bad pin/blood feather

[Simmons]

I noticed Jerry my amazon preening his tail this morning and he was kind of growling in pain. I got hold of him and took a look and he had been bleeding from one of his new tail feathers.

The feather is quite large and i have stopped the bleeding but every time he tries to preen himself it causes him pain. i have checked it every couple of hours so far and it hasn't started bleeding again.

Should i take him to have it removed as it is causing him some discomfort or will it heal ?

My vets are not open till Monday and i feel kinda bad for him


Edit** And also should i stop him from preening the area ? i have done it a couple of times but he is not happy that i stop him

 

[Anita1250]

A bleeding tail blood feather can turn into a disaster very easily. Should he completely break the feather, he can bleed to death. I would take him to the vet as soon as possible. Also, keep a very close eye on him and the feather. Should it break, the only recourse is to completely pull it out at the root with a pair of needle nose plyers. Then, apply pressure until the bleeding stops.

If it is just leaking a little blood it should be ok for a while. My Sam the BFA always has some pain when he brushes his tail with a blood feather against the cage bars. He will yelp until he changes position. Only once has one bled a little, and he didn't like that at all. He got some blood in his beaky and did the shake and sputter routine for a while.

 

[SailBoat]

Great advise in the above Post!

Assuming that it is still a pin feather (the casing is still fulling in place), it would be important to determine if the base on the feather is anchored or loose. Pin feathers tend to be ridge and easily cause minor pain when brushed against the cage or other surfaces.

If the feather is no longer ridge in its location, it will likely either fall-out or you Amazon will remove it. My preference is to allow the Parrot too choose.

If the feather is damaged (the shaft is broken), having your Avian Vet remove it is the proper direction.

Call and provide your Avian Vet with the 'status' of the feather based on the prior Post and the information above and follow their recommendation.

 

[Simmons]

Well i took Jerry to the vets the Monday after posting this and the vet said it didn't need pulling so there would be no need to put him through that ordeal.

Its been a few more days now and he seems OK, Thank the gods.

He is back to his normal happy self and is playing, talking and being a little sh*t again .

I just hope he don't do it again that crap was stressful.

https://imgur.com/a/ZMmib

 

[SailBoat]

Well considering the volume of feathers a Parrot has, it is surprising it doesn't happen more often.

Wing and tail feathers are the most common, since the amount of force and activities these feathers normally see. Luckily, this group of feathers are not molted as often.

Since, Wing and tail feathers are selectively molted as a group, over three to four years (on average) with Amazons. It is important to be watchful when they molt and know that when one comes up, a new one will replace it.

Enjoy!

 

[Anita1250]

I am so glad he is ok! Good call to go to a vet. Never know what can happen.