Can this wing fracture be treated?

A couple of days ago I found this common pigeon that was unable to fly, so I took him home. I took the pigeon to a local vet and it seems that he has a fracture that can't be mended by any means, so the vet said he can't do anything to help the poor creature. I am going to attach here some photos of the radiography because I want to check with other opinions. In my town (Iasi/Romania) there aren't a lot of vets competent enough to treat birds, most of them only managing dogs/cats/bunnies/guinnea pigs their entire career. So there aren't many persons I can address to concerning my problem. My questions are:
1. Isn't there ANY way in which this fracture can be treated? Not even through surgery?
2. Is there at least a half-way in treating it, so that the pigeon won't experience pain his entire life and maybe have some mobility to the affected joint in the future?
3. Can his current pain be lightened with some antiinflammatories? Should he at least receive an antibiotics treatment for this fracture, even though it's not an open fracture?
4. If this injury will result in ankylosed joint, do you think his wing should be amputated?

I would very much appreciate some answeres. I want to make sure that I do everything possible to help him regain his ability to fly or at least live a painless life in the future. I don't want to give up on him that easily...

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Hi Matroshk,

Thank you so much for doing everything possible and more for that pigeon!
To be honest, that fracture looks very difficult, if not impossible, to mend. Especially because it's right on the joint and whatever is done to set the broken bones would very likely result in immobilizing the joint.
But I'm not an expert on this, so in the meanwhile I left messages for my avian vet and some specialist rehabbers to see if anybody else can offer some hope and advice.

Does the pigeon's wing hang very much, does it make it difficult for him/her to walk? In extreme cases, where birds keep injuring their droopy wings by catching them with their foot, vets have recommended amputation of part of the injured wing to give them a better quality of life, but very often it isn't necessary. What seems likely to me is that your little patient may need to stay indoors, maybe forever. Would you be able to keep him/her, or do you know someone you could trust to look after a disabled pigeon?

The only rescue I have with an injured wing joint like that didn't have a fracture, just a dislocation, but nothing could realign the bones, as the enclosing cartillage was badly damaged (she had been hit by a car). After two years, she still doesn't fly, but has recovered a fair amount of movement, and the wing doesn't hang as much as it used to. So she lives indoors in a large cage, but she doesn't mind too much, because she has a mate and they seem very happy together.

I'll let you know if I receive any messages on this. Thank you so much for being a pigeon angel!

I agree with Teresa, any fractures involving a joint are tricky to fix, with or without surgery. You never know though. I have one bird who regained moderate use of the wing and can fly pretty well with just cage rest. Having one heal well enough to be released is more of a long shot though. I have several flightless pigeons. With most of them the joint froze resulting in little to no movement left in the wing. The ones whose wings became very stiff had the most issues as when running on the floor of my coop or jumping onto a low shelf or perch they can get off balance (flapping with one wing only will do that) and sometimes they flip onto their backs and have trouble turning themselves over, like a turtle on it's back. They do learn to deal with that and have less problems with time. I clip the long flight feathers on the bad wing as sometimes they will get them stuck between their legs. A dragging wing is worse as they can trip on it causing more damage and mobility issues. I have one bird whose wing drags a bit so I keep it up in a light padded wrap, checking often for chafing.

I know Metacam can be given to pigeons for pain. Fractures generally become much less painful once immobilized. I don't think I would use antibiotics since it's not an open fracture. I'd watch that the sharp point of bone near that joint doesn't do more damage to tissues or poke through the skin.

Thank you both so much for the feedback. The broken wing only hangs a bit, maybe 2 centimeters lower than the healthy one. It doesn't reach the floor, neither does the pigeon stumble on it. So I'm very happy to conclude that it probably won't need amputation.
In the last couple of days my little feathered child has become more active, constantly escaping the crate he lives in (which is rather tall) and persistently flapping that wing trying to fly. So I guess he's not in so much pain, judging by his strongheadedness of doing so. I've become more optimistic with the whole situation and I think the joint's mobility will be kept to some degree. Animals have an incredible capacity of selfhealing which amazes me every time.
The best thing for him would be to live with other pigeons in a big fenced enclosure. I've sent e-mails to some pigeon breeders in my town that I found on the internet, but so far none has answered me. They use pigeons in flying contests and from the information I gathered about these competitions it appears that pigeons enjoy participating and suffer no harm from it. I'm hoping one of the breeders will adopt and love my special pigeon, even though he can't fly or win any cup. If not, I have a friend willing to adopt it, domesticate it and keep it uncaged, as he doesn't have any rugs or carpets around the house. This friend of mine had another pigeon which he loved very much but eventually died and he has been longing for another one ever since.
So the future seems to be bright for this little creature.

Jen, thank you so much for your advice!

Matroshk, if it is at all possible for your friend to adopt this pigeon, that would be ideal!
We always try to place pigeons with others of their kind, but a loft of racing pigeons wouldn't be the best environment for him -- at best, he might try to copy the other pigeons and overwork his injured wing with disastrous consequences; at worst, many people who race pigeons only want to keep the champions and kill the rest. It's awful, but it happens a lot, and perhaps it's just as well that they signalled their indifference by not replying to you yet, so you know what to expect.
You have already devoted so much time and effort to this bird that you and he deserve an assurance that he will be loved and well looked after!

Just for now, I might try to reduce the space he has to move his wings. As Jen said, that jagged bit of bone could tear into muscle or cartilage if he exercises too much. But with a bit of luck in a week or two enough new bone tissue may have grown around the broken end to blunt it enough.

