How to fix Angel Wing

Just like someone said the thread is older but people still replied so I will give it a try! My blind duck (Erin) has a little development of angel wings and I need to do this and I’m nervous since she is blind and doesn’t have the greatest of balance. She is 7 weeks old and has a friend but I was wondering if someone could tell me how well their duck got along with moving around with the medical wrap
 
My six week old gosling has been developing this. My husband thought she was injured but I’ve been very gentle when I handle them. I think mine must be genetic as they free range all day in our backyard. I’m going to try wrapping her wing to see if it helps
Thanks
 
This isn't the greatest picture, but these are two of my three rescue ducks. The Pekin is Dizzy and she is blind. She was rescued from TSC as a day-old duckling. Once I realized she is totally blind, I started looking for a buddy for her. So today I rescued the Tufted. In addition to having angel wing In both wings, one leg was cut by a piece of metal, then she somehow got trapped by the metal. Her leg was cut right in the first joint above the ankle, so I think it's possible that she may have severed a tendon or something. She will hobble to the food or water then lays down. She doesn't seem interested in moving any further, so the muscles in her legs are starting to atrophy.

So the plan is to give her physical therapy several times a day, give her some extra vitamins and niacin, feed her fresh herbs from my herb garden, and try to figure out what to do about these angel wings. My concern is that with her already having problems walking, taking away the ability to use her wings for balance will cause an issue. Does anyone have any ideas for me to help her? I'd sure appreciate any insight and/or ideas for helping her! 🙂

Donna
 

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Hi :)

I'm happy to find this post! I've read the original post plus some. I see that the diagnosis isn't always angel wing. I'd be grateful if you would check this 20 second video.

If I can catch it (they're wild), then I'm hoping to be able to help this chick myself to prevent the trauma of taking it to a fairly far away avian vet. It's bigger now, and sadly, it can't fly, while all the siblings are already flying.

The video shows the chick's wing in different stages of movement:
The chick is laying in the foreground in the first shot, and then walking and stretching it's wings in the next. It's possible to detect some lameness in the left wing - the last 3 or 4 flight feathers.

I fell in love with these wild egyptian geese after observing them for 10 days straight in order to catch a male who had a severe infection in his leg. I couldn't get any of the "normal" channels to be interested in helping, because egyptian geese are very hard to catch, so took it on myself. The only thing that helped me succeed was patient observation, and since this enriching experience I visit them regularly.

Thank you!

Greetings, Sca
 
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That is Angelwing, and if you live near a pretty populated area, it's likely people are taking it to themselves to feed them junk food like bread, which can predispose these birds to develop such problems. It can also be passed on genetically.

I have dealt with a few birds here that had AW, and I may be wrong, but basing off the development of the flight feathers, it will be quite a challenge to properly bandage him correctly. Especially with wild birds, right when you get a bandage on tend to tear it off immediately. Then consider the bird will be more likely to be killed by a predator even if the bandage does stay on.

However stressful it may be, I think it would be best to take it to a wildlife rehabber, or an avian vet so the bird can be bandaged properly by someone with experience, and if needed contain the bird in a pen to prevent the other risk factors I mentioned above.
 
Please help. My Pekin is 5 weeks old, developed AW about a week ago, both ducks were fed Purina Flock Raiser crumbles. He wouldn't leave the wrap on more than a minute. So we started supplementing with greens, blueberries, and brewer's yeast while waiting for niacin to be delivered. Today, after a swim in the kiddie pool, they got out to preen and the afflicted one, pulled so hard on his AW, it bled around the feathers. Should we expect it to get better, or have that part of the wing clipped or removed?
 
Hi, so I had a vet wrap my ducks angel wing. He’s about five weeks old and We took him to get it wrapped at the vet 3 times but he keeps managing to get it off. Does anyone know how to get the wrap to stay on? They tried a figure 8 wrap around like shown in the photos at the beginning of this thread and then tried to wrap it around his whole body in like an “X” then they just ended up wrapping the wing then putting surgical netting around his body which kinda looks like a sock but it keeps sliding off.
 
Angel Wing is a crooked wing malfunction common in waterfowl. When a bird has Angel Wing, the last joint in the wing becomes twisted, causing the feathers to stick out from the bird's sides instead of laying flat against its body like it should. Angel WIng is aquired in young birds, usually because of a high calorie/ protein diet or simply can be a genetic that causes unusual development in the wing. if the joint is allowed to continue growing at this angel, it may cause the bird to become partially or completely unable to fly and will usually result in increased disease and early death of the bird. most common in males, and if it only appears in one wing, it is usually the left wing. there is no medicine that you can give the bird to cure it, but there are ways to fix and prevent Angel Wing.
first of all, to try to prohibit Angel Wing from forming in the first place, regulate the protein/calorie/sugar intake of the bird. it is advised that you do not feed waterfowl bread or chicken feed, because this will often result in the development of angel wing. however, it can be genetic and form despite any precautions. if this does happen, here is how to fix it:

When my mallard duckling, Joey, was only a few weeks old, i started noticing something odd about her left wing. it was crooked, and she couldnt fully streach it out this was her when i first noticed:


i was confused, but i brushed it off my mind, assuming it was normal. a few weeks later, as her wings started to develop feathers and joints, i saw that one of her wings laid flat against her side, while the other stuck awkwardly out. after doing a lot of research, i came to the conclusion that she had Angel Wing


see the blue part sticking out in the picture above? that was the strange wing. Thats what Angel Wing looks like when it begings to form. however, it was still too small for me to wrap up to begin to fix it, so i had to let her wing continue to grow. whenever she flapped her wings, you could see that the odd wing was still crooked and twisted.


finally, her wing had grown enough. this is her right before i started to fix her Angel Wing problem. see how the wing in the back is sticking out while the one in the front is laying flat?
in order to fix Angel Wing, you wrap the wing up into the position in which it is supposed to be. make sure this is one while the joints and feathers in the wing are still developing.
here are some pictures of Joey after i wrapped up her wing:





the material i used to wrap up her wings was the same that i used to bind the cast to my dog's leg when he broke his paw a few months earlier. its simply waterproof medical tape. yes, the birds WILL complain when you bind their wings and they will slightly be off balance at first because they are not used to not being able to move their wings. but dont worry, they are fine. having their wings bound for a few days is much better than having an awkwardly jutting wing for the rest of their lives. you leave the medical tape on until the feathers have developed properly and the wing no longer looks odd. this can take anywhere from a few short days to a couple of weeks. here is my duckling when we removed her bandages:


her wing finally laid flat against her side when it should and was not crooked when she moved it. during the whole fixing-of-the-angel-wing with Joey, i cut down on the food i had been recently giving her and started instead feeding her other foods such as grass, iceburg lettuce, carrots, and other greens. Today, she is a happy healthy young duck and has no problems with her once-crooked wing
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i hope this thread helped anyone having problems with angel wing!!!!
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Thanks. This was extremely helpful. Have a great and blessed summer. ❤️‍🩹 chicken 🐔 🦆
 

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