New flight feather broken - urgent

[Suzumaki]

Hi, I've been meaning to join the forum for a long time and I'm frustrated that this has to be my first post

 

My CAG Casey is almost done growing out his feathers after a clip last year (no more clipping for us, he is better this way!) and today we were doing some flight practice and on one run he went straight down, didn't hit anything, and one of his new feathers that he's just started unsheathing was stuck out to the side.

 

http://i51.tinypic.com/2mchgli.jpg

 

http://i54.tinypic.com/73ktvq.jpg

 

There is a little blood on it as you can see, and i found two tiny drops on the floor, and he cries out in pain if he touches it. He was trying to preen it back into place at first but now he's just sulking in his cage. I'm really worried about him and I'm afraid if I try to take him to the vet the trip would just make things worse, he hates his carrier (I'm a few months into nudging it closer and closer to his cage but it still upsets him).

 

This happened an hour ago and he's tried to preen it about five times now and screams every time. I know I shouldn't pull it out or cut it or anything but I don't know if he'll be able to fix it on his own. I have flour ready in case he starts bleeding and/or if he bites the shaft up.

 

I'm also really sad that it's his brand new flight feather

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I canceled my plans for the afternoon and am just sitting here watching him, worried sick

[Dave007]

THere's a few reasons or possibilies about what's going on and we can't see it. Some birds break their wings in cages or outside of cages, flying off playstands, landing on floors. If there's blood, it's a flight feather. Depending on where the break is located, for a short while it may be painfiul but a bird will eventually leave the feather area alone. The blood usually cakes up and the bird knows when and where to preen or pull it out. Others will eventually put it back in place. Others may have a feather stick out and it'll fall off. It really depends on the situation right now. The actual problem right now is how you're handling it. Obviosly this is the first time you've seen this happen. Others have seen it periodically and eventually learn how to deal with it. SO, this problem is seriously bothering you, maybe even more than it's bothering the bird. So, you need to take a more assertive action here in order to have a vet fix it. You'll need to put your bird on the floor, and quickly wrap the bird's body with the towel excluding his head and simply put him in that carrier whether he screams or not. Most parrots don't get used to being in that type of carrier. Carriers are used for specific purposes, one being a vet visit. The vet will remove the bird from the carrier. He usually has ana assistant that helps. After the whole thing is done and you bring your bird home, he'll sulk, be quiet, may not eat, may stay in the back of the cage, may get nippy if you try to handle him. For many people, this id what happens after a vet visit. With other people it doesn't. Either way, if the bird doesn't like the carrier, doesn't like a vet visit, doesn't like being handled by a vet, when the bird comes home, any attitude your bird will have will usually disappear within 2 days, 3 days at the most.

Edited April 13, 2011 by Dave007

[Jingles]

how is he tonight?

 

It's hard to see them scream in pain like that... but he knows how to handle this situation... (deep down he does!) But, if it were me, if he was still screaming in pain tomorrow, i'd take him in!

[Suzumaki]

Update - he's fine!

 

After a while he stopped trying to pick at it and the vet couldn't see us that day so I decided to wait over night, he hadn't screamed at all since the first hour when I posted. I brought his cage into my bedroom so I could get to him quicker if he fell over. In the morning, he had tucked the feather back into place so it wasn't sticking out anymore, and he started acting normal again. I left the house for probably 20 minutes at one point to pick up food and when I got back the feather was at the bottom of his cage and he seems fine, no blood at all, the feathers under that wing look a little picked at but he's never been a plucker so I doubt that will get any worse, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

[Shelly Yokum]

I am so glad the little fella has it all under control. It is so scary when they hurt themselves. My B/G crashes all the time, and never fells to hit the table on the way down. But so far, Knock on wood he is fine. It scares me to hear the thump. Oh baby I know that hurts.