Broken wing

Question
HI, i recently adopted 2 twelve year old cockatiels from a woman who no longer had time for them. The male broke his wing 5 years ago, and no medical attention was received. now that i have him, i see that he desperatly wants to fly but drops like a stone. is there anything that can be done 5 years after the fact? or can i work with him to help him to adjust to life without flight, and do you have any suggestions on how i could do that? thx for your time..
Amanda

Answer
Hi,

That is so sad that no one took this poor bird to a vet when he broke his wing. :(  There is probably little that could be done for him now, but I am not a vet so I can't say that for sure. I would highly recommend getting him to a vet to get examined. (Plus- these poor birds have probably never seen a vet in their entire lifes! So they should have a general check-up anyways to make sure they are in good health).

You can find an avian vet near you at these websites:

www.aav.org

or

http://www.parrotpro.com/avianlst.htm

As far as him not being able to fly- many birds kept in captivity have their wings clipped, so they cannot fly either. Hookbills (parrots) get along just fine without flight because they are very good at using their beaks as a third foot.  Since his one wing was broken, it might be better to clip his wings so that he does not hurt himself if he tries to fly and has full power with one wing, and none on the other (this will throw him off balance and he could crash into something). Here is an article about allowing birds flight or not:

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww19eii.htm

I hope this helps.

-Maggie