injured Gouldian

[debbie276]

Emma also looks like a hen in the pictures. Does one have a darker yellow belly then the other? Does one have a longer tail wire then the other? How old are they? A hen beak will turn black when she is going into breeding mode. Does one sing, that would be a male for sure.

[erine]

debbie276
They look absolutely the same to me, except that Jacob is slightly larger and it is her breast that is darker. So I would imagine they are both hens, which is fine with me from a practical standpoint because I'm not looking to breed. I am a bit disappointed in where I purchased them from because they were sold to me as a male/female pair. She had them kept in separate cages and only one is banded and she has a very impressive operation. But mistakes happen and I got them because they are so beautiful and their gender doesn't change that. It never occurred to me to ask how old the birds were. Rookie mistake.

I do think it may just be a sprain. She was perched on a low branch this morning and I can see her testing her wings. They seem to be hanging normally and I hope she's on the mend.
Erin

[debbie276]

The reason I asked their age because they will have black beaks till they color up and then only the hens will turn black in breeding mode, never a males. So it then is another indicator to sex if the beak is black.

[MiaCarter]

Emma definitely looks female to me. As does Jacob.

Both very sweet and lovely, though!

I just wrote to Elana about her bird, so I'll post some of my reply up here too as I think it will be helpful!

My concern is the blood. It really does look like blood. My best guess is that he hit his wing on something and perhaps broke a blood feather, as there's not a significant amount of blood as far as I can see. If that's the case, I wouldn't be too worried.
But my concern is that potentially, the bone may have broken and the sharp end pierced the skin (compound fracture.) I would *imagine* you'd see more blood, but I've been surprised before. If she had a compound fracture, it would make her prone to infection (and bone infection), so you'd want to do antibiotics and ideally, see a vet for splinting.
I think a compound fracture is unlikely, as they're usually more dramatic and she appears to be holding her wing in an anatomically correct position. But a possibility since there does appear to be blood there.

I wouldn't try to catch her. I'd first try to spritz her with water. It's right on the leading edge of the wing, where there's pretty good visibility, so you should be able to see the underlying skin with relative ease once those feathers clump up with the water. Heat lamp is essential of course while she dries up!

Here's what I wrote to Elana; I've copied and pasted the bits that I think apply to you as well:

It doesn't look to be a horrendous break as she can still hold it in an anatomically-correct position.

It's hard to tell between a bad soft tissue injury and a break. With a bad soft tissue injury, they can sometimes fly/flutter a bit if spooked sufficiently.

But with a break, they usually can't fly no matter how frightened they get. Though they can often flutter if the break is in the lower arm. (If the fracture is where the blood is located, it looks to be the upper arm in your gouldian, Erine)

Of course, though, if forced to fly, they could worsen the injury. So I wouldn't spook her intentionally, as really, the treatment would be the same for both scenarios - lots of rest, heat lamp, low perches, and easily accessible food/water. Lots of protein and calcium and good food (which I know she gets already!)

So my feeling is that if it was just a pulled muscle or tendon or other soft tissue injury, she'd show some sign of recovery fairly soon. If it's a break or a more severe tissue injury, she'll be down for a few weeks.

But I think she'll be just fine. She's holding it in a close to anatomically-correct position which really bodes well for her. The bone can still heal, even if it's not aligned perfectly. And once healed, she should be able to flutter and fly small distances.

Problems happen when the ends of the broken bone are very far off in terms of alignment (a non-union fracture); then the body can form a false joint, basically rounding off the broken bone ends and they never connect up. You end up with a wing that bends where it shouldn't and they can't even flutter. But her wing is in a very close to normal position, so if it is fractured, it's not horribly mis-aligned, so she should heal right up!

It's a bummer she's not bigger or another species, as you could do a wrap where you use a bit of vet wrap to wrap the wing and the torso, so it's right up against the torso. (See this fellow looking very disturbed! https://ignitechannel.com/stories/tamar ... tors-need/)

So there's no movement and it heals faster. But I wouldn't even dream of attempting that in such a small flighty bird. I think she'd keel over from fright! The smallest bird I've wrapped like that is a budgie and it was very tough!

Keep us posted! She looks incredibly sweet. That tilted head photo is just so cute. Gouldians are amongst my favorites!

[erine]

MiaCarter Thank you so much for your advice. I will spritz her and see if I can figure out what her injury is. She just looks so good and normal except that she won't fly.

@lovezebs Elana, how is your little one doing?

Erin

[cindy]

if you spritz her let her warm up under a heat lamp for a bit.