Wings are extremely important to birds. In the wild, a bird with a broken wing can’t survive for very long. Wings are used for flying to look for food, and they are also needed when birds need to fly away and escape predators.
If you’re wondering whether a bird’s wing can heal on its own then read on.
Whether a birds wing can heal on its own depends on how severe the injury is, if the injury is severe, then the bird’s wing will not be able to heal on its own
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Can a bird’s broken wing heal on its own?
Whether or not a bird’s broken wing can heal on its own depends on which bone is broken and how severe the bird’s injury is. To understand how this works, we need to understand how human bones heal
Human bone healing:
When a human breaks a bone the broken bone is kept in a cast.
Casts are used to both support broken or injured bones as they heal, and, they are also used to protect the delicate broken bones as they heal and fuse together.
Bird bone healing:
Birds don’t have access to casts in the wild to help them protect and support bones as they heal, thus, they cannot heal broken wings on their own if the break is severe.
They can only heal the severely injured wing if humans intervene or if the break is minor
The only case where a bird’s bone can heal itself is if the break in the wing is not severe, that being a minor break on the bird’s radius.
The radius is the smaller and the thinner of the two bones between the bird’s wrist and elbow.
If the break is minor, meaning that the thin radius bone breaks, but the different pieces stay in contact with each other, and the break is not an open fracture, then the bird’s wing can heal
In order for the bone to heal, calcium needs to build up between the cracks of the broken bones and fuse the broken bones together to become one strong bone.
If this happens, over time, the bone will become one and go back to normal. This is the only case where a bird’s broken bone will heal on its own.
The above can not happen with bones larger than the radius, only the radius can heal itself.
The bird will still use, or try to use, the wing if the bone is broken. The wing will likely be droopy but the bird will still try to use it, this is the bird’s downfall.
A severely broken bone needs to be secured in its natural position for it to heal, like being in a cast, it needs to be immobile.
Because the bird doesn’t know this, it will let the wing droop, and the wing will never heal or won’t heal as well as it needs to
If the break is severe, then the bird will not be able to heal itself and the bird will die.
In addition, a severe break usually causes sharp pieces of bone to pierce the bird’s flesh and even the skin. If this happens, infections can develop which can also kill the bird
How do you help a bird with a broken wing?
The best way to help a bird with a broken wing is to take it to a certified avian vet or take it to a wildlife rehabilitation center for treatment.
These professionals will be able to treat your bird and help its wing heal regardless of how severely the wing is broken. If the broken wing is severe then the bird may need surgery.
The surgery will entail installing a thin, yet stiff, wire into the pieces of the bird’s bones (they are hollow) and helping the pieces of bone line up.
Having the bone lined up will better allow calcium to make its way between the pieces and help them fuse together.
If the break is not severe, then the vet, or the professionals at the rehabilitation center, will simply clean the wound and then wrap the wing to immobilize the bird.
Both of the above treatments have a high success rate, the bird may also be given painkillers to deal with the pain
How long does it take for a birds broken wing to heal?
If the bird’s injury is not severe, and the bird’s wing is wrapped up properly, then you can expect the bird to heal in a few weeks at a minimum. If the bird had surgery, then expect the bird to take longer to heal
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Sulfur Dust For Chickens, Can A Bird’s Broken Wing Heal By Itself?, How Do Birds Break Their Wings, How To Tell If A Bird Has A Broken Wing