Number6 Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Gina fell earlier, and now she has what appears to bea a feather bleeding, I need ideas. No vets in my area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number6 Posted July 2, 2007 Author Share Posted July 2, 2007 I'm 35 minutes from the nearest pet store and they're closed anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number6 Posted July 2, 2007 Author Share Posted July 2, 2007 I sent my better half to wal-mart to look for some styptic powder. Gina seems to be calmer now. Hopefully it was a false alarm. I'm watching her close. I've just heard stories about bleeding feathers killing birds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number6 Posted July 2, 2007 Author Share Posted July 2, 2007 I've got the styptic pencils on the way, but I don't think they'll be necessary tonight. I haven't seen any additional drops, but she still seems to be favoring that wing (to be expected). Thank you (and CD) so much for my little flipping out moment.:blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hveusnthbrige Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 You can use baking powder, flour or corn starch to clot blood. But that will not help as a blood feather that is cracked and bleeding down its length can not be clotted. You must solve the problem by using some pliers and grab the feather shaft near the skin, maybe 3/8" away, and yanking it out as if plucking an eye brow hair/eyelash thing or pulling off a bandaid thats stuck to some hair. Just yank with speed while applying slight pressure with a finger to the base of the feather shaft against the skin so the skin has no chance of tearing too. The feather hole thing(cant think of the actual name right now...) after yanking may bleed for about 2 mins or some but if dabbed with the flour it will stop. Make sure to wash you hands and arms throughly before doing this and have your toweling assistant do the same! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number6 Posted July 2, 2007 Author Share Posted July 2, 2007 Speaking of towling assistant.... I know now that Gina doesn't like my girlfriend touching her while she is laying on her back. (she lets me lay her on her back) I was trying to look at her wing, and my better half touched her, soon after there were 2 in the house that were bleeding :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dblhelix Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 I hope Gina is getting better. Chances are all will be OK. Broken/bleeding blood feather should ONLY BE PULLED as a LAST RESORT. Pulling out a feather can cause the birds major trauma, pain and can make them distrust you. Most broken bloods will heal on their own, no need to pull them out unless bleeding is rather profuse and cannot be stopped. In the wild they sustain injuries and are able to take care of it on their own. People who have owned birds for many years will encounter a broken/bleeding blood feather and will confirm that there generally is no need to pull out a feather unless the bleeding is quite bad and cannot be stopped. Another important note, styptic powder/pencil should only be used on bleeding toe nails, never to stop a bleeding feather. This is important as the styptic powder chemical can permanently damage feather follicles so that they may not ever grow back properly. The recommended blood feather remedy is corn starch and/or flour to promote clotting. If that does not work, then pulling may be the only option.<br><br>Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2007/07/02 08:17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lidia Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Dblhelix is exactly right. DO NOT pluck the damaged feather, Gina will lose it eventually, and painlessly, if left alone. The bleeding has stopped. If it starts again you can deal with it now you know how. Poor Gina has suffered enough trauma already without doing something so potentially dangerous and definitely traumatic and painful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tari Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 I always pull them. It stops the bleeding and you dont have to worry about it starting again. PS you can use flour to stop the bleeding. Or a bar of soap. However I have only used soap when I had no flour in the house.<br><br>Post edited by: Tari, at: 2007/07/02 11:51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Oh My God...:ohmy: I would have been up all night just watching in fear of it starting again! But then, I am the type of person that wakes up at 1 in the morning and starts thinking about high priorities at work, on new projects were designing or "Bugs" we need to fix and end up going into the office at 4am :woohoo: I hope your little guy is just fine this morning. Is he still favoring that wing? Good Luck - Dan<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2007/07/02 15:26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number6 Posted July 2, 2007 Author Share Posted July 2, 2007 I stayed up until 2am with her, she got more active and stopped moping around. She starting talking and such, so I went ahead and went to sleep. She's normal this morning, and even wanting to play fight. She's picked the wing back up, and I thing she'll be OK. This just kinda scared me because I've never had a bird bleed on me before. The last bird my family had even got hit by a truck mirror (broke the glass, bird was OK after a week or so) and she didn't bleed. Then when Gina started bleeding, it just spooked me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dblhelix Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Glad to hear things are improving. Interesting thread with the different takes on how to deal with such issues. Obviously there is no clear right or wrong. Personally I err on the side of being conservative. I would not pull a flight unless the damage was so bad that it appeared there was no choice. Certainly I can see there could be situations where this would be required, but I believe in most cases it is not. In any event, keep us posted on the status and I hope she continues to improve! Looks like that will be the case. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hveusnthbrige Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 That's awesome shes doing fine again. Feather plucking is best done without the bird being ready for it. I will spend lots of attention touching the other wing or complete other side of the abdomen while "plotting my attack" on the target feather. Then when it seems like the time is right I'll say, look over there! just like a child and yank that bandaid off quickly. Then lots of attention and comforting to follow! It's kinda like when a little kid falls off their bike an is scraped and bruised from head to toe. They make it seem like they're gonna die, and it might even look pretty horrible with all the blood and tears... but they bounce back more often then not. In the wild birds break blood feathers all the time and you think in the 60 or 80 years years a Grey will live it will encounter this several times. No one is there to help them and they survive just fine. More than anything the reason a bird in the wild dies from a broken blood feather is becoming infected directly into the blood stream. That's just my take on it anyway and how I treat it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 I haven't faced this situation yet but it helps to know how to deal with it, I know I will freak out too but that is par for the course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest briansmum Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 there is some really useful info on this thread, good one everyone. i too haven't had this problem yet, but i'm am VERY squeamish, i can't pull a splinter out of my own finger let alone a feather from a wing. i'd be straight to the vets LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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