Wing "layering" problem?

[Gibs]

Hey guys,

I have an almost-grown squab - he's about a month old, almost as big as his parents and starting to eat solid food (though still begging Mom and Dad like crazy when he gets a chance).

He seems to be doing fine, except that his left wing isn't quiiiite folding away properly on its own. On a normal pigeon wing, when it closes, the primary flight feathers at the distal end of the wing kind of tuck under the shorter feathers on the proximal half, so you'll see the tips of the flight feathers poking out from under the shield feathers on a closed wing. Like so:

(Cropped from a Wikipedia image)

This little guy is doing the opposite. His right wing is normal, but when he opens and then closes the left wing, the flight feathers layer over the shield feathers. As far as I can tell the bones in the wing are normally positioned and not injured, and he doesn't mind having the feathers tucked in properly, but as soon as he opens the wing again they go back to folding over the top.


Here's a side view of the left wing as it naturally folds on this guy:

Here's a top view - it's kind of hard to distinguish the right flight feathers from the saddle and tail feathers, but you can see that the left flight feathers are awkwardly stacked over the wing.

Top view of the extended wing. The part where you can see my hand through the feathers is where the "layering issue" occurs, and the wing tucks over when it should tuck under:

And underside view, where the layering problem is pretty obvious:

On geese I might call this "angel wing," which I've read about but never actually dealt with. I had a chicken doing this, and the wing eventually straightened itself out. But of course chickens don't fly, so I'm a bit more concerned about how this pigeon's wing develops. Do I need to wrap it up to make sure the muscles develop in the right position?

 

[Alaskan]

Personally yes, I would wrap it for a few days. Couldn't hurt, and might help. They grow so fast though, you probably only need to have it wrapped for 3 days, 7 max.

(Caveat, I have No pigeon experience. .. )

 

[Hokum Coco]

his left wing isn't quiiiite folding away properly on its own.

You are on the right track I came across this:
Treatment of Angel Wing in Birds Treatment of the deformity means taking instant action when you first notice this developing on the immature bird. If you see the wing tips starting to splay out at an awkward angle while they are growing, you can take the young bird to the veterinarian who may suggest that you wrap the wing, binding it onto the bird’s flank for a few days. By acting promptly, you will find it may reverse the damage. At the same time as treating the young bird, adjust his food to a more natural diet and it will benefit your bird. At first your young bird may take a bit to adjust to the binding, and it may be useful to put him in a separate enclosure from the rest of the flock, near enough so he can see them and be reassured, but not in the same enclosure in case the other birds attack him. Binding the wing allows it to be supported while the limb and feathers form correctly. For older birds, the deformity cannot be reversed sadly, and in the case of a wild bird they are rendered flightless which means they are left behind when the flock leaves and they are open to predators due to the loss of their main method of defense (flying). Teaching your family the harm that bread or popcorn feeding does to the development of birds is important, as this so-called kindness act is far from what it is perceived.

Read more at: https://www.vetary.com/bird/condition/angel-wing

 

[jak2002003]

I had this a few times with my squabs. I think it was caused by the diet... they were eating chicken layer pellets and chick starter (the parents sneaking out to steal it form the chicken run), rather than their seed diet. Either too much protein or calcium.. making the growth rate too fast.. to the flight feathers were too heavy for the wing bones to support properly. In my birds it happened on both wings and they feathers twisted a lot more out from the wing like you see in geese.

Your case is very mild.. and should respond to simply taping the wing in the correct position.

My squabs were younger than yours and still far from fully feathered. I found replacing the nest with a deep dog bowl worked for them.. as the sides of the bowl held up the wings in the correct position. Also I corrected the diet!!!

Good luck.

 

[Gibs]

Thank you guys! Sorry for not replying earlier - a couple days after I posted this, I got a nasty case of appendicitis. Update on the bird: I tried wrapping his wing figure-eight style for a few days, but I think he got the wrap off fairly quickly each time. On the bright side, his wing did straighten out! Not sure if it was the wrap, or just growth and exercise, but he looks almost normal now and is able to fly short distances (the coop is pretty small, so there aren't any long distances).

Hokum Coco: Actually, bread and popcorn are two of the things that my trio of pigeons (this bird and his parents) absolutely refuse to eat. xD They're extremely picky! I think I overfeed them a bit in general, but even if I'm very strict and give them almost nothing, they still refuse to eat corn. It's a mystery.

 

[Hokum Coco]

They're extremely picky!

If you feed shelled unsalted peanuts to your pigeons as a treat only you will soon have them flying on you for more treats.