Angel Wing Information Request - Any Info Or Advice ?

[Violet_Diva]

Has anyone got any experience with a condition called 'Angel Wing'?

Someone has offered me a 3 year old greenwing with this condition afflicting one of her wings and so she can't fly.

After a bit of Googling, most info I found related to ducks rather than parrots. I did read somewhere that the condition can sometimes be corrected with binding and a dietary change if the bird is 'young enough' - but as to what constitutes as 'young' I do not know.

Im interested to know if any of you have had a parrot with this condition before?

All info & comments welcomed!

Please let me know, thanks

 

[SailBoat]

Stop! Someone if offering you a Parrot with 'Angel Wing?'

Guidelines to accepting this Parrot:
1. You are wealthy and all your wants and needs are already covered
2. You have no other responsibilities, time is yours to use as you want
3. You have no other Parrots or Pets
4. You have a 'leading' Certified Avian Vet or Avian Educational facility very near by, or your own aircraft on standby 24/7 with transport onsite at the field near such
5. You are fully committed to the task at hand and are satisfied with no life outside of the care for the parrot
6. You have the ability to handle the early loss of this sweet Parrot that you had committed everything.

Okay, that is a bit harsh, but targets what it takes to care for a Parrot with a unique illness. Will it take the level of care as listed above, No! But, there will be times in which it will feel like it does!

I would start with a discussion with your Certified Avian Vet (CAV)! (If you do not have one very near by, do not proceed any further.) The discussion with your CAV, needs to cover their knowledge of the illness, the likely yearly costs (like visits every 60 days at a minimum), training that you will need to support your Parrot at home.

We budget 2000 per year for CAV care.

 

[Violet_Diva]

Thanks Sailboat. Im hoping to find someone local-ish with macaw experience or with experience with this kind of condition. It's just difficult to not feel any kind of responsibility for helping this bird find its forever home now I know it exists... I'm kind of putting feelers out there...
I think talking to our avian vet would be a good place to start. They might know a suitable candidate to take this bird on and offer advice relating to ongoing treatments and costs. The ad for the bird has been temporarily removed as the person was being bombarded with people wanting to take the bird as a breeding bird to make money from - So I'd like to try and stop that from happening if I can.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Not heard of this before so encl a link FYI What Are the Possible Treatments for Angel Wing Syndrome?

Interesting, re thinking about what we are feeding wild birds.

Let us know how you get on and what you decide with this GW.

 

[Kentuckienne]

I never heard of it before this. And I'll never feed bread to waterfowl again. I would guess, from what little I learned, is the condition might be correctable if the bones are still forming. That's why binding the wing in place and changing the diet works. But if the bird is too old for that, might it be better to amputate the malformed part of the wing? Birds can adjust to life with a missing wing or part of one, she'd never fly but many parrots don't fly anyway. She could probably learn to flap to break a fall if the other wing was trimmed at the end to match. Don't know if it would be best to amputate the ends of both wings for balance. Having the deformed wing could lead to broken feathers, bleeding, other harm, couldn't it?

 

[Violet_Diva]

I'm guessing that a 3 year old macaw would be full grown then, which presumably means correcting the wing via binding is no longer an option. Such a shame that she'll never fly maybe because she was given the wrong diet when growing.

 

[SailBoat]

This is where a well qualified CAV comes into this discussion. I know of several Parrots; Amazon's, MAC's and a Too that require extensive trimming of the healthy Wing Feathers to match the problem (broken, or deformed at birth) that provide a non-flight existence, but the ability to move both Winds. One of the MAC's will activity flap its Wings as she moves fairly quickly across the floor!

Doors are never closed, only adjustment is the Human's expectations and timelines! Love from a Special Needs Parrot is always deeper and more heartfelt from those wonderful Parrots!