treating shooting wound

[kev01293]

i just found some dried blood on a perch and when i checked the pigeon sitting there it had a small round hole about the size of a cotton bud tip between the chest and leg area,ive cleaned out the wound as best as i can as some small down feathers had got into it and have started the bird on amoxicillin to treat any infection but im now concerned that the bird may have a lead pellet stuck deep inside the wound? also i did wonder if the bird may have flown onto or caught itself on a nail or screw etc but cant find anything in the loft that may have caused it :-/ do you think a pellet would have gone straight through and out its back? ive looked but cant find an exit wound   have any other fanciers had experience with shot wounds who can give me advice     kev

[Guest]

hello Kev ,i had a blue pied hen with a similar injury a few years back ,only noticed it when she drank , water was coming through the hole . could not see anything in there ,covered the hole with a dollop of vaseline (other petroleum jelly products are available) she made a full recovery .            andy.

[pjc]

most shots don't contain lead now so no worry of lead poisening, just clean wound, sprinkle wound powder on it if you have any and leave to heal

[Guest]

Possibly an air rifle if it never had enough power to go right through, if that's the case then it will be lead and there's very little your going to be able to do about it if the slug is buried.  Good syringe of warm salty water to clean wound then dab a bit of iodine if you have it, then as pjc said, leave to heal and hope all is well.  

[VAGIN]

Go over the bird with a metal detector ???? just a thought

[blaz]

i had a blue wf cock some years ago had the same thing .i was told to put him in a pen and feed and water him daily .was told he would make a full recovery no treatment given with in two weeks he was back to his old self. it just shows how resilient or birds are. was also told he will heal from the inside out so pushing the pellet out .he must have done that because he went on to win more races.

[Guest]

Go over the bird with a metal detector ???? just a thought

 

not as stupid as it might seem, sad thing is that the ring would get detected so you'd not know anyway unless it has a metal discrimination system on it which some have.