broken talon

[Sharpster]

advice needed!

male harris has just broke 2 thirds off his left front talon(''index finger'')leaving a 10mm stump.this bled but clotted ok.
never had this happen to any birds before,but know a few of your harris' have done similar,so can any of you who know,tell me how long it took to heal.enough to resume hunting.also as ther is some talon left-will it regrow??
this happend flying in woodland,not hunting,although bit dusky on way back,cant really see how he did it.
thought harris' were calld flying lurchers due to ther poaching ability & the way they bond with the human hunting partner. but now i realise it's just cos ther accident prone workers!!or is it just mine?!
cheers for any advice

[Sprout]

Once the nail has grown long enough to cover the quick and prevent disturbance of the clot it will be fine to continue flying without worry

[Sharpster]

cheers sprout,how long do you reckon?2/3 wks??

[Sprout]

Few weeks should be fine - what caused it to break?

[Sharpster]

cheers chap, for advice.
dunno what caused the break.flying him along woodland edge & inside woods,just before dusk,didnt fly any quarry,just keeping fit & having a mooch.
when i got him home me missus asked where all the blood was coming from!
can only put it down to dodgy landing & twisting it sharply,but it must take a helluva lot to break a talon like that?!

[Sparkes]

Hey Sharpster,

Had exact same thing happen to my female HH.. She flew up into a tree with the wind behind her and couldn't brake so she ended up scrambling through the tree trying to hang on (..was a very windy day.) When I got her back her rear talon had snapped off half way down exposing the quik.. After a visit to the vets they thought that the best course of action was to quarterise the talon to stop the bleeding, which in hind sight was a bad idea, the talon was sealed and grew back arrow straight!!!! So although not being a vet myself I would be tempted to leave it alone once you've stopped the bleeding and let it grow back of it's own accord (hopefully curved)..

Best of luck anyways

Neil.

[Sharpster]

cheers chap,luckily the bleeding stopped quick!does sound like similar accident,as when landing in scrubby trees,he can be pretty damn clumsy!
have to say although not much talon left,and quick is exposed,he doesnt seem at all bothered by it now.

[Midge]

THis happened to me a few weeks ago with a bird I had on loan , she flew into a dry stone wall after a rabbit , and broke her main talon on a stone , it bleed like bee-****** and I done what most would do ..PANICKED.....it wasn't my bird ! So I headed for home immediately as we had nothing with us for such an event.phoned our local vet ......the solution "potassium permanganate" some crystals on a piece of wet cottonwool and pressed into where needed .and heeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy presto .blood stopped.I now have a couple of discoloured fingers to prove I used it (rubber glove would be handy ).the cost .permanganate is about 60 pence from any chemist and is easy carried in the field .Valuable lesson learned,the bird is back at home (maybe only too glad she is an all )

[Jonathan Hall]

You can also get this in stick form looks like a long match, just touch on open wound and has same result.
If you require to repair an injured talon or beak a good dentist is the route we take, reformed the top of a Buzzards beak using same skills as the white fillings, looks strange but wears like the real thing as beak grows, only problem is cost.