I let Oscar out of the cage, and just then I noticed one of his long wing feathers looked a bit loose/lopsided. He likes to flutter around to room to explore, but when he landed, I suddenly noticed his feather was jutting out even more, and was bleeding. I took a close look and it seems to be bleeding quite a bit where the feather comes out. He is not tame enough to let me hold him, so Im afraid if I try to capture him to put corn starch on the wound, ill upset him even more and he may end up hurting himself more.

 

What should I do? Im so scarred that he is going to lose alot of blood, but theres nothing that I can do if I cant hold him!

 

Help please!

You've got no choice but to catch him. Use a washcloth to get him - that way if he bites you hopefully he will get the cloth and not you, and also if his head is covered he may not struggle as much. Take a good look at where the bleeding is coming from. If the feather is broken it will need to be pulled out. Do you have anyone else there to help you?

You've got no choice but to catch him. Use a washcloth to get him - that way if he bites you hopefully he will get the cloth and not you, and also if his head is covered he may not struggle as much. Take a good look at where the bleeding is coming from. If the feather is broken it will need to be pulled out. Do you have anyone else there to help you?

 

We just phoned the vet, and they told us to let him pull it out himself. It doesn't seem to be bleeding anymore, but its a bit bloody underneath his feathers. It was never dripping blood, and not much seemed to come out. He seems to be picking at it, trying to get it out, so I'm guessing thats a good thing. If it starts to bleed again, we'll catch him and put cornstarch on it, as the vet said.

 

Is it okay to let him deal with it on his own? What if it doesn't fall out or he doesn't pull it out?

If he can't or won't pick it out, it will probably irritate him. I think he will probably pick at it a lot, it may be sore too, depending upon how he hit it to begin with. You will need to watch it because if he doesn't pull it out and he knocks it against anything it could start to bleed again. If it does, I would pull it. Don't use your fingers as you probably won't pull hard enough to get it out because you won't want to hurt him. Remember to gently restrain the wing if you have pull the feather.

I'm afraid that If I attempt to pull it out, im going to hurt him, or pull something I shouldn't be, because by looking at it closely, its hard to tell exactly what happened and where its bleeding from. I would really rather not take that chance..

 

Is it okay if I wait until tomorrow to see if he has pulled it out? If he hasn't, we'll probably bring him to the vet to get it checked out. I would really just rather not do it myself because i've never done anything like that before and I wouldn't know what Im doing. It's hard to tell if its just one feather or two, and where it was bleeding in the first place.

As long as it has stopped bleeding there should be no problems if you don't pull it out. Sometimes they don't need to be pulled at all, but if he keeps knocking it and re-starting the bleeding then I would recommend it be pulled. I've only done it once, and I hope I don't have to do it again. I know exactly what you mean about being afraid to hurt them. If you haven't cleaned him up already, I would do that so that if it starts to bleed later you will know it and not confuse it with what's already on him.

 

Did you use the cornstarch?

If you don't feel confident doing it, then you are doing exactly the right thing by not doing it. When you go to the vet, ask how to do it yourself, just in case you need to again, but don't ever feel the need to do something you don't feel confident about. Good luck

As long as it has stopped bleeding there should be no problems if you don't pull it out. Sometimes they don't need to be pulled at all, but if he keeps knocking it and re-starting the bleeding then I would recommend it be pulled. I've only done it once, and I hope I don't have to do it again. I know exactly what you mean about being afraid to hurt them. If you haven't cleaned him up already, I would do that so that if it starts to bleed later you will know it and not confuse it with what's already on him.

 

Did you use the cornstarch?

 

I didn't clean him up yet, or use the cornstarch, as I didn't want him to hurt it even more by trying to get away. It didn't bleed much, and it has stopped for a while. I feel stupid for not doing that right away, but I wasn't sure of what to do, so forgive me if I'm not doing everything I should.

 

He started trying to pull it again, although he was sleeping before. It seems to be bothering him a bit, but he doesn't seem to be in pain.

 

Do I need to clean him up and/or put cornstarch on it? If so, should I just put cornstarch on it, or wash it with something else?

There is nothing to forgive, you are doing fine. I didn't mean to come across that way. I'm sorry.

 

As long as you know how much blood is on him so you can tell if it has been bleeding again, you don't necessarily have to clean him up. If you think it would stress either one of you out to catch him and clean him, just leave him alone and let him fidget with it. It's probably sore and that's why he's picking at it. I'm sure it doesn't feel right to him. I'm just glad it didn't bleed much and has stopped.

There is nothing to forgive, you are doing fine. I didn't mean to come across that way. I'm sorry.

 

As long as you know how much blood is on him so you can tell if it has been bleeding again, you don't necessarily have to clean him up. If you think it would stress either one of you out to catch him and clean him, just leave him alone and let him fidget with it. It's probably sore and that's why he's picking at it. I'm sure it doesn't feel right to him. I'm just glad it didn't bleed much and has stopped.

 

 

Yeah, I was just afraid that if I try to catch him, it will only stress him out even more, and he seems to be just fine. He went down to eat, and is now sleeping, so hes acting completely normal, so it's probably a good idea to let him be right now.

 

Should I just let him be right now, and not worry about the feather unless it bleeds again? Are there any precautions I should make to make sure it doesn't get worse or bleed again? I just want to make sure it wont happen again..

 

By the way, thank you very much for your advice and help.

Edited November 2, 200519 yr by BudgieLover14

I think you can safely leave him be. There's really nothing you can do to make sure it doesn't happen again - you can't control whether he knocks a feather or not. The feathers around it will cushion it to some extent, and if it really bothers him he will either pull it out or chew it until it doesn't bother him anymore. I'd just watch him until it resolves, if it doesn't bleed anymore you don't need to do a thing.

Oscar had been picking at his feather all morning, and it started to bleed...quite a bit. We called the vet right away, but he managed to pluck it out himself, and it stopped bleeding just before we got him to the vet. They checked it out and put special glue where the feather was once connected, just in case for whatever reason, it starts to bleed again. He's doing fine, but it seems to have taken alot out of him, because he's mostly been sleeping all day since then. Poor baby.