Thanks y'all
I did give him a little bath, and I got a good look at the spot, and he is in fact not bleeding. Did see lots of cute baby feathers though! Guess I'm just a paranoid parront
!
Nothing wrong with that feather. Relax and have a cookie.
Thanks John
I won't say no to a good cookie!
That is a totally normal molted feather! And it is normal to see lots of fluffy under feathers when they molt, some molts you will walk in and it will look like your bird half exploded with small feathers everywhere
The feathers with blood are new feathers coming in - literally called blood feathers. If one of those get broken or damaged, you will have no doubt its bleeding those suckers really bleed, you will usually see dripping blood. That is a time to get your bird to a vet or to a rescue or if you have someone who is experienced with birdie first aide... being involved with the shelter, we can pull a blood feather but it is not pleasant and if you are not experienced, not something to try unless an absolute dire situation where no vet can be reached for hours. But before attempting to pull the feather, you can try quick stop or cornstarch and pressure to try to stop the bleeding, often that will help and allow you to make an appointment the following day.
But what you are seeing is all normal! The super pink skin is just the pin feathers ready to burst thru the skin, it's amazing to see and I can only imagine it has to be uncomfortable... if this is your first major molt, do not be surprised if your baby is a grumpy pants and try not to rub or touch the in feathers when they first pop out, they are super sensitive. Once they dry out a day or so, you can usually start gently pinching and rolling them (only on head and neck) to help with popping pin feathers. But your bird will let you know as soon as you touch a pin feather that is not ready to be popped.
Sorry if I am babbling too much, feel free to ask questions... with the shelter, we deal with pin feathers and broken blood feathers too often! Max just lost a tail blood feather the other week, but thankfully he pulled the entire thing out including the follicle was minor bleeding, but it hurt like all heck, he literally cried.
I've dealt with blood feathers before, and a few times Chirp has broken them! Driving an hour and a half to the ER vet at 2 am is not fun. Especially since it's in a crappy area (but hey, it's Chicago). I'm just glad that we don't need to go to the ER! After his first ER visit (when he crashed into a wall because he didn't really know how to fly and his wings were still growing) I made up an emergency kit, with flour and cotton balls and that sort of thing. It's come in handy a few times, and incidentally, all the times we've gone to the ER vet have been because of blood feathers (when they break). Luckily that hasn't happened in several months!
Again, thanks for all the support!
