pigeon with injured wing.

[crystalgrand]

I know very little about pigeons except they seem very docile creatures. I have been feeding them in my enclosed back garden for a number of years. Unfortunately 3 days ago I noticed one of the pigeons was not flying away as normal. I noticed that its left wing was hanging lowe than the right one. I was able to coax it into my garage and it decided to stay there on top of a large plastic box. I left plenty of bread, Sunflower seeds and water then closed the side door of the garage to give the pidgeon protection against preditors.
I telephoned both local vets and said they would deal with the pigeon but when I said I would pick it up to release it when healed in its own environment they seemed less than enthusiastic but said they would have it delivered to the the nearest wild life sanctuary which is almost 40 miles away. Maybe its just me but I think that the vets answer to caring for the pigeon is euthanasia.
I have now moved the pigeon to the garden shed which I have cleared of all contents and it seems happy in there. I have been letting the pigeon out about 5 or 6 times a day where it seems to mix in with the other pigeons which are able to fly. The pigeon does not seem distressed in any way but can only fly to a height of about 8 feet. I keep it enclosed in the garden shed to protect it from being attacked but I do not know what to do now. Will the wing heal itself over a few weeks.
I am new to this site but I have uploaded 9 pictures of the bird and the garden shed to hopefully get some advice/comments.

I do know how to get the pics on to a thread

Barry in Glasgow

[faz]

hi barry welcome to WAB

fist of all what type of pigeon is it i would not feed it bread. local pet shop and but a pigeon mix or at least some corn and make sure it has water to drink as well. depending on what is wrong with the wing it may be better for the bird to be put to sleep if wont be able to fly well done for trying though

[crystalgrand]

pretty certain it is a common wood pigeon

[faz]

Originally Posted by crystalgrand

pretty certain it is a common wood pigeon

then a pigeon mix will be much better than bread let us know how it gets on

[hels]

Hey Barry,

I can't seem to find your pictures, so it's difficult to assess.
Chances are pretty good that a vet would euthanise it, as it wouldn't be worth the costs to them to treat it. Possibly if you are willing to pay, they would help, but the costs may well be high, depending on the injury.

If you are going to keep looking after it, definitely get hold of some sort of corn mix, and I would consider knocking up some sort of perch in your shed as birds are much more comfortable at night if they have somewhere off the ground to roost.

Will the bird let you touch it at all? Or when it flaps, can you see under its wing? May be useful if you could see if there is an obvious injury on the underside. The problem with injured birds can often be that they pretend to be fine as birds that are obviously not fine are more likely to get picked off by predators.

[hels]

Having said all that, as faz said, it may ultimately be the best thing for the bird to be euthanised, depending on the severity of the injury