Blood feather.

[EleriDragonfly]

So about half an hour ago Wheatley pulled out one of his feathers, I took a look at it and it was all twisted and frayed. Next thing I know he's bleeding. This has never happened before, and I didn't have any flour or cornstartch to help stop the blood. I tried with some damp kitchen towels just to try and ease it and it seemed to work.
As soon as I was happy it had slowed I drove quickly to my local Tesco and bought some flour, I couldn't find any cornstartch. I had another quick look and he seemed to still be bleeding though it was hard to tell.
Wheatley doesn't like being held, and I am on my own so I had some trouble getting to the root of the bleeding. He kept struggling. So I put as much flour as I could as close as I could to where I thought the bleeding originated. I'm keeping an eye on him, and I think the bleeding has stopped though it's hard to tell as his tail feathers are still stained. I'm worried as it's nearly their bedtime and I would hate to wake up to find him dead.
Will he be ok tonight? I am keeping an eye on him and he seems ok, he's eating away normally at the moment and seems ok.

[Pajarita]

Yes, of course he will be OK. I don't know who started the rumor that birds can bleed to death from the loss of one single feather. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! As if wild birds did not lose blood feathers when they suffer trauma... Their blood doesn't quite clot the way ours does but it does clot. Next time, apply an ice cube to the spot. It will stop the bleeding and clean out the blood as it melts.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Unless its a very large bird it's not too much of a worry. Most birds will pull the feather out themselves, especially the larger birds. What you do have to watch for is if its splintered because that can cause an infection. Other than that you should be fine. When Edmund has a broken feather I just took it out for him and he was fine but this was a really awkward feather and he kept poking at it so in the end I just had to. Most of the time they just resolve themselves with cornstarch.

[feathermum]

Yes, of course he will be OK. I don't know who started the rumor that birds can bleed to death from the loss of one single feather. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! As if wild birds did not lose blood feathers when they suffer trauma... Their blood doesn't quite clot the way ours does but it does clot. Next time, apply an ice cube to the spot. It will stop the bleeding and clean out the blood as it melts.

omg!! tysm for clearing that up!!! seriously, I am always told that if there is a blood feather & it brakes, or a bird starts beeding, that u don't stop it within 15 mins or so it'd die!!
( which scared 10 yrs off me, but @ the same time I wonderd about wild birds )

I do have cornstarch on hand, but now i'll keep some "just for bird icecubes" too ty Pajarita

[Eric&Rebecca]

Yes the only real dangerous is if its a number of large feathers in a larger bird, that can lead to death by blood loss but an accident that severe would require an AV visit anyway or if the feather has snapped half way up or splintered, because that's a risk for infection. Anything else is a bit of cornstarch or as Parajita suggest an ice cube and it should be fine. Baby birds do it all the time, George used to jump up and down like Tigger on his tail feathers. Thankfully now he's stopped but we had a few little bleeder, i've only ever had to pull one feather and that was on Edmund.

[EleriDragonfly]

Well I stopped the bleeding with some flour and he looks to be doing well now.
Sorry if I seemed to be over reacting, but this has never happened to me before and I was worried.
But he's ok now, and I have flour in the house now if it ever happens again.

[Pajarita]

Don't worry about over-reacting. When it comes to birds, it's infinitely safer to under-reacting.

[marie83]

Have a look at the video on this link, it may reassure you a bit even if it is a blood feather that has broken. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10254&p=70961&hilit=blood+feather#p70961