Broken blood feathers?

[BaxtersMom]

I've read through several posts now about broken blood feathers. For instance, a grey was flying, broke some blood or tail feathers and had to rush him/her to the vets because of all the blood.

 

This sounds very serious and I've never had an experience even close to this which makes me think I wouldn't be prepared if it did happen. Can anyone explain what happens, why it happens and what a grey owner can do if it does happen? It sounds scary and if I'm ever in the situation I would like to know what to do. I am not sure but it sounds like this is not that uncommon. Thanks in advance for any info.

[Dave007]

Broken blood feathers usually occur in the flight feathers about 98% of the time. The flight is usually broken in an area which is pretty far away from where the feather is coming out of. Those feathers have a constant blood supply in them. The only other feathers that are the same are the tail feathers but blood is rarely seen there. Birds chew tail feathers and blood doesn't come out.

The wing feather is basically crack and blood will come out until the area is clotted. The clotting is usually temporary. It give a person time to go to a vet who will remove the whole feather down to the skin. Other people who are experienced with that problem can do it at home. it usually takes two people to do it. One to hol;d the bird, the other to pull the feather,

Any person who owns a parrot should have some type of clotting agent in the house to use in that emergency--Quik Stop--talcom powder--corn starch or any other similar powder type items plus there should be 5 or 6 Q-tips available. The powder is put on the bleeding area with a Qitip that's been dampened and is covered by whatever is being used. It's applied to the area and pressed in and held there for about a minute. If the bleeding starts again, the procedure is done again until the bleeding has stopped. The feather is put back in line with all the other feathers and it's off to the vet to have it pulled.

 

PS--the only other times that the flight feathers will fall out is when the blood supply into the feather has stopped because the feather is old and ready to come out. Either the bird pulls it out, flaps it's wings and it will come out or it simply falls off the body.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/03/13 22:48

[BaxtersMom]

Thanks Dave, I feel better now. If it happens I will know what to do. I read about it happening in other posts and it scared me. I didn't want to panick if it should happen with one of my flock members. Now I think I could handle it calmly.

[Char]

Whisper was molting when I had her to the vet for a check-up. The vet warned me about blood feathers and told me to have some quickstop on hand.

She said that it looks worse than it really is.

 

She also said that I might have read in OLD OUTDATED books to pull the feather. She said not to pull the feather. That this is outdated way of doing things. So now I am confused. :blink:<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/03/14 00:44

[Dave007]

You shouldn't try to pull out a cracked flight feather. The feather has to be taken out at the very base of the feather and after that's done some slight bleeding will occur. It doesn't matter if it's done by a vet or experienced people. All know that some blood will show up and that area also has to be clotted.

Some people who breed birds and have many around also know how to do that process because it constantly happens to their birds. One of the main reasons that proper sized cages are always recommended is because a bird needsthat inside space to flap without the feathers getting caught in the side bars.

I really don't know what books that you're referring to but like everything else that's idiotic out there, your vet is probably right on the money.

[poochbabe]

Ganesha has been on a total plucking tear lately and she yanked on her little red shoot that was starting to be a butt feather and it started to bleed. I got out the quick stop and some corn starch and it has stopped now but what can I do to stop her from doing this again while am away during my work hours? Should I be worried? She is just turning a year old and has been awful this past week. I thought it was getting under control but we went to stay at my boyfriends on Saturday night/Sunday day where she has a second cage and she just freaked out and tore up all the white fuzzy she had started to grow back in and ripped through half of a new flight feather then started to take the tail feather shaft out little by little. Now the bleeding! What can I do?

[Dave007]

Stop using the second cage. What happened should tell you what can happen when a bird is in a strange place especially a different cage that she's not used to. As she gets older, she'll get used to her main cage and many times, it gets harder for a grey to accept changes like that. Luckily, after her thrashing about, you're lucky she didn't crack any flight feathers. There would have been blood and you don't know how to handle something like that. Those feathers are totally different than others.

Your bird is a baby and you may have to sacrifice some of those 2 day trips until your bird is able to stay home with another person. No, there's no way to stop him from picking if he intends to but most of the time they don't do that again unless there's a specific irritation there or an ingrown feather. it'll take a while for her feathers to grow back in and any feathers that have blood in them take even longer.

"""""ripped through half of a new flight feather then started to take the tail feather shaft out little by little. Now the bleeding! What can I do? """"

 

She did that because half of it was already gone and she wanted to complete the job. Broken blood feathers are sometimes painful and uncomfortable to birds.

 

Before you leave for work, put Quik Stop or corn starch ( preferablely Quik Stop) on that area idf if it isn't bleeding. Birds don't like the taste of Quik Stop and will avoid the area--within 3 to 4 days things will be normal.

[Char]

Whisper has a blood feather right now. I try not to think about it. She molted her flight feathers over the last few months and has had a lot of blood feathers but did not break any. It is probably not that common. The have them whenever they molt those feathers. You only hear about the broken ones so it seems like it happens a lot.

 

So I am here to tell you about the ones that didn't break. Just have some quick stop on hand. My vet says they will not bleed to death from it. It looks worse than it is.

 

Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/04/22 02:19<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/04/22 02:25

[poochbabe]

Blood feathers may mostly occur in the wings but if a bird is a really bad plucker, the tail is also vulnerable. Ganesha has been struggling to get past this butt, tail, wings plucking frenzy and last night she went after the new blood feather that was just starting to emerge from the shaft. It started to bleed as did the other two small ones underneath and I had to rush her to emergency vet services at 11 pm last night. When we finally were able to go home at 2 am she was minus all the new blood feathers. This is so distressing. Does anyone have any advice? They gave me an e-collar but I don't want to stress her even more by making it uncomfortable for her to eat, drink and move around at this young age, just turning a year old. Could this be a really bad molt gone worse?