FINCHforum

I need some quick help, is this a blood feather? my society has some new feathers coming in on her bum, and one was just plucked out by a male. now her feather won't stop bleeding (the shaft part is cracked and bleeding a lot). what should i do? if its not a blood feather, what is it and what can i do?

thanks

Pull out!! That is vet did to my parrot. And put powder for stop bleeding

ps, i got her from a pet store and she was pretty badly plucked. i thought that i would try giving her a little cage mate as i have kept her by herself as her feathers have been growing back in. The first thing the male did was pluck her bum! poor thing. the bleeding seems to have slowed down as i used a q-tip and some water to clean her up. I guess I will keep her by herself for a while longer.

Awww poor baby. Yes, you can pull a blood feather out - use tweezers to get a good grip. Apparently the bleeding will stop just about immediately after pulling it out.

With all the birds I've had over the years, I've never had to pull one out. They always managed to stop on their own - though I have had a very bloody looking bird or two (by the time I've found them). They clean themselves up too. Maybe give her a small dish of water to bathe in (after it stops bleeding).

Thanks Liz yes she is looking better now. I pulled it out. I was worried but it seemed to stop right after I removed it.

tinysparrow wrote:Thanks Liz yes she is looking better now. I pulled it out. I was worried but it seemed to stop right after I removed it.

Good for you Amy! Chalk up another one for experience.

What is a blood feather?

hi shantel,
its a feather that bleeds a lot. as far as i have read, you have to pull it out or it will continue to bleed and bleed. i was worried for my bird as what was left of her feather was super bloody (as you can see in the photo), i used up a whole bunch of q-tips as i dabbed away the blood, and the blood was also going onto my hand. this is when i became worried and i wanted other forum member's advice on what to do!

i'm sure other forum members can offer more details about it as well!

Interesting. Thanks for explaining! Glad your birdy is better.

Shantel, A blood feather is a feather growing in during a molt. All feathers need blood to grow but usually only the larger feathers are noticeable. Like tail and flight feathers. If the feather is broken down to the shaft where the blood is it will bleed. when the feather is completely grown out the shaft hardens and there isn't any more blood in it. So the danger times are during molt. Sometimes they fly into something and break it or some other thing happens. You did a good job Amy! I don't know if I could have pulled it out!

Hi trish,
Yes it was scary. I am getting better at helping my birds when they are bleeding or sick. The other day I was cutting my java finch's toenails and she moved her foot. I cut the toenail in the middle just slightly. I was worried as the nail was basically sliced right through in the middle part of the nail and it was bleeding a lot! I had to cut it off at the sliced point and then cauterize the wound!!! I knew I had to do this as she was going to continue to bleed. I tried using powder but it wouldn't stop bleeding. I used a match that I blew out and pressed to the end of the nail (like the finch info article explains for us to do). I think I almost passed out, but I did it like Liz said, it's all experience!