What to Do If Your Parrot Has a Broken Blood Feather

When parrots start growing new feathers, blood runs through the shaft of their feathers. The shaft of a bird's feather is like a tube, and when the feather starts growing, blood runs through that tube down the length of the shaft, providing nutrients that nourish the feather and help it to grow. 

These are very simple to identify because you will be able to see the blood in the shaft of your pet's feather. Blood feathers can also be called pin feathers, and most birds have them.

When your parrot's feather has fully developed and matured, blood no longer goes through it and the follicle closes. So then it is okay if the feather breaks or falls out because if it is not going to bleed then it is not going to be an issue. But when the feather is a new feather like a baby feather, it is thriving and needs some nourishment, which is what the blood provides as it flows through the shaft of the feather

What makes your parrot feather bleed?

Your parrot may have broken blood feathers quite often in the tail and the wing due to trauma—maybe your pet fell, bumped its wing too hard, or hit its wing somehow when it was flying. This can result in your pet's feather breaking and bleeding

How To Make Your Parrot Stop Bleeding

Before taking your bird to a vet, ensure you clot and reduce the bleeding as much as possible at home so that you don't waste time and your bird doesn't just bleed as you are driving to the vet.

Fetch and put some cornstarch, some septic powder, or septic gel onto a square of sterile gauze and apply a lot of pressure on the bleeding area for several seconds. 

This would help it clot and likely subside the bleeding a bit.

Don't try to remove your pet's broken blood feathers at home. You do not want to try and remove a blood feather yourself—unless you're very experienced— because some blood feathers are growing from your bird's bone. Many well-intended people mistakenly broke their bird's wing by removing the blood feather because it was attached to the bone. They did it by pulling it out improperly and breaking the wing.

Trying to remove a blood feather at home can also result in it breaking, and then the entire feather cannot be removed. That means the skin follicle is not going to close and that teeny bit of the shaft still stuck in there would bleed like a faucet, which is dangerous for the bird.

Experienced owners who want to remove blood feathers themselves should ensure they purchase  bird healthcare products, Bird First Aid Kit and Bird Cleaning products

How Broken Blood Feather Look Like

One great thing about your parrot having blood feathers is that broken ones are very easy to identify because even a spectator can see the blood in the shaft of the feather, and also blood coming out of it. So it will be quite obvious if your bird has a broken blood feather.

Blood feathers are very easy to identify, and then you can rectify the problem as quickly as possible because broken blood feathers are a real emergency and they must be dealt with with total attention. Ensure you don't delay treatment as you will want to get to it as quickly as possible because a bird can lose a lot of blood through a broken blood feather.

Can you just leave a broken feather to heal on its own? 

No, you cannot.

Leaving that broken feather as it is will make it more prone to start bleeding again if your pet bumps himself or hits himself the wrong way. Your vet can better assess if it is safe to leave the feather in there, or if it is better to just remove it. Better to be safe than sorry right?