Bleeding Feather

[quakingcanopy]

Darwin is bleeding from one of his recently emerged "blood" feathers on his wing. It isn't clipped, so I assume he either got it stuck or over preened it. It's still in a full, hard sheath so it is probably irritating.

What should I do? Leave it alone? Pull it out? It's a flight feather towards the outside of his wing so it's a big one and would probably be very difficult to pull. Is there a way to stop the bleeding? We were working together this afternoon and he was doing great, but I noticed when he would shake his wings to balance something wet was hitting me, when I looked it was blood so I toweled him to find the source.

Thanks for any help or guidance. Pretty worried about my new boy.

 

[iluvsunconure]

I'd put corn starch on it immediately....... Good luck!

 

[Bokkapooh]

How bad is he bleeding and for how long has it been bleeding? I Personally hate pulling blood feathers. I prefer to make them coagulate by cayenne pepper and if possible some pressure.

 

[birdlvr466]

Do you have any cayenne pepper? You can try to pack around it, the cayenne pepper is very good for stopping bleeding and is also an analgesic, (pain reliever) If you dont have that, cornstarch or flour. I wouldnt pull the feather unless absloutely necessary.

 

[ncGreyBirdLady]

You will also need to keep him completely calm while waiting for the bleeding to completely stop.Is He acting OK?

 

[quakingcanopy]

He is seldom thrilled by my presence when I have my face up at his cage Or if I have to towel him. So aside from being puffed up and upset with me, he seems okay. He is not bleeding enough that it has dripped onto the perches, the bottom of the cage, or saturated his side - so I either assume he has not been bleeding very long or that he is not bleeding very much. While in the towel he bled 3-4 drops over the course of 3-4 mins. I'm getting ready too feed the usual warm mash dinner, guess I will see how much he eats and then towel him again to check the bleeding. I do have cayenne pepper and will try that!

Every thing I've found by searching in Google says to pull the feather - that it can be re-opened, get infected, stunt the growth of the new feather for some time...but man, it sure sounds painful for them! So leave it alone?

 

[WingedVictory]

Hi,

I would use cayenne pepper to stop the bleeding first. Next take the bird to an avian vet and have them show you the correct way to extract the feather. Wing feather carry a higher risk of having a problem if you have not done it before. Should you make a mistake you can injure a wing easily.

Gary

 

[quakingcanopy]

Alright, bleeding clotted. He's preening but not messing with the bleeding feather. He's eating the mash just fine. I will keep a close eye on him and see if we need to go to the vet tomorrow. I already called my vet and made an appointment just in case. So worried about him I just adore him and he has been through so much!

 

[ncGreyBirdLady]

 

[Jeddy]

Good job Amanda. Keep us posted on what the vet visit brings.

 

[quakingcanopy]

Quickie update. Feather is well clotted today. While I had him toweled I gave him a good soaking and he looks nice and fluffy right now. He tolerates being toweled very well and seems to enjoy the water. Still going to vet tomorrow - going to do a Gram Stain and anything else the doctor recommends for him and also talk about the stress rings on his feathers and what else I can be doing for him.

Grapefruit is going with us. She chipped the tip of her beak off today She saw an ER vet today and is doing fine, but just in case we're going to a regular A Vet tomorrow.

 

[suncoast]

They give us grey hair don't they.

Ginger