Urgent Broken blood feather (I am a new bird mom)

[Peach]

I just got my cockatiel a few days ago, he is 4 four months old, he is not tame and I am new to the parrots' world. Although I read a lot about tiels before getting one, I am still very inexperienced and my bird doesn't even trust me yet, I was planning to work on it after a few days of getting him to get used to his new surroundings, but he ended up breaking a blood feather this morning after getting startled from all the loud noise a school nearby was making because of an event. I tried to apply some cornstarch on the feather, to stop the bleeding, but I can't handle him well yet and it ended up making a bigger mess. I am about to go look for vets who might be open even though it's the week end. I don't know what to do, I'm panicking and I don't want my bird to die due to blood loss.

 

[Ripshod]

If he's still bleeding you'll just have to get firm with him but not too firm.
If it's his left wing you'll want him in your left hand, and right for right. Imagine he's in your hand, thumb and forefinger either side of his head so he can't turn and bite, and your palm and other fingers over his wings and back. Quickly as you can open the bad wing, get some cornstarch on there and pinch where it's bleeding for as long as you can hold him. If this stops it let him back into his cage, calmly. If his feather is broken so it's hanging loose you can trim it later. Your job now is to get him calm and reward him for not biting.
If he's still bleeding after this he needs to see a vet like now. Easter gets in the way tomorrow and Monday.
I would not recommend plucking it as you are new to all this.

 

[Zara]

Good descrption of the ¨grip¨ there by Ripshod.

Cornstarch will work in most cases. Take a deep breath and calm yourself too. Panicking owner = panicking bird.

Observe the bird every 15-20 mins or so for the first hour, then every half hour.

Good luck, keep us updated

 

[rocky'smom]

Breathe, cornstarch or white flour will stop the bleeding. That and good pinch on the blood feather with the starch or flour. Hold the pinch for at least 30 seconds. The longer the better.

 

[Peach]

Thank you for your replies, it helped me calm down. I did struggle a bit to hold him but I put the cornstarch successfully on the feather. I noticed that he kept on preening, and trying to remove that feather, it didn't cause any bleeding though (except for a droplet of blood I found in his cage this morning) I wonder if it's something to be concerned about, the vet I usually took my pets to went out of business recently, so I couldn't find any with an emergency service in my city, the ones I could check were all closed, so I hope everything goes well until tomorrow.The blood really scared me yesterday, I did know about blood feathers breaking but I didn't think it would happen so soon while I'm barely trying to learn how to act around him and make him feel comfortable. I was trying to take it slow so this whole thing took me off guard.

 

[Zara]

I didn't think it would happen so soon

It can happen whenever and I feel it is something people should learn a little about before getting a bird (especially a Tiel). Like you said, without knowing, you panicked so it´s not good for the bird or the owner.

It should heal on its own and eventually molt out. Just keep an eye out in case the bleeding starts again (if he knocks it or pulls it can cause it to bleed again).

Glad you are both ok, Welcome to the forum