Bleeding

[Kristina]

My bird is bleeding. I think he picked out his blood feather. I just got home and it's still bleeding. I want to know what I should do. my dad wants to put antibiotics on it since he doesn't want to go anywhere to buy anything for the bird thinking the bird is "stupid"...

[Jenny]

What kind of bird? If you are SURE it's a blood feather than all you have to do is locate the broken feather, get a pair of needle nose pliers or something similar, towel your bird, then grab the base of the feather wiht the pliers and yank it out. If you can't find any broken feather and don't know why he's bleeding, then you'll need to take him to a vet. Oh btw, if you can't find any pliers (this happened to me just the other day!) then what I've done is just cover the bleeding feather in flour or corn starch and wrap it wiht a towel and apply lots of pressure until the bleeding has for sure stopped. ~good luck!~

[Kristina]

Thanks. Cockatiel btw. :D Sounds simple.. just need somebody to hold my birdy down. lol

[crazeemama]

How is your 'tiel? Did you have to pull the blood feather? Hope all is well.

[Kaye]

Oh btw, if you can't find any pliers (this happened to me just the other day!) then what I've done is just cover the bleeding feather in flour or corn starch and wrap it wiht a towel and apply lots of pressure until the bleeding has for sure stopped.

I just want to add that even if the bleeding has stopped, the broken feather should be removed, because if your bird hits it on anything, it may start bleeding again, worse. Pulling a blood feather isn't as easy as it sounds either, I took Oliver to the vet when he broke a blood feather a couple weeks ago because I was unsure about myself having never seen a blood feather been pulled. When she pulled it out, the feather came out very easy, which is a sign that it was infact broken and could still bleed more if it wasn't removed. She went pull the one next to it too just incase that one was broken aswell and it didn't come out, even when she yanked it, so it was okay.

If you're unsure how to restrain your bird properly and pull the blood feather, please take the bird to a vet. It's the best thing to do and you can learn from him/her how to do it if it ever happens again.

[Jenny]

Very good advice from Kaye! Yes, it's not always as easy as it sounds so if in doubt, have the vet do it at least the first time (and it shouldn't cost you much money either).

[toymaker]

how is your bird? It's so scarry when that happens. I hope all is well.