Black residue on pin feather

[Milo_S]

Hi,

My cockatiel has been growing some new feathers and I happened to come across some that had these black flakes on them. They're not actively bleeding. I'm just wondering what they are and if I should be concerned. I've attached some pictures so you can get an idea of what they look like.

 

[HeatherG]

Old blood in the feather shaft?

 

[Milo_S]

I'm not sure. I'm thinking it could be that he preened his pin feather too roughly and it bled a bit but healed and now it's growing out. He hasn't gotten into any accidents recently

 

[BirdyBee]

I'm not sure. I'm thinking it could be that he preened his pin feather too roughly and it bled a bit but healed and now it's growing out. He hasn't gotten into any accidents recently

My Cockatiel had something like that yesterday. It's just an old pi feather that may have gotten broken in the past. Not something to be concerned about unless there is active bleeding, then you should remove it.