Help! princess parrot injured wing after fall

[GoldenFeather]

I apologize if this is in the wrong area but I’m new to the forum.
I appreciate all help and advice.
My princess parrot is 4months old and very very clumsy, he has no sense. I left his cage door open as I do regularly and he either decided to jump out the open door or fell out. His wings were clipped by the people I got him from who assured me he could fly safely to the floor. He has fallen before after trying to get to me and I usually just go get him and he goes back inside or he stays on me however this time when I went to pick him up he was holding his wing up and made this faint crying noise. I am so worried, he kept making this crying noise with his wing held up but then would put his wing down and chirp normally and accepted treats, but when moving around his cage or on me his wing would go up and he would cry again. He even started to eat some food and moved around his cage but at times his wing goes up and he cries and comes to me for comfort. I couldn’t see any blood and he has a large feather on that wing which could very well just be out of place and uncomfortable but his crying has me quite concerned and he won’t let me touch or have a look to be sure. I put him inside and covered his cage to give him some peace and quiet and is more relaxed. I’m just very torn as he was eating and chirping and taking treats but then his wing would go up and he’d cry and become very unbalanced while it was up and nearly fall over (like I said very clumsy). His wing isn’t drooping and is sitting normally and identical to his uninsured wing, it’s only when he lifts it does it seem to cause pain or discomfort as he would cry? I just checked on him and he’s at the bottom of his cage eating and playing with some toys. Please tell me what you guys think, I don’t have a great deal of experience but his door will remain closed if I’m not there from now on. I mainly left it open because our previous bird loved to just sit and watch us from on his cage but this one is too clumsy to even sit somewhere. I was going to just leave him be for today and see how he goes tomorrow in terms of contacting a vet since he seems to be improving but please let me know what you think.

 

[LaManuka]

I apologize if this is in the wrong area but I’m new to the forum.
I appreciate all help and advice.
My princess parrot is 4months old and very very clumsy, he has no sense. I left his cage door open as I do regularly and he either decided to jump out the open door or fell out. His wings were clipped by the people I got him from who assured me he could fly safely to the floor. He has fallen before after trying to get to me and I usually just go get him and he goes back inside or he stays on me however this time when I went to pick him up he was holding his wing up and made this faint crying noise. I am so worried, he kept making this crying noise with his wing held up but then would put his wing down and chirp normally and accepted treats, but when moving around his cage or on me his wing would go up and he would cry again. He even started to eat some food and moved around his cage but at times his wing goes up and he cries and comes to me for comfort. I couldn’t see any blood and he has a large feather on that wing which could very well just be out of place and uncomfortable but his crying has me quite concerned and he won’t let me touch or have a look to be sure. I put him inside and covered his cage to give him some peace and quiet and is more relaxed. I’m just very torn as he was eating and chirping and taking treats but then his wing would go up and he’d cry and become very unbalanced while it was up and nearly fall over (like I said very clumsy). His wing isn’t drooping and is sitting normally and identical to his uninsured wing, it’s only when he lifts it does it seem to cause pain or discomfort as he would cry? I just checked on him and he’s at the bottom of his cage eating and playing with some toys. Please tell me what you guys think, I don’t have a great deal of experience but his door will remain closed if I’m not there from now on. I mainly left it open because our previous bird loved to just sit and watch us from on his cage but this one is too clumsy to even sit somewhere. I was going to just leave him be for today and see how he goes tomorrow in terms of contacting a vet since he seems to be improving but please let me know what you think.

Hi GoldenFeather, welcome to the forums, but I am sorry for the worrying circumstances. I've also just moved your thread to our "General Health Care" sub-forum as it's a bit of a better fit for it

It's hard to say from here what damage may have been caused by your birdie's fall (don't forget to tell us his name btw, will you?) There may be no broken bones, but there could be soft tissue damage or bruising, either to the wing or perhaps even the keelbone that has resulted. Birds as you probably know will do whatever they can to disguise any sign of illness or distress, so if you are concerned it might be worthwhile trying to get him seen to by a certified avian vet anyway, to rule out significant injury. They can also prescribe pain relief such as Metacam that you can administer orally, probably only for a few days if the vet thinks birdie is in any amount of pain.

Just in case you're not already familiar with avian specialists in your area, the following resource should help you to locate one ...

Avian Vet Resources

After a suggestion by a member, @Abu Colo, the Mod Team decided to create a list of veterinarians around the world who see birds. This was something we had discussed a few years ago, but the task seemed so large that we didn't get very far. However, the need is there and we decided that the time...

www.parrotforums.com

I wish you and your Princess all the very best of luck 🙏

 

[GoldenFeather]

Thank you kindly for the advice and thank you for moving my post as I said I was a bit lost!

