Pin Feather

[Debby]

Last night I had noticed a loosened feather at the bottom of Tiki's cage. Upon further inspection the pin feather had a trace amount of blood from where it had come unattached. Tiki scratched at the tail area a couple of times and I noticed a slight tinge of blood on his beak from the irratated area but noticed no alarming blood other than this. No blood on feathers, etc. He wagged his tail feathers a couple of times, so to be sure I called the pet store where I purchased Tiki and spoke to the resident bird expert that told me this is normal. Anybody have this experience? :budgie:

[Budgiekin]

It sounds like in this particular case, there is no need to worry. My budgies have also lost feathers like the one you have described. Sometimes feathers that aren't quite ready (which you can tell based on whether or not they have blood in the shaft) do fall out a little prematurely. Because only the tip had a little bit of blood in it, your sweetie likely won't experience further problems as a result of losing that feather.

I would be concerned however if it was truly a blood feather and was broken (a blood feather is a feather in which a significant portion of the shaft is filled with blood; these types of feathers are your budgie's "new" feathers). If a budgie breaks one of those feathers, you'd see blood dripping which could cause your budgie to bleed to death. In those cases, it may become necessary to actually pull out the feather with pliers. (You'd have to grab the feather with the pliers right at the base and pull straight out in one quick jerk. . . .but that's another situation entirely!!)

This would be a good time to mention that every bird owner should keep some styptic powder at hand (or corn starch works well too), in case your budgie bleeds from a blood feather or from a broken toe nail, or from a toe nail that was cut too short. You would simply apply some styptic powder or corn starch in the bleeding area to stop the bleeding.

[Debby]

Thank you I appreciate the advice!!

[Amy]

I'm glad Budgiekin is here to help with budgie problems!

[Budgie_Birthday]

Your budgies can bleed to death from from a single lose feather? :eek: You mad me gasp when I read that Budgiekin! Are you sure?

[Budgiekin]

Yes, I am sure Budgie_Birthday. I'm sorry I shocked you :eek: , but budgies are such small little creatures, that they really cannot afford to lose a whole lot of blood. I am certainly not saying that budgies will bleed to death with only a couple of drops of blood, but the problem with a blood feather when it breaks and part of the shaft is still in the budgie's body, it is like there is a direct line from an artery to the outside their little body. Well, you can imagine how much blood could be lost that way if it is not stopped!

Needless to say that whenever you notice your little budgie bleeding, you want to stop that bleeding ASAP.

[Budgie_Birthday]

Alright. And I stop the bleeding with corn starch right? :budgie:

[Budgiekin]

That's right. You would apply some corn starch directly to the area (being careful not to get it in your budgie's beak or nostrils). Sometimes it would be necessary to even hold your budgie's bleeding body part (e.g. their toe) right into a little container of the stuff.

I really didn't mean to scare you Budgie_Birthday. Many budgies won't ever even need to be treated for bleeding!! It is just good to be aware of how to handle this type of situation so that you know what to do IF it ever does happen.

[Budgie_Birthday]

Ok thanks alot! :)

[~*Brittany*~]

Wow thank you so much for the advice. When i go to the pet store today, I will be sure to stop and get some corn starch or the other powder thing i cant remember right now...

Wow thats pretty scary that a loose feather can be that dangerous.:eek:

Thank you!
~*Britt*~

[Budgie_Birthday]

I know I was thinking how can one lose feather be that dangerous but then budgiekin explained it to me. :p