I've always wondered since my tiels have a night fright every so often (they've been braving it out a lot better now! Only a fright if I drop my phone suddenly or the poster falls down) but if they ever happened to fright really bad and somehow broke something like a leg or a wing and we couldn't get them to a vet during night hours what could we do to stabilize them until the first chance to get them in?
There’s information in this post about emergency responses including broken limbs
http://flock-talk.tumblr.com/post/105836481318/hey-friend-reading-what-happened-to-your-baby
Call an emergency clinic (these are open after regular veterinary hours) and run the bird in to get the wound at least properly splinted, they may reset the bone or they may not depending on their experience with avians and the sorts of procedures they do. They may just secure the limb to reduce damage until you can get to a proper avian vet to get the bones reset.
First you’ll want to check for any open wounds, if something is currently bleeding you may need to wrap it in gauze and secure it with some vet wrap depending on the severity of the wound. Rapid blood loss is the first major concern since it is so easy for birds to bleed out, give them a good look, bandage anything that needs it, and check their general awareness. Make sure they’re responding to their surroundings, they may be looking around, trying to peck at you, just general behaviours that are showing you that they’re still readily conscious and alert as opposed to being super drained and sluggish which would happen if they were losing too much blood.
If they’re caught in something restrain their heads so you can easily access the caught limb without being bit and calmly get them out of there. The best way to restrain their heads is to hold their necks with a finger and thumb and gently stretch out the neck making sure your fingers are right under their chins. Restraining that way doesn’t hurt them or choke them, stretching is an important factor since they can easily just stretch out and turn their heads down to bite you that’s something many people forget, stretching out the neck yourself ensures your fingers are in a safe place under their skull that they can’t manoeuvre and nip.
If something is broken for the most part you shouldn’t have to worry about splinting or wrapping it, trying to do that while inexperienced could do more harm than good so it’s best not to unless there’s a severe problem or for some reason they can’t get vet access the next day (in those cases they may try to move around and injure the limb more which is when temporary splinting may become necessary). If they’re stuck for a day without vet care it’s best to keep them in a very small cage as to reduce movement, don’t put toys in there other than maybe one they may find comfort with since you don’t want them trying to play and hurting themselves further. The main thing about that cage is that they can have easy access to food, water and extremely easy surfaces to sit on. If they’ve broken a leg you may not want to have any perches so they won’t fumble and do more damage but if you find that your bird is really uncomfortable being on the floor it may reduce some stress to have an easy perch, watch your bird and decide what is best for them at that time.
It’s obviously not an ideal place for permanent residence but when something is broken it’s important to reduce their movement with minimal stress so they don’t make it worse which is top priority at that time. If they find comfort with you sit by the carrier and talk to them, maybe they’ll want some scritches through the bars whatever helps them feel comfortable. If your bird is in the small carrier and begins trying to climb around to get out it is okay to let them out if being with you is what they want to be calm, climbing on the bars and begging to be let out could cause more injuries so if them laying on you will help keep them still it is an okay alternative.
If they do break something don’t wait, call an emergency clinic. Even if they don’t specialize in avians most of them will be able to help clean any wounds and bandage broken limbs as a temporary help until you can get access to an avian vet. If you don’t know where emergency clinics in your area are give your vet a call ahead of time, they’ll have a list of local clinics and their phone numbers so you can keep those on record when needed.
