Bickford Pharmaceuticals

Fractures are common in birds as the avian skeleton is made up of a number of pneumatic bones that are hollow and contribute to the bird being light enough to fly.

The bones of the pelvic girdle, some ribs, the humerus and the femur all are pneumatic, and contain large air-filled medullary canals that are involved with the respiratory cycle during flight. The bones of birds are relatively brittle and have thin cortices. They also contain more calcium than mammalian bone, which tends to make them more brittle and prone to developing multiple fractures at one site.

The distal portion of the leg, below the tibiotarsus, has very little soft tissue covering bone, and the proximal half of the humerus also has little soft tissue covering bone, so fractures in these areas are often open and comminuted or pulverized. Efficient and effective treatment of fractures is critical to the health and well-being of the bird.