the wound. cover the wound in neosporin and bind the wing to the body. Use bandages that makes checking the area easy. Do not let the duck swim or play in water for a few days. If everything goes well, remove the stitches in about 10 days.
Good luck!

 

[Bananarose24]

Just now seeing your post. Thank you Chickensioux for support and advice--Now I understand your other posts! Since you are/were a vet tech!
We wound up taking her to a vet, and the amputation is scheduled in the morning.

When it came down to it, I realized I couldnt cut her wing myself. At this point, I just dont have it in me.
But, I do very much appreciate the explanation and help.

My husband and I have both learned a LOT in these past 2 days! I will update tomorrow once her surgery is over.

 

[chickensioux]

So glad to hear. I know she will do fine. Keep me posted.