How to Splint a Dove's Wing

Pet birds, such as doves, can accidentally fracture their wings for a number of reasons, including flying into a mirror, getting hit by a car or getting tangled in a ceiling fan. Like other flighted birds, dove bones are hollow and light. Unfortunately, avian bones are also delicate and brittle and can break in numerous places. If your dove has broken its wing, you can splint it until it heals.

Things You'll Need

  • Cotton gauze
  • White medical tape
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Instructions

    • 1

      Lay your bird on its side. It will most likely try to fight you, so it may help having a friend or family member hold the bird down on its side while you splint its broken wing.

    • 2

      Cut the cotton gauze into a single strip about a 1/2 inch wide and 1 foot long. Slide your hand between the dove's body and its broken wing, making sure the entire wing and its bones are resting in your open hand.

    • 3

      Wrap your strip of cotton gauze in a figure eight pattern on the upper portion of your dove's broken wing near where it connects to its body. You should only need to wrap a figure eight about three or four times. This ensures the majority of the bones, which are located in the upper portion of the wing, are bundled with gauze until they heal.

    • 4

      Pick up your roll of white medical tape. Companies such as 3M and Johnson &Johnson sell adhesive yet gentle white medical tape for bandaging human wounds, but the product also works on animals. Affix the tape over your gauze in an identical figure eight pattern. This keeps your gauze secure. When you are finished, wrap the tape three times as a band around the lower portion of the wing, just under the figure eight. Cut the tape and smooth it down.

    • 5

      Ensure that your bird won't fly after you've splinted its wing by cutting a 1-foot-long piece of tape and wrapping it over the broken wing and around your dove's back, side and chest, taking care to tape under the healthy wing so that side can remain mobile. Continue winding the tape around your dove's body until you've reached the end of the length you've cut. When you are finished your dove's injured wing should be secured to its side by the tape.