My birds name is Toro!
Update: I just checked on him and watched him stretch his “injured” wing both outwards and upwards with no issue and no crying thankfully, but like I said i haven’t owned many birds so any advice or thoughts are welcome and appreciated from everyone and anyone. He’s being really active in his cage and really wants to play and telling me he wants to jump on my hand to come out, it looks like his wing could be slightly still bothering him (slightly lifting sometimes) but major improvement from an hour ago and still no more crying. He’s calling me to come play with him and is just being a menace so hopefully that’s a good sign??

 

[MayMaroa]

well sky my bird one time hit the fan(she is the one on my profile photo)
she hit the fan and i saw her laying on the floor i grapped her for the first time ever she rested on my hand even thought she never allows anybody to touch her i checked if there was any blood there wasn't and after 10 min of her laying on me she gained her energy back she is so lucky that she survived but from that day she always had the injured wing but she is still very silly and energetic when she stretches' the injured wing the wing shakes but now she recovered that was 6 months ago

 

[LaManuka]

Oh I'm so pleased that Toro is on the improve I've had an incident with my poor little budgie Val, he was rendered unable to fly once after an injection of antibiotics in his pectoral muscles that must've hurt him as it rendered him unable to fly. I turned my back on him for 5 seconds and he tried to take off and hit my hard timber floor instead! Frightened the life out of me and must've hurt him too because he couldn't fly at all and I had to keep him caged for a week - and he was unimpressed about that, believe you me! Thankfully he recovered his faculties with a bit of "cage rest" so hopefully the same will apply for Toro.

I'm unable to find exact timeframes, but I would think he should start shedding those clipped wing feathers sometime between 6 and 12 months of age. Sometimes it's even worth considering having donor flight feathers implanted by a skilled avian vet, in which case they regain their ability to fly straight away - I've had it done on a quaker that had had a shocking wing clip. He kept hitting my hard floors no matter how hard I tried to stop him, and it worked very well for him. I'm not sure that all avian vets offer it, but if Toro continues to fall and you are concerned that he may indeed injure himself, that might be something you can discuss with his vet too

 

[MayMaroa]

i agree

 

[Laurasea]

Welcome to the forums, sorry for the reason. Poor baby birdie.

As above some cage rest. An watching as veterinarian care may be needed. Hopefully feels better.

And Hopefully you continue to stick around and join in.

 

[GoldenFeather]

Oh I'm so pleased that Toro is on the improve I've had an incident with my poor little budgie Val, he was rendered unable to fly once after an injection of antibiotics in his pectoral muscles that must've hurt him as it rendered him unable to fly. I turned my back on him for 5 seconds and he tried to take off and hit my hard timber floor instead! Frightened the life out of me and must've hurt him too because he couldn't fly at all and I had to keep him caged for a week - and he was unimpressed about that, believe you me! Thankfully he recovered his faculties with a bit of "cage rest" so hopefully the same will apply for Toro.

I'm unable to find exact timeframes, but I would think he should start shedding those clipped wing feathers sometime between 6 and 12 months of age. Sometimes it's even worth considering having donor flight feathers implanted by a skilled avian vet, in which case they regain their ability to fly straight away - I've had it done on a quaker that had had a shocking wing clip. He kept hitting my hard floors no matter how hard I tried to stop him, and it worked very well for him. I'm not sure that all avian vets offer it, but if Toro continues to fall and you are concerned that he may indeed injure himself, that might be something you can discuss with his vet too

Thanks for the reply, today he slipped while in my hands and only fell a few centimeters before I caught him. His large feather that wasn’t clipped is definitely loose and is just sort of not sitting correctly which i think is causing his discomfort? He didn’t cry this time just offered me his wing to fix it, I tried to rearrange the feather but it didn’t seem to help. He can’t fly as of yet so I don’t think a transplant will be necessary, but that said it maybe be another month or so before that feather falls out and he’s not happy about it not sitting right. He is a baby after all so would you advise I try to find a vet to assess it? Would they be able to help?

 

[LaManuka]

Thanks for the reply, today he slipped while in my hands and only fell a few centimeters before I caught him. His large feather that wasn’t clipped is definitely loose and is just sort of not sitting correctly which i think is causing his discomfort? He didn’t cry this time just offered me his wing to fix it, I tried to rearrange the feather but it didn’t seem to help. He can’t fly as of yet so I don’t think a transplant will be necessary, but that said it maybe be another month or so before that feather falls out and he’s not happy about it not sitting right. He is a baby after all so would you advise I try to find a vet to assess it? Would they be able to help?

