Yes, x2, @zazouse I think it is a brilliant idea. Yes, @DylansMom it would need to extend farther for a bird's leg. But I think my bird's leg is rotated above the joint... that was part of what confused me so much when I first figured out he was having a problem. And no one -- including the vet -- could figure out how to fix it. Although to give him credit, he doesn't do birds. Maybe if I had driven 200 miles to an avian vet, I would have a different story. I did a lot of looking online, and found a possible surgical answer, and he was sorta willing to try, but we were both afraid I would lose the bird if the surgery failed. I'll try to get some photos of him and post.
FWIW, he learned how to prop himself up with the twisted leg and hop forward with the good leg, then he swings the bad leg around forward. Picture a peg leg pirate. He displays his train with the bad leg propping him up... he just pretty much lists to the bad side. If you look at him carefully, he seems to have developed muscles to compensate for his twisted leg. He can also fly short distances when he is in a hurry, but I think he avoids flying due to the landing issues. I wish it weren't twisted! But he manages surprisingly well. The only outcomes I read about for birds when I looked into it before seemed to all involve having the bird put down, or a leg amputated, so I am so glad that he manages as well as he does. He doesn't seem to be in any pain from it, he's just mobility-challenged. He eats, preens, dust-bathes, and displays right along with everybody else. At night, he hangs out in the deep shavings in the bird house where everyone else is roosting, and he seems perfectly happy. He's a little more assertive about protecting his personal space -- it is harder for him to get across the pen for treats when we are throwing them, so he's pretty protective when he gets oneAnd I make sure to throw his treats where he can reach them without having to run after them, and we throw treats for the other birds farther away so they don't try to steal his.
You quoted me before I amended that post. It is kind of hard to explain, the bone is correct as it comes out of the hip joint, then the bone itself becomes deformed by twisting, so that it isn't straight by the time you reach the hock joint, and that causes everything below the twist to rotate outward. Make any sense? The bird bearing it's weight on the leg puts pressure on that twisting bone and it twists further, the taping supposedly exerts pressure it the opposite direction and this negates the twisting, the key is to do it long enough for the bones to harden up enough that they can bear weight without being deformed by it. My thought was that perhaps a brace would keep the weight off the leg, but allow mobility during the day, however I don't think a brace will be able to exert that opposite force needed for correction.
