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formulated products in 5kg & 20kg packs.® Registered Trademark © Golden Cob 2006IN WILDLIFE REHABILITATION we
often think about cat attack wounds and
broken bones as being the worst injuries
a bird can sustain. It’s often forgotten that
feathers are one of the most important
parts of a bird. Damaged feathers can be
just as debilitating as a fractured wing.
Phoenix, the juvenile Magpie, was found
unable to fl y. At fi rst I thought he was just
a fl edgling learning to fl y, but on closer
examination fi ve primary feathers were
broken mid-shaft on the right wing. No
fractures were detected on radiographs.
Contrary to popular belief, a broken
feather does not simply ‘regrow’ unless
the entire shaft is removed, either by
pulling them or, naturally, through moulting.
Moulting of all the wing feathers is a
WILD CORNER
AUTHOR AND IMAGES DR CLAUDE LACASSE DVM, MANZCVS (Australian Wildlife)A New Set of Feathers for Phoenix,
the Magpie
The imping procedure used for Phoenix process that can take up to a year. Since
keeping a young wild bird in care for a
year would be detrimental, one option
would be to gently pull the broken
feathers at the shafts under anaesthesia
to encourage the feathers to grow again.
This can be achieved easily on the tail,
however, the wing feathers are tightly
attached to the bone and pulling them
can sometimes result in damage to the
feather attachments, and the feathers will
never regrow. To avoid this risk, I opted to
perform a technique called ‘imping’.
The bird was anaesthetised with
isofl urane using a facemask and then
maintained with an endotracheal tube
during the procedure. The fi rst step was
to cut the donor feathers of the same
species and the patient’s feathers at
the same level to allow a perfect match.
Then a small wooden stick was trimmed
until it fi tted perfectly into the shafts of
the feathers. The stick was then covered
in Araldite™ 5-minute glue and inserted
into each end of the donor feathers and
secured into the patient’s feathers. The
result was a new wing!
Phoenix was placed in an aviary for
a week to ensure he could fl y properly.
He was then returned to his family group
without having to wait for the feathers to
moult. Eventually all the imped feathers will
slowly be moulted
out naturally,
since the original
shafts of the
feathers are still
present.