VERY URGENT! Broken small blood feather

[Eric&Rebecca]

Edmund had a bit of a clatter just now and has broken a very small wing blood feather. The quill is not broken in the skin he has just knocked the end off it about 3cm away from the follicle. We have called the emergency vet and they advised applying pressure for 4 to 5 minutes which has almost stopped it but not quite. We are just about to apply cornstrach.

Should I pull the feather out or leave it in? I don,t want him to pull at it over night and start the bleeding again. The bleeding was not major but still enough to warrant attention. The feather that it bleeding is about 4 cm long in total so it's not a major one.

[marie83]

According to my avian first aid dvd pulling feathers is pretty old school but I would say if the cornstarch doesn't stop the bleeding then call the vet again. If it stops bleeding it should be fine til the morning provided yours isn't prone to night frights.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Thanks Marie, it appears to have stopped now with the cornstarch on it. It's not a primary feather just one of those tiny ones. I cleaned it up with water and the put the cornstsrch on. There wasn't tons of blood but it was bleeding just that tiny bit after keeping the pressure on. He does seem bothered and he is eating a fluffing now. He's preening too.

We are calling the vet back again in ten minutes. He a bit tired now because we've just harrassed him.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Also should we take him to the avian vet in morning?

[marie83]

Honestly without seeing him I dont know, when you speak to them again ask if the think it will need pulling. Also consider the likelihood of him baskhing it again, I doubt he will harm it from normal preening.

[Eric&Rebecca]

OK, calling them back now to see what they say. It's too tiny to even take a picture of unfortunately. I know its not a primary feather to be honest its not even a tertiary one! I will call them now and then call our regular avian vet as well tomorrow morning.

The cornstarch seems to be stuck on due to it being slightly wet so hopefully its stopped it. He is preening and there's no sign of blood seeping through or any further stains. It was never dripping on anything, I only noticed when he was preening it and I saw some blood on his feathers. When I got to it after applying pressure it was just little pin pricks on paper but I thought it might start again so applied cornstarch which I am now covered in!

The quill isn't broken inside or anything it's just like the tip of it has been lopped off. The whole feather was still in the keratin sheath.

He has flown around and is preening and eating a load so it seems to be ok. We will keep an eye on him overnight.

[marie83]

It should be ok by the sounds of it. Let us know what they say though.

[Eric&Rebecca]

ok so they said we need to pull it. The feather will act like a straw and won't completely stop. The follicle can coagulate and protect from infection. They said leaving it in would cause risk of further bleeding.

So I did it and the bleeding totally stopped, the follicle healed straight away. The feather itself had blood in but there was no bleeding from the follicle! I sterilised it and put cornstarch on in case but it seems totally fine now!

He's just tucking into a bowl of Tops! He is also saying hellooooo to his pulled feather which is on the table in a poop sample pot in case the vet needs it.

[Andromeda]

Well done and I'm glad Edmund is okay and you were able to resolve things.

It's my understanding that if a blood feather is broken or cracked and has been bleeding it always needs to be pulled because as Rebecca stated it is like a straw. Even if it clots it's too easy for it to open up again during preening or playing later and if you're not around to stop the bleeding it could lead to serious blood loss.

My Poi was in the middle of a molt when I adopted him and he was a skittish bird and broke quite a few primaries over the first several months. He was clipped at the time so there were no surrounding feathers to protect the new ones. Some would crack and some would break off completely but they would bleed and I had to pull them out. A few times he broke some in his travel cage just trying to get away from the vet and the vet pulled them as well.

I'm glad Edmund didn't bleed from the follicle; that makes it a lot easier. My Poi usually bled briefly from the follicle when the feather was removed but his were primaries and were larger. With pressure the bleeding from the follicle stops pretty quickly.

Jimmy hasn't broken a blood feather in years so I'm glad that's hopefully over with. I know it could still happen but now that he's flighted it's easier for new primaries to grow since they are protected by the other primaries, plus he's not so skittish anymore.

[marie83]

I'll dig the dvd out later and see what it does advise doing