Blood Feathers – What to do!!!
This is something every bird owner deals with at least once in their time owning birds, which is why it is so important to know what a blood feather is and what your course of action should be to keep your feathered friend as safe as possible. Blood feathers can absolutely be Life threatening and should be dealt with as urgently as possible!
What is a blood feather?
A blood feather is a feather currently growing from the follicle, meaning the feather still has the bird’s blood supply running into the feather. If a bird preens this feather in the wrong spot or they sustain an injury to a blood feather that breaks the blood feather the bird will start bleeding and if not dealt with appropriately can result in the bird bleeding out and dying.
Mature feathers are hollow – they do not have any blood supply running to them anymore so when a bird molts they do not bleed they just simply fall out.
What do I do if a blood feather breaks?
Your first step is to locate which feather is bleeding. Once you have located the feather apply cornstarch to the feather to stop the bleeding if the bird will let you apply a bit of pressure too that is ideal but most birds will be very agitated and will not want you to even touch the feather.
Once the bleeding has stopped and the blood is clotted you want to contact your avian vet if you have never removed with a blood feather before. If a vet is unavailable you can try contacting a parrot rescue or any experienced parrot owners you know. Removing a blood feather can do more harm than good if done incorrectly. You can break bones etc. ask whoever helps you to show you how to remove the blood feather that way you know for next time, but often times it is much easier to deal with a blood feather with 2 people.
What not to do
panic and rip it out, this can cause SO much more damage. yes it needs to come out but it needs to come out in full and not snap off inside your bird, as that will most likely result in a surgery. Stay as calm as you can in this situation. Locate the Feather and put cornstarch or quick stop on it to stop the bleeding contact your vet and get them to take it out for you.
Recap
hopefully this is something you never experience but your chances of experiencing this are definitely very likely broken blood feathers are common, and they never get any less scary but at least now you know;
- what a blood feather is
- what you should do while awaiting a vet appointment
- what not to do