Blood feather: leave it or pull it?

Wrangler is getting in a lot of new feathers and he sprouted a new tail feather finally! His existing tail feathers are basically nubs of spine and quill and have been broken off and chewed from constant scrubbing on the cage during hump-bunny time. (i just got a bigger bunny that hopefully will alleviate this problem). His new sprout is about 2" long...half is feather, half is quill....until he broke it when he fell backwards climbing on the counter. As my husband said at the time "clumsy dumbass" Its now at a 90 degree angle to the rest of his body, sticking straight down. There's been no bleeding and he has left it alone for 3 days now. Im afraid he'll do something to cause bleeding while IM at work--but he hasnt handled it himself yet. ITs hard to tell exactly where it's broken--either very close to his body, or possibly inside? Do I leave it alone, try and pull it, take him to the vet (id prefer to not do that if possible). Will it die off? how long will that take? Can it still grow at that angle and be clipped later? Should I cut the feather part up to the sheath to make it shorter and less of a hazard? I'll try and post a pic---I have a new phone and havent figured out how to get them from phone to computer yet.

Try emailing the pic from the Smart Phone's email address to your computer's email address.

It is very likely that the feather is not a Blood Feather, but more likely an older feather that has completed its growth and no longer has a blood source.

I'm not a believer in pulling feathers unless you have and know how to use an Emergency First Aid Kit that is well supplied. Although pulling feathers rarely has problems, if you do get a bleeder, you need to react quickly. When faced with pulling a broken feather, sometimes is just better to have a professional do that for you, i.e. your CAV or CAVT.

FYI: Without seeing the Feather, this is as far as one should provide comment.

Its a new feather---just started emerging last week. Its a main tail feather-or would have been. I noticed about an hour ago it had some blood crusted around it---that wasnt there when I showered him this morning or when I took the pic. I also just caught him preening/tugging at it. Will see if I can get the pics to upload---the issue is that my laptop doesnt seem to recognize my phone and hence doesnt offer any file/app for downloading them

http://www.parrotforums.com/album.php?do=editpictures&albumid=3050

Okay, you likely have a blood feather! Is the blood you are seeing at the base or up on the shaft? Since it is possible that your Parrot may pull the feather, assure that you have the needed supplies to Stop the Bleeding!

If you email the photo, prior to opening the photo change the last part of the photo's name. Check the common last part of the photos that are on your computer and change it to that.

He wont hold still long enough for me to get a close look but the dried blood is on the surrounding down. This is the question for me---if im at work and he pulls it, it could be a problem, so do i pull it for him now since he's started to mess with it. I have to work tonight and all day tomorrow so the earliest vet visit would be Friday. Three pics are in my album. The first is the one from this morning before he started at it. The other two are this afternoon. In the closeup pic, the feathers in the background are actually wing feathers. The spiney stumpy things on either side of the blood feather are what's left of his 2016 tail feather attempt.

I can relate to this kind of problem. We leave them as long as the Parrot will put up with them. The longer a feather remains, the better the chance that others will stay.

Great photo!

If you are comfortable pulling the feather and have the supplies needed to Stop the Bleeding, pull it.

we sort of took care of it....this is what came off (not out) Since he's chewed on it until its just a fuzzy fibre shredded whatever. It came off easily with just a bit of blood coming from the broken end but the rest of the quill is still embedded. Will he lose this over time or does this require vet attention?

http://www.parrotforums.com/members/coopedup-albums-tail-feather-picture18122-tail-4.jpg

At least the immediate concern is alleviated. Will the shaft/pin dry up now that it's broken off? Is there any further maintenance needed?

coopedup said:

we sort of took care of it....this is what came off (not out) Since he's chewed on it until its just a fuzzy fibre shredded whatever. It came off easily with just a bit of blood coming from the broken end but the rest of the quill is still embedded. Will he lose this over time or does this require vet attention?

http://www.parrotforums.com/members/coopedup-albums-tail-feather-picture18122-tail-4.jpg

At least the immediate concern is alleviated. Will the shaft/pin dry up now that it's broken off? Is there any further maintenance needed?

Click to expand...

It will remain in place and fall out at some point in the future, and be replaced. No attention is required.

Thanks so much for your advice and coaching! The folks on this forum have been a terrific resource for me this past year. Guessing it will be another year/molt before I have him in good feather. the 2016 batch took a beating with so little cover to protect them, but his wings have filled in. I hate to do it but I'll have to clip him again when they mature because he's not recall trained yet and I want more harness practice---and because with no tail feathers he just splats into the ground. His safety comes first.