That's difficult to say without being able to see the wing. Are you saying that the outermost flight feather or two were left intact while the inner ones have been clipped? A photo may be handy to be able to give me a better idea. The thing however with leaving an outer feather or two intact is that they may be prone to breakage as they don't have the usual number of flight feathers beside them that would normally support them, so that means he might have damaged one if he's had a fall. I'd think that it's not advisable for you to try to remove the feather unless it's bleeding, as those outermost primaries are very firmly anchored in and can cause your bird pain if you try to remove them. It's probably not a good idea for you to try to clip it either, so really if it is causing your bird discomfort or distress, then yes it's probably not a bad idea to call in a professional. At the end of the day, nothing beats a hands-on and eyes-on assessment by an avian specialist where it is practicable. I generally recommend a wellness check for new birds anyway so this is probably a good way to work everything into the one visit

 

[GoldenFeather]

That's difficult to say without being able to see the wing. Are you saying that the outermost flight feather or two were left intact while the inner ones have been clipped? A photo may be handy to be able to give me a better idea. The thing however with leaving an outer feather or two intact is that they may be prone to breakage as they don't have the usual number of flight feathers beside them that would normally support them, so that means he might have damaged one if he's had a fall. I'd think that it's not advisable for you to try to remove the feather unless it's bleeding, as those outermost primaries are very firmly anchored in and can cause your bird pain if you try to remove them. It's probably not a good idea for you to try to clip it either, so really if it is causing your bird discomfort or distress, then yes it's probably not a bad idea to call in a professional. At the end of the day, nothing beats a hands-on and eyes-on assessment by an avian specialist where it is practicable. I generally recommend a wellness check for new birds anyway so this is probably a good way to work everything into the one visit

Hi there, I will have to look into a vet nearby because I’ve heard contradicting things about the nearby avian vet. I’ve attached a photo of Toro and the wing that is being bothered, you can see in the photo the feather that’s much longer than the others which is the loose one. It’s an inner feather whereas the outer feathers have been clipped. Before his fall it sat in line with the other feathers and crossed over the top of his tail but you can see now it just hangs there and is very loose. It seems to only bothers him when the feather gets into a weird position and even then only lasts a few minutes until it fixes itself, I think you’re absolutely right in saying it could just be a broken feather that wasn’t supported appropriately because all his other feathers are clipped. Thanks for all your help with this I really appreciate it 😊

 

[LaManuka]

Hi there, I will have to look into a vet nearby because I’ve heard contradicting things about the nearby avian vet. I’ve attached a photo of Toro and the wing that is being bothered, you can see in the photo the feather that’s much longer than the others which is the loose one. It’s an inner feather whereas the outer feathers have been clipped. Before his fall it sat in line with the other feathers and crossed over the top of his tail but you can see now it just hangs there and is very loose. It seems to only bothers him when the feather gets into a weird position and even then only lasts a few minutes until it fixes itself, I think you’re absolutely right in saying it could just be a broken feather that wasn’t supported appropriately because all his other feathers are clipped. Thanks for all your help with this I really appreciate it 😊

You're most welcome, and I hope Toro does well at the vet. Let me know if you need any help in selecting one, there are several excellent options for you to choose from.

I am sorry though, I can't see that photo, it does not appear to have attached itself successfully. Here's a tutorial that may help ...

How To Post Pictures

How To Post Pictures. Posting photos along with your posts on Parrot Forums has never been easier, and is virtually identical whether you are using either a PC or a smartphone :) Simply click on the "insert image" icon on the toolbar along the top of the reply box, it's the one that looks...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[GoldenFeather]

You're most welcome, and I hope Toro does well at the vet. Let me know if you need any help in selecting one, there are several excellent options for you to choose from.

I am sorry though, I can't see that photo, it does not appear to have attached itself successfully. Here's a tutorial that may help ...

How To Post Pictures

How To Post Pictures. Posting photos along with your posts on Parrot Forums has never been easier, and is virtually identical whether you are using either a PC or a smartphone :) Simply click on the "insert image" icon on the toolbar along the top of the reply box, it's the one that looks...

www.parrotforums.com

Nope I just totally forgot to add the pictures I’m so sorry I got side tracked 😅 I’m as silly as Toro, the photos are now attached.

 

[LaManuka]

Oh what a beautiful bird! And yes that type of clip is not so good, as it often leaves one or two outermost primaries exposed and unsupported and it can lead to breakage sometimes.

The "implanting" procedure that I mentioned before can be hugely helpful in cases where a bird is continually attempting to fly but falling, and possibly hitting the floor very hard on multiple occasions and is at risk of injury to wing, back, keelbone, feet or legs. Donor flight feathers are implanted in place of the clipped ones, and it restores the power of flight straight away - if there is any drawback at all it means that you then have to teach baby to fly if he hasn't already learned how prior to having had those wings clipped. I had it done mainly due to concerns about my rather heavy, stocky quaker hitting my hard timber and tile floors very hard the way he was, and it worked very well for him, but it may not be necessary in your case and not every vet provides it. Again, if you need any help with selecting a good avian vet, let me know where you are located and I will be happy to help