Urgent Help! Feather broken

[taxidermynerd]

Hello all. I was playing with Chirp and he was doing his thing, playing around, and he accidentally flew and hit the recliner. He's fine (he hit close to the ground and not that hard) but one of his wing feathers is at a weird angle. I noticed and there's a tiny amount of blood?

It doesn't seem to be hurting him, he still hoping around and playing inside of his cage, it's just that the wing feather is at a weird angle with some blood near the actual wing.

What should I do? I have styptic powder I think, but I read somewhere that it's not good to use on actual wounds. Please help!

UPDATE: We called the vet. We're going to take him in at 4:30. Will let you all know how it goes.

 

[sunnysmom]

If the feather isn't bleeding and he seems to be fine, I would probably leave it alone. However, if it is a broken blood feather and starts bleeding, here is some good info:

Little Feathered Buddies Health & Nutrition

@Laurul Feather Cat ? @cassiesdad ?

 

[iamwhoiam]

You generally need to pull the blood feather, shaft and all and that should be done if he is still bleeding. You can use tweezers or a hemostat. If you can't do it, it's good that you are bringing him to the vet. Sometimes the area will clot on its own and so if he is not bleeding leave it alone.

If you don't want to use styptic powder you can use cornstarch. I generally use Kwik Stop which is styptic powder but then sometimes use cornstarch.

 

[taxidermynerd]

Thank you for the help, everyone. Right now, Chirp is in his travel cage, and I'm making sure I can keep him warm from the house to the car and from the car to the vet's office, since it's about 13 degrees Fahrenheit outside, I don't know if that includes wind chill. He still seems to be doing okay, but it is a very scary thing when you look at his wing really closely and you can see little specks of blood. He also had a tiny bit on his beak, probably from trying to mess with the feather.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Hope all goes well at the vet's. Stay warm and safe!

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Hope Chirp is okay!

 

[Tim]

Deep breaths! The vet will probably pull the feather, and all will be well! I can understand, though...it would be hard to do that myself, especially on a little bird!

 

[taxidermynerd]

Update!

We're back! The vet gave him a good looking-over, and she said that he lost quite a bit of blood. They pulled the feather, and now we're back home! He's gonna be taking it easy for the next few days, and I'll be making sure he doesn't do anything that could cause him to start bleeding again.

 

[WendyN]

Glad Chirp is recovering!

 

[Milestone]

Great news, I'm glad he's ok.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Good that they pulled the feather and Chirp is doing OK.

 

[taxidermynerd]

Great news, I'm glad he's ok.

Glad Chirp is recovering!

Same here! I was so scared, I honestly thought I was gonna lose him. He's acting like it never happened, the silly baby. When the vet tried to towel him, he got spooked and flew out of his cage and ran around the exam room. I ended up having to get him to step up off the floor and then cup him in my hands and transfer him over to the towel. The whole time the vet was examining him, and even when she took him to go pull the feather, he was trying to bite the towel and fight his way out. But everything turned out okay I gave him a little bit of millet when we got home, think of it like giving a kid a sucker at the doctor's office!

Also, in the waiting area we met a dachshund named Wiggles! She was very sweet, and she let us pet her

 

[camelotshadow]

Wow, glad you correctly accessed the situation & took him to the vet.

Blood feathers can be very scary & dangerous esp w such a small bird.

Yeah Chip...you got a great parront there...

 

[taxidermynerd]

Wow, glad you correctly accessed the situation & took him to the vet.

Blood feathers can be very scary & dangerous esp w such a small bird.

Yeah Chip...you got a great parront there...

Yeah, it was really scary. Blood + small bird does not equal fun times. I guess I'm really lucky, my avian vet (and the only one within an hour of here) is just 10 minutes away, and in a pretty nice area with great staff.

Now he's sitting in the doorway of his flight cage, grinding away happily at his beak before he goes to bed. I'm glad all ended well.

 

[Sylvi_]

I'm glad little Chirp is okay!

Sounds very scary, I've had Mimi loose a couple feathers that bled a bit before during a night fright which was for sure one of the scariest things!

 

[Jaguar]

Glad he's okay! Next time (hopefully there isn't one!) have them show you how to do it - it can be a lifesaver when you can't get them to the vet right away, or they're klutzy and do it frequently (like Phoenix)