Cockatiel broken bloodfeather

[Themcleodflock]

So when I opened up my Cockatiels cage this morning I saw that she had a little dried blood on one wing. When I checked her wing it looked like the blood had come from a bloodfeather, but that it had stopped bleeding already. I've never removed a blood feather and I'm not keen on putting her through pain and discomfort if the feather will come in ok and won't be a danger to her in the meantime.

I thought it might be best to ask for advice, I've tried looking it up online, but all the sites I found were focused on what to do if it didn't stop bleeding and how to remove al broken feather.

[Jen]

I have two Cockatiels but have never had to deal with this type of injury. I just wanted to wish you luck and please keep us posted. I would like to know how you treat your bird in case I ever run into this problem. Good luck!

[Themcleodflock]

I took her to an avian vet. As it wasn't bleeding and seemed stable, the vet said it should be ok, but to keep an eye on it until the feather has fully grown in.

[Sheather]

I dealt with a blood feather in a java finch once, I just quickly pulled it out and it stopped bleeding immediately.

[Stuart whiting]

Hi there,

If yer really unsure about wheather to remove the feather or not I'd leave it as it is , by pulling the feather out you do obviously run the risk of it bleeding,

I've pulled blood feathers out myself on small finches and canaries over the years and yes there are times when they bleed a little and then stop, if it continues to bleed I then take action and apply appropriate medication to stop it although it's rare that I need to use it.

However your bird being a cockatiel is a larger bird and could obviously bleed considerably more,

You could carefully catch yer bird and trim any snapped / brocken feather with some sissors,

If you leave the feather in tack the bird by rights should replace this with a new feather when he / she moults again

[Tish]

I've never heard of a bloodfeather, kinda got me nervous. How does something like this happen? And how do I know when the feather should be plucked?