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Urgent blood and scabs. what happened to my cockatiel???

kukubirb

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
2/7/21
Messages
3
Real Name
kuku the birb
Hey everyone! I hope everyone is staying safe during the pandemic. This might turn into a long post but any slight help will be very very much appreciated as i am pretty stressed since the past few hours.

I adopted a female cockatiel about 3 months ago. Not sure what her age is but my vet told me she is near to one year. Her first big molt is going on as well so i am guessing she is 1 indeed. She has been molting since the past month with old hair falling in bunches and new pin hair are growing at a fast speed, which seems to be great, right? She is pretty friendly and loving. She likes to cuddle alot and inspect all things shiny with her beak. She only goes inside her cage when she has to sleep or if we are not home for a few hours as we like to let her roam around on her own (not that she doesnt like her cage. she sometimes hangs in it for fun too especially when she wants to eat or play with her toys but generally likes to play with us more so)

On friday, my grandmother passed away in another city so we had to leave urgently. We left at 7 am and returned on Saturday at 10 pm. I had our gardener come over to check her out and change her water twice during that time. He was also kind enough to change her sheet (that doesnt require taking her out) But my gardener was instructed not to take her out as she wouldnt want to go back inside by force. When i came back, i noticed her to be unusually quiet even after a few hours of meeting us (she is very chirpy. likes to talk and tweet alot with us around) i believed it was because she was left alone. Then after taking her out i noticed some brown substance on her wing. At the same time, a mature primary feather fell from her wing (it did not have blood. it was completely transparent). I saw that the substance was actually brown dried up blood. Kind of looked like what happens after we, humans, get a cut and it semi-heals after a few hours. It was in the same spot on BOTH wings about 2 cm on left wing and 3 cm on right wing in the area where the primary feathers grow. so very near to the start of the wing. the "wound" ort whatever it is, is very brown and scabby now. She isnt letting me touch her wing so i cant get a picture. Other than that, her poop is normal. Her chirping and inquisitiveness is normal today again. She is eating and drinking normal. She is preening all areas of body except that dried up blood area. She is not touching it or letting it be touched. Do you guys think it is a blood feather that broke or did she purposely hurt herself because of stress of being left alone??? I mean its just strange how it happened on both wings in the same area. She has had night frights before but never resulted in anything like this. I know birds can get depressed and hurt themselves so im really scared as to what might have happened. Also she has been very startled since we got back. Like she keeps spreading her wings in a defensive way and is looking scared at every little extra noise etc. We have left her previously for no longer than 24 hours the same way but nothing of this sort ever happened, so i am very very concerned. btw she has never displayed any aggressive or violent behavior before

I searched on the internet for an answer but i cant find it. Everywhere it says that when blood feathers break this happens, but it seems like there is no remaining feasther left.. so there is no shaft to be seen on her wing or any half broken feather. I am anxiously waiting to take her to the vet but all vets in my country are closed on Sundays... Can someone please tell me what might have been the reason behind this??? I need to be able to explore all avenues before taking her to the vet on Monday. There are still over 17 hours to that and im worried sick. Please someone tell me whats going on. Im very attached to my tiel and cant afford anything bad to happen to her :( Im worried it might get infected.. but its not bleeding right now its dried up.

Any help or support will be GREATLY appreciated. God bless you all and sorry for the long post.
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
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9/16/13
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Michelle
Can you post a pic? I am leaning towards she had a night fright. Can she move the wing ok? It really shouldn't get infected. She's not picking at it, is she? Although not unheard of, usually tiels don't self mutilate, not like some other species. Was there any blood in her cage?
 
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