Angel wing

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Trev62
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Angel wing

Post by Trev62 »

One of our goslings showed signs of suffering from "Angel wing", this is when the last wing joint is twisted and the primary flight feathers point out laterally rather than lying flat against the body. It only showed signs of having this in its left wing (which after doing some research seems to be common).

There are several theories as to why this happens:

To much protein or carbohydrates in its diet
Insufficient Vitamin E
Manganese deficiency
Lack of calcium
Hereditary/genetics

As it is the only one showing signs of this out of all the goslings that hatched I am a little baffled (again, yes, it happens a lot) as to its cause.

To resolve the Angel wing we placed the bird's wing into the correct position then used adhesive vet wrap and tape to hold it into place. We removed the wrapping today and it seems to have done the trick as the wing is looking normal and when stretched seems to return to the right position. I use the word "seems" as unsure how the joint will hold up as the wing feathers grow through.

Has anyone ever encountered this in their own birds?
"Not all those who wander are lost"

Trev62
Legendary Laner
Posts: 1164
Joined: 04 Jul 2016, 19:03
Gender: Male
Location: Bulgaria

Re: Angel wing

Post by Trev62 »

All the goslings got their first real taste of freedom today when let loose in the field. Watching carefully the one that had angel wing was happily stretching its wings and then folded them back to their correct position so fingers crossed the bandaging has worked.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Trev62
Legendary Laner
Posts: 1164
Joined: 04 Jul 2016, 19:03
Gender: Male
Location: Bulgaria

Re: Angel wing

Post by Trev62 »

Re strapped our gosling's wing today as it seemed to have dropped as the new heavy feathers have started pushing through. Only as a safety precaution. It is proving interesting dealing with this and even one of the vets we use is keeping up to date with events as he had never heard of the condition before.

Learning all the time.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Trev62
Legendary Laner
Posts: 1164
Joined: 04 Jul 2016, 19:03
Gender: Male
Location: Bulgaria

Re: Angel wing

Post by Trev62 »

Glad to say we seem to have resolved the wing issue, it is now folding correctly and with all the wing feathers now grown in it is sitting nicely in position. Hoping it will be a permanent fix, we shall see at the next feather moult.
"Not all those who wander are lost"

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