Lone pigeon on a college campus - unable to fly

[xxmoxiexx]

.....when handling them i notice if you grab him with a towel in a way so his wings are pressed against his body, which will take getting used to because he'll flap his wings when you get close, but try to grab him and gently fold the wings back towards the position they are in when he's just chillin', then i cover the head with a dark sheet, a thin one, but be sure it is loose so he can breathe, and then take the towel and open it to examine his wings, because the sooner we can do that the sooner we can get him help, and sometimes time is of the essence. you might need some help for someone to hold while you look the first few times. AND dont let too many people know you have him, i'd hate for your classmates to tell on you because not so many people are kind like you, and then you'd have like no time to get rid of him if they made you do it. although to repeat above, he is eating and drinking, and is a fatty, so you've got that on your side....
BE SURE IF YOU TAKE HIM SOMEWHERE THEY DONT PUT TO SLEEP!!!
also, you may think you can have them look at it, and if they advise to put down then you can just get him back, but in most states they wont give him back, it's a law. i used to bring all kinds to these places, and took them to word when they said euthanasia was best, then i find this site who helps unexperienced folks like me and you fix him.
everyone on this site is great, and i was weary of the advice when i first came here, but now i've learned that they are the best place you could go.
good luck, and keep up the good fight with our little fatty!! (dont tell him i said that though, hate for him to get depression out of a body complex!!!)

[Pidgey]

I'm just beaming with pride here--that's my daughter (sort of)!

Pidgey

[xxmoxiexx]

cute pidgey, although i did name my first after ya!! seems like a lot of people are naming their first after you!! quite popular pidgey, now dont go getting an ego on all us lowly folk!! LOL!!
well, it cant be just sorta, you gotta go all the way and adopt me, and while we're at it, DAD, i need a new car, oh, and money for BOOKS, yea, books, REALLY!!! what, no?? I WISH I WAS NEVER BORN!! LOL!! (sound familiar to everyone with teenagers!!!)

[Jamuko]

Hehe, aww.

I was in the middle of typing up what I've observed, as I've been trying to give him a good look in the past couple hours. I've been holding him and feeling his wings, but unfortunately I can't seem to find a problem area. :/ I can't find any swollen-feeling joints or anything; it feels the same on each side, as far as I can tell, and he didn't seem to twitch or show signs of pain when I felt any certain area on his bad wing.

He doesn't seem to mind using his bad wing when it comes to getting away or glide-flying, but it doesn't work as strongly as his good wing, and he certainly favors that one for sure.

I'll keep trying to figure out if I can find a problem area...

[Pidgey]

Originally Posted by xxmoxiexx

...well, it cant be just sorta, you gotta go all the way and adopt me, and while we're at it, DAD, i need a new car, oh, and money for BOOKS, yea, books, REALLY!!!

Uh, oh!

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

Well, he might just need time, warmth, safety and good food.

Pidgey

[xxmoxiexx]

i would keep looking around it though, because just from reading threads on here i see people miss stuff ALL the time and eventually see something they missed, so keep lookin' when you can.

[Jamuko]

Yeah, there's got to be a reason why he can't use that wing properly, but I wish I could find out why!

I find that he struggles less if I hold him in an area where there is no nearby platform for him to try to aim for. One time he did get away from my arms though, and he did a sort of ambling glide across the room. It seems that his bad wing can be stretched outwards just fine, but has more of a problem going up all the way. I guess that would be his shoulder joint?

Right now he's sitting on my leg, with his head under the desk. Guess he's had a long day :P

[phyll]

Hi Jamuko,
Thank you for helping this pigeon. We need more caring people like you in this world.

How is he doing?

Phyll

[mr squeaks]

Mmmm, just my opinion...I have seen ferals with wings that "droop" like Pidgeys' and are still able to fly.

The question seems to be - disease or injury. If injury, perhaps time and "exercise" will strenghten the wing to permit flight.

WISHING ALL THE BEST!

[Jamuko]

Alrighty, I checked his wings a bit more and had my suitemate check too, and neither of us can find a difference in the way they feel. But I tested a bit with my earlier observation and I think that might be key - he won't raise his wing upwards like he should.

I tried gently manually moving his wings around and outstretching them different ways to see how they differed. His right wing easily moved upwards all the way at the shoulder joint, but his left one (the bad one) didn't easily rotate any higher than straight out (like, making a flat plane with his wing and back). I guess you could say the good wing moves to be almost perpendicular to his back upwards, and the bad wing stops at about parallel to his back.

The shoulder joint is a tough area to feel around, but knowing this I'll try to examine that particular area even closer.


Edit: I forgot, my suitemate did notice that his bad wing felt a little less "meaty" than his good wing. Maybe just less muscle from being unable to exercise it properly.

And one more Pidgey picture!!

[jazaroo]

Hi Jamuko,

Thank you for rescuing this bird.

I just wanted to add that a few years ago I had a rescue with a similar injury, a drooped wing and no flying ability. I did feel the wing very carefully to compare it to the good one and could not find any breaks or obvious injury.

I decided to take the bird in for an exam, this was before the rules changed here on treating ferals, and the doctor felt the wing and said he thought he felt a break and they did an x-ray. There indeed was a break in the radius, but it was quite well aligned. It was wrapped figure 8 and he made a full recovery. I guess what I am pointing out is that although I did have a fair amount of experience with birds at the time, sometimes unless you have expert experience a break can be missed.

Good luck with this little guy,

Ron

[xxmoxiexx]

if you do take him in to a vet, i might say he is your pet that has an outside coop and flys free when he wants (so that way they know he coulda caught anything that ferals get, and take proper precautions)

[Pidgey]

I've got several (in my loft) that have actually hurt their shoulders and will never get their wings up as far as they're supposed to again. If that's the case then this bird will never fly again although he might be able to manage a descent with an even keel. If you feel resistance, though, it's usually a fatal flaw. If you can do physical therapy on the wing to free up the shoulder, you might get somewhere but it can take months and never work out well enough. I'd start looking for him a permanent home, just in case.

Pidgey

[Jamuko]

Hello again, just thought I'd give an update on Pidgey.

We gave him a little bath in the bathroom sink a couple days ago. He didn't seem to like that at all :/ - but he is clean now! He's been preening himself a lot afterwards and he is looking a lot better (strangely he actually looks less fat, too; maybe his feathers were all puffed out).

On the downside he seems to be rather angry at us after that bath... =( I think he might have even worsened his injury when he flapped in the sink to escape one time. I feel horrible if that happened, but it just may have because his wing appears to be hanging more than before and he acts very aggressive toward us now. >_<

Now he even "growls" if I get near him with my hand too much, and snaps at me with his beak and whacks me good with his healthy wing. He did a bit of snapping and wing-whacking before too, but now he seems more timid and defensive about it than before. =( I feel really bad.

In any case I'm working on contacting the specialty vet in Fairfax, VA, to see if they'll be able to see him when we go up next weekend.

I definitely would like him back, so that if he gets better he can be re-released to his home here in Richmond, and if he can't get better I can make sure he has a good home and keep an eye on how he's doing. There is one problem with saying he is my pet, though... I assume they'll make me register him for records, and give my address which doesn't allow pets...?

Also, how expensive could that be? =( I hope I can afford to get him good care.