Bloodfeather in a Sun Conure

[erin243]

Hi everyone! Quick question - my sun conure has gotten a broken blood feather the bleeding has stopped but this is the second time in a month. The first time the blood feather came out, bleeding stopped, and everything was fine. This time we got the bleeding to stop and everything seems ok but it seems like its the same feather as last time. Is there any way he could be causing this by picking at it or any way I can help him avoid this issue again? He usually is not a clumsy bird.

 

[noodles123]

Yes- a broken blood feather doesn't often fully heal- it's like a fairly dangerous scab because it is basically a funnel to their insides when open. If is bumped or messed with, it can open back up (although they don't always). Since this is the second event where it has opened up, I would consider taking your bird to the vet to have it removed. Yes, TECHNICALLY, in an emergency you could do it yourself (and yes, normally you want to wait and see if they heal first, unless you cannot get it to clot)..BUT, I am wondering if this same feather had begun bleeding again...If that happens at night, your bird COULD bleed to death if the feather doesn't clot...plus, you can screw it up on your own and make your bird mad or squeeze to hard etc---you don't always want to remove a broken blood feather, but when it causes ongoing issues, or if it is bleeding and you can't stop it, it needs to go.
A new feather could not have matured in 1 month's time, so if you think it is the same one, it is probably the same wound re-opening.

EDIT: You say the feather came out, but ARE YOU SURE??? One month is nothing to grow an entire new feather...
I imagine it is not the same feather, but possibly a nearby feather (unless you only thought the feather cam out, and in actuality, only part of it did...)

 

[erin243]

I had a professional actually take the feather out the first time it happened, so I think hopefully they got it all out. Has not caused me issues for about a month and today he had blood all over him. He messed with the injury in the car on the way to get it looked at and pulled out a tiny piece of feather. I’m assuming this was the new feather growing in, but it could have the possibility of being a nearby feather. We got the bleeding to stop but because he took the piece off that you would normally grab to pull a blood feather out, we can’t get to it. He seems ok right now, eating and drinking water fine. I check on it every half hour to make sure it looks ok.

 

[noodles123]

They (THE BIRDS) can and so sometimes pull a feather by the root-- if it came out and stopped bleeding, you are probably fine. Mine did it once for me, as I was poised with a needle-nose pliers in hand, shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm lol!! THANKS NOODLES!

 

[erin243]

Thank you so much! Yes that would be me too!!! I would rather have someone else do it instead of me panicking and messing it up. I would have to watch someone else do it in person!