a broken blood feather

wencui841006

New member
Feb 21, 2011
33
1
UFGainesville Fl
Parrots
Blue Fronted Amazon(Charlie)
Panama Amazon(Joe)
My Joe just broke a pin feather on his wing this afternoon. He flapped and jumped off the perch and I noticed a flight feather was a little bit twisted. I immediatedly checked out this feather. It's a pin feather that was almost fully grown( according to the length of the feather). There was a little bleeding out at the base of feather. It did stop bleeding very soon. I put Joe back to his perch. He preened himself a while and this didn't bother him at all. He was still playing and eating and talking. He looks totally great until one hour ago when I put him into sleep.
I heard some people pull out the broken pin feather. Do I need to pull out that feather? I prefer to let him do himself since it has stopped bleeding.
 

DebsFlock

Banned
Banned
Jul 19, 2012
633
2
Los Angeles County, near Palmdale
Parrots
Scooter -- male Green Cheek Conure "Normal" but that's a matter of opinion! Hatched in March 2010

Scotty -- Male Cape Parrot hatched somewhere between 2007-2009 we think

Caballo Blanco -- male C
I had a similar thing happen with my cockatiel. The advice was about split down the middle -- pull it or leave it be. Since it was a fairly mature feather and it did not resume bleeding, we left it, and all has been well.

You do need to keep an eye on it, as a pin feather that still has a blood supply has the potential to start bleeding again if it gets bumped. If that happens, it will need to be pulled. The other advantage of pulling it is that he will grow another. If you don't, and he doesn't (he may not) it will stay broken off until he molts it.
 

dishgal1

New member
May 1, 2012
718
0
Texas
Parrots
Forrest -Yellow sided Green Cheek Conure, Nacho- Sun Conure
My Sun did the same thing. I called the vet and he said pull it out. I didn't know exactly how to do it so I took him in. He showed me how to do it. I will be able to do it if it happens again.
Have someone hold the bird then you grip the wing at the base of the feather and use a hemostat to pull. You have to pull hard so be sure to have a good grip on the wing top and bottom with your fingers, if not you could actually break the wing. This is what the vet told me. It will continue to bleed if you don't.
 

IcyWolf

New member
Jul 5, 2011
1,542
3
Etters, Pa
Parrots
~Alexandrine Parakeet~2 Red Lored Amazons~Blue Fronted Amazon~Black capped conure~4 Green Cheeks~4 Parrotlets~2 lineolated parakeets~9 American budgies~9 English budgies~ And lots of babies :)
I think pulling the feather is in order here. Even if it is not bleeding much now he could bump it and cause it to start bleeding again. If you are not comfortable doing it yourself, have your vet do it, but ask them to show you how so in an emergency you are prepared to do it. I like using a pair of hemostats so you can concentrate more on stabilizing the wing so you don't injure the bird further. Good luck and let us know how it goes :)
 

melissasparrots

New member
Feb 15, 2012
206
0
Iowa
Parrots
Greater Sulfur Crest Ariel
Goffin's Cassie
Cosmo Hyacinth
Diva, Gremlin, Sprout, Ellie and Oscar Yellow Naped Amazons
Daffy, Mama and Papa Quakers
Linnie the lineolated
+5 parrotlets
I haven't pulled a blood feather in decades of parrot ownership. If they break one, I stand back and watch them carefully for a while to make sure it stops bleeding. Sometimes if its a bad one it'll drip a few big fat drops of blood and then seep for a while. Me interfering usually just ups their blood pressure and then they loose more blood. Typically it will stop bleeding and that is the end of it. If they continuously bump it and it keeps seeping a little, then they will generally pull it themselves or it will fall out after a few days. If they don't, then I start thinking about maybe doing something about it.

Supposedly a bleeding feather can be a life or death situation, however I have never had one that bad. The worst blood feathers my birds have had have been when I've been gone and came home to blood splattered all over the place. Nobody was there to help them, and yet miraculously they survived. The reason I'm not so quick to remove blood feathers is because my cockatoo came to me with a blood feather and I had the vet remove it a few days later at her well bird check. In 11 years with me, that feather has never come back.
 

MikeyTN

New member
Feb 1, 2011
13,296
17
Antioch, TN
Parrots
"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
IF the feather keeps on bleeding, it's best to just pull it. I never had an issue of them not growing back. IF the feather stops bleeding on it's own, all you have to do is supervise it to make sure it does not open back up...It can happen!
 

Spiritbird

Banned
Banned
Aug 20, 2009
5,749
Media
10
6
Agree with all that say pull the feather. Rosie broke one of the long blood feathers a few years ago and I did take her to the vet. It is difficult for one person to do this. I think it is painful for a bird to have a broken blood feather. She freaked out every time I went to touch the feather. Vet did a much better job that I could have.
 
OP
W

wencui841006

New member
Feb 21, 2011
33
1
UFGainesville Fl
Parrots
Blue Fronted Amazon(Charlie)
Panama Amazon(Joe)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #10
I am not sure if pull or not. That feather was bent a little yesterday and hanging outside of the wing. It did bleed very little. I put the feather back and Joe preened a bit. Then that seemed not bother him at all. I can touch him. No pain at all.
I took this morning off to stay at home to watch him. So far he doesn't show anything uncomfortable, eating, playing and talking as usual.
 

dishgal1

New member
May 1, 2012
718
0
Texas
Parrots
Forrest -Yellow sided Green Cheek Conure, Nacho- Sun Conure
If it is very close to the base it may be okay. Mine was further down the feather. After picking him up there was blood all over my hand. Then I found the feather. It had almost quit bleeding but was in a place that could easily get damaged and it was probably 1/4" of damage on the shaft sort of vertical on the shaft....definitely open and damaged pretty good. It could have easily been reopened with a bump to it or something. I was worried about infection as well. The vet did say it needed to come out but he also said he had never personally had one bleed out either.
 
OP
W

wencui841006

New member
Feb 21, 2011
33
1
UFGainesville Fl
Parrots
Blue Fronted Amazon(Charlie)
Panama Amazon(Joe)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #12
Just back from vet. That feather totally broke up and dropped off at the breaking point during the vet table checking when he was flapping his wings. There is still a one inch of shaft left there. It stopped bleeding rightway. The DOC doesn't recommand to remove it since it's not bleeding. He put some sulfur powder on it. That's it. End of story.
 
OP
W

wencui841006

New member
Feb 21, 2011
33
1
UFGainesville Fl
Parrots
Blue Fronted Amazon(Charlie)
Panama Amazon(Joe)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #13
The clipped parrots are very prone to broken blood feather on wings. Like Joe just did, that's the first new feather coming out from his clipped wings. The new feather didn't get any support from other feathers so when he flapped it is easier to break.
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top