Night frights

My cockatiel had a night fright and she scraped her wing and now its swollen.  Do I just watch her wing to see if the swelling goes down?

[ireneo]

Is she able to hold her wing in a normal position or is it drooping? If she can't keep it tucked up close to her body as usual, she may have a fracture. If everything looks OK, there's no active bleeding, then it may be just a scrape. But to have significant swelling means she hit pretty hard. I'd say take her in if 1. the wing is not held in position or 2. if after the swelling goes down the wing starts to droop.

[talithah]

She is holding her wing in position and she is very active on her cage. the other side is the same position as the hurt one and its very swollen.

[ireneo]

Am I understanding this then? Both wings are in normal position (very good), the scraped wing is swollen (not unusual with a soft tissue injury) and you say the other side is also swollen but no skin injury?

That could be bruising which will cause swelling as well. Only a thorough exam can tell what's going on. I obviously can't do an exam online. If you're comfortable parting the feathers and looking for bruising on the chest and along the wing bones (look especially at the elbow and along the humerus, the upper wing bone), then do that. But if there's a fracture, that take special skill and touch to notice a small break and even better, an x-ray.

If you decide to take her in, don't wait too long because bird bones heal more quickly than ours and a break should be stabilized in the proper position (involves a wing wrap).

[talithah]

The wing that she scraped is the only swollen one the other wing is doing fine.  the swelling looks like it might be going down and I dont see bruising anywhere else on her.

[talithah]

I did a better look the other wing like I said is not swollen and there is no bruising on her chest and on her swollen wing.  She still is holding that wing up and in position.

[ireneo]

That's very encouraging then. It sounds like a typical soft tissue injury and will resolve on its own. As long as she's still eating well and staying active then I would only recommend keeping her in the cage for a few more days to let that swelling go down a bit more. Too much activity may cause the swelling to increase again.