Good luck and best wishes to you both! Please keep us posted!

Yes, Teresa, you are right about the pigeon racers. Until now I didn't even knew about the existence of this "sport". At a first glimpse nothing seems to be wrong with some pigeons happily flying around, but in the last couple of days I have been digging deeper into the field of pigeon racing and I have discovered appaling aspescts about it

And let's see what does the account of our conversation look like:

Oh, what a wonderful photo!!!
He has star quality, that's for sure!

I'm sorry you came across some horrible truths about pigeon racing! When animals are used for human profit and entertainment, there are always sad stories to tell.
I do hope that your friend can adopt this lovely pigeon, he's a great character and was so clever to find you!

Best wishes for him and for you, and I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Hello again! I have a curiosity: what does the woo-woo-woo sound made by pigeons mean? Mr Penguin (that's what I called him, being unable to fly) keeps making this noise after it gets dark and repeats it several times a night. Is he upset about something? He also made this noise once after I moved him myself away from my desk so I could clean it. He still doesn't let me touch him so he clearly did not enjoy being forced to move somewhere else so he started making the woo-woo noise, shaking his head. Does this mean he is upset everytime he makes it?

In another train of thoughts he is doing fine, he's not that scared of people anymore, he keeps trashing my room and everytime I come home I open the door trembling, wondering what new surprises I will find in there. But I could never ever bear to see him caged. It's enough for him being trapped inside a house. I really hope he will get to be more friendly in time

Lol, two of my male pigeons are making the same sound right now! That doesn't at all mean they're upset, it's just pigeon conversation! Males make those sounds to call females, to indicate to other males "It's my territory, so keep out!" and to greet a new day, just before the first light of dawn.
If he starts bowing to you as well as making those sounds, then he's inviting you to become his partner!

I'm sure he'll become more friendly as time goes on! One good incentive is to encourage him to eat treats from your hand, like shelled sunflower seeds or pieces of raw peanuts (in reduced quantities, as they have a high oil content). If he's never tasted them before he may hesitate in trying them, so put a little in his food and let him try them out that way. Once he tastes them, he will love them, and then you can use them to convince him to eat from your hand.
Adult pigeons raised outside have learned not to trust people, and it can take a while to win their trust, but the time and patience invested in achieving that will be well rewarded!

Right now we're at the point where I got him to approach me a little when I place sunflower, peanuts or rice on the floor after I make a couple of click sounds. We're far away from palm-feeding, giving the fact that he seems to be very grumpy and territorial to the point where he attacks me by trying to hit with his healthy wing when I'm holding HIS FOOD in my palm

Lol, don't worry, it takes time but he'll come round!

Ok, so it's been almost two months since Mr. Penguin has been living with me and I must say that he recovered marvellously. Today, for the first time, I started thinking seriously about releasing him in the spring. In the beginning his flight was clumsy and uncertain, but everyday I watched him reach more higher places in my room. Now he is able to fly effortless from the floor up on my wardrobe which is very tall (almost reaching the ceiling). He enjoys touring the room back and forth from the wardrobe to the desk tirelessly, like he hasn't got enough space anymore. His flying skills have improved considerably and are now gracefull and fluent. His bad wing is sill shaking from time to time after he makes a lot of effort or when he's anxious, but I imagine that if it hurt he wouldn't fly all day long.

I know that I can't predict if he will be able to manage outside by observing his flight inside the house, but I guess that the only way I'll know is by making another X-ray in a couple of months and then take him out in an open space. The question is will I be able to catch him one more time if I consider that he won't manage? I know he will never fly perfectly again and that he will always tire easily, but if he will be able to get himself up in a tree or take cover on a building to escape rain, then I guess his life would be much better than inside an apartment, even though maybe not that long.

I'm so puzzled and I want to make a decision I won't regret, if only he could tell me what would he prefer... although judging by his energy and body language, this pigeon is bored and wants to take off, get his girl and live the life he was ment for with all it's relish and hardships.

Meanwhile, the taming program is suspended

Hey! I just got back from the big release :) I feel like I made the right decision. Mr. Penguin was very lucky that he had the chance to flap his wings freely inside the house because the constant moving of the fractured wing prevented the anchylosis from installing. I did some research and I found out that the only way to prevent anchylosis in a case of intra-articular fracture is mechanotherapy. I'm very frustrated that I had to find this out by accident long after I had already taken the decision to let him loose around the house. I wished I was forwarn by the veterinarian not to cage him. If I would have done that, he would have never recovered. So, a very important advice to anyone who encounters an intra-articular fracture in any animal: LET THE ANIMAL USE THAT JOINT as much as he likes, it's the only hope for recovery.

So... the release went very well. I'm going to attach a totally unspectacullar video of it; the viewer will probably lose track of the pigeon as soon as it mingles with the other ones, but I didn't. After my dad stopped filming Mr. Pigeon started flying unaccompanied and managed to rise pretty up high then landed again and danced in front of every female passing by him. Finally all the pigeons got scared of something and flew away circling the square many times and that's when I really lost track of him. There wasn't any pigeon falling behind so I guess that he''ll do just fine.

I shared the same room with Mr. Penguin for half a year so I got really used to him and I will miss him dearly... I think I'm gonna let my room remain pooped a little while longer just to have the feeling that he's still here (no I'm not gonna do that I'm just kidding). Thank you very much Teresa and Jenaka for your advices and support!


http://archive.org/help/video.php?identifier=SoLongMr.Penguin&ht=480&wd=640&url=http%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fembed%2FSoLongMr.Penguin