About a week ago the colony of budgies got into a neighboring sun pair's aviary. To my knowledge at the time, the suns did not take action against the budgies except by shouting. Two days ago I noticed that one budgie had an injured foot and one could no longer fly. I treated the injured foot (he had difficulty gripping the perch) and left the budgie in the aviary. I took the grounded bird into the house for treatment. Today I went to the vet with both birds as I could not be sure the wing was not broken.

The vet seems to think the injury is the result of infection possibly a bite and the bird may never fly again. Both birds are on a course of Doxy.

He is holding his wing a little high away from his body. Is there anything else I can do to try make sure this birdie does fly again? It is the carpal joint (wrist) that is injured.

Angie, I don't have any advice, just wanted to say I hope the little one gets better. Hopefully Arty will be along soon, he was just saying the other day that he has fixed a lot of wing injuries.

Along with Arty, John (Beaks) may also be able to give you some advice. If he doesn't see this thread you could try PMing him.

I hope the little guy fully recovers!

Thanks Karen & Camille.

I suspect this is a cage injury, the keets should have been seperated from the Suns right away.
Sounds like this is a swollen joint from banging into the side of the cage.
What are the doses and duration of the Doxy?
Injectable or powder?
An xray should have been applied to see the damage to the cartilage.
The wing should also be wrapped to prevent the use of the wing and allow healing to take place.
Doxy is an anti-bacterial type of medication, this may help concerning infection.
You mentioned Wrist-Joint injury, an anti-flamitory medicine might help such as dexamethasone.
Is there an apparent wound on the tip of the wing?

The keets and suns don't live together, the budgies escaped and went visiting, big accident. Doxy is powder mixed 5g per litre for 7 days. I just make one cup daily with a 1/4 measure. Has to be made fresh every day. The vet felt that sedating to xray is risky because of the small size. There is no wound, just a tiny bit of skin color change on the front tip of the wing. I am calling this the wrist cos the elbow would really be the first joint after the shoulder sort of down facing. Would strapping help?

I thought about the size of the little one after posting, that makes sense as far as sedation is concerned.
Dis/coloration on the tip of the wing, "a bruise", so I feel safe with both these birds were injured from bouncing around inside the cage.
Hey...accidents do happen, a reminder of the fragile world they live within.
If the cartilage is damaged "cracked-fractured", then the wing should be wrapped to prevent usage, again the size of the little one will be a factor, I use athletic tape here, with the smaller birds I cut the tape into maybe an inch wide strips, but in this case lets see how the bird does, this could be a bad bruise, but there will be swelling-pressure from the swelling is why the bird hold the wing out and upward, your friend will FAVOR this wing until it feels better.
I am surprized the vet did not offer an anti-inflamitory, again the birds size maybe an issue, to much medication isn't good, so I see using infection medications is the drug of choice.
One can towel the little one and hold ice onto the joint for a few minutes a few times per day, this will help ease the pain and reduce the swelling.
Again I would use an inflamitory medication for the Talon issue on the other little bird, his'her injury also sounds like a sprain type of injury.
Keep an eye on the talon, look for signs of dis-coloration, again Ice may help ease the pain and swelling.
Best to keep an eye on both birds for now, note any changes, weather for the good or worse, If possible keep both birds in a smaller (better controled) cage, this way you can keep a better eye on there condition.
Good luck, keep us informed.
Peace
Arty

Thank you so much Arty.
I have both birds in a small traveling cage inside the house. They both came in from a full flight aviary outside, so this is a big shock to them. I don't really have cages suitable for budgies because of bar spacing. They fit out any little gap. I have not weighed these budgies but I would guess about 33g. I also can't have them close to the pet budgies inside due to territorial issues.

I understand Angie, there's many changes in these little ones world right now.
Being able to keep a close eye on them will help you a great deal.
If possible holding ice on the injuries will help.
All we can do is keep our hopes up for a speedy recovery.
Take Care my friend.
Arty

Angie, for inflammation you could mix metacam or even motrin in aloe and put it on the injury for pain. Children's motrin can also be used for inflammation. I agree to much medication is not good but you are the one seeing the bird first hand. Ask your vet about metacam and or dosage of any other medication. If you can't get in touch, send me a pm and I will forward info from one of my avian resources.

Doxy is normally used for GI tract infections. You may need something like Cipro for a systematic infection, ask your vet. Doxy is better than nothing!