molting feather, normal? or no?

[bookworm0550]

so i came home today to find joey's wing....well, sometimes he holds his wings upward, but not stretching it. The way he holds it looks like it's not comfortable for him.

Today as he was doing that, one of his flight feathers was sticking way out of his wing, as though it was going to fall off, but it didn't. I thought it would and he wouldn't let me touch that area. then i discovered an hour or so later a feather w/ dried up blood at the tips.

Is this normal for a molting feather or something more serious? I don't think molting is supposed to look like this piece of feather with blood. I"m not sure if this is the feather that looked like it was going to fall off or not. Again this is a feather and not a piece of down.

I don't know what else to do. He took a bath and I try to get him to eat bits of a hard boiled egg for protein, which he took a few bites.

[lemonypickett]

Do you have a pic of it you can post?

It sounds like he may have had a fall and broken a blood feather. Sometimes a night fright or missing a perch can cause a fall.

I think the feather will molt out on it's own, and as long as it is not actively bleeding it should be ok.

[linda040899]

The big thing is that the feather shaft is not bleeding! Blood (new) feathers are painful if moved the wrong way, so that's why Joey does not want you messing with it.

If it's really bothering him, ask your avian vet if he/she can remove the feather. Old school thought was just to take a pair of needle nosed pliers (or tweezers for smaller birds) and just pull the feather out. Well, if the feather is bleeding and you can't stop it with cornstarch or flour and pressure to the bleeding area, you will have no choice but to use this method to remove the feather. However, be aware that this procedure is painful to the bird and should only be done under emergency circumstances.

For now, just watch Joey to make sure there's no more bleeding.

[bookworm0550]

he's doing good. my boyfriend tried to get him to stretch his wings out, but joey didn't want him touching his wings.

well, here's a photo. bad lighting though.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v610/thouyang/IMG_3039.jpg

And this is what his wings are looking like. Tell me if this is normal too. his wings just look so....ratty. He looks way cute and it's an amazing photo, but his wing....looks funky
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v610/thouyang/IMG_3004.jpg

[Chickobee]

It appears that your bird had clipped wings and now there is new feather growth. The long flight feather by itself will be susceptible to injury because it is not supported by other long feathers next to it. Possibly this is what happened with the other feather that was bleeding.

If you look in the Resource Library for the instructions on wing clipping you may be able to fix this yourself. You could clip this one feather so it doesn't get broken also.

Whenever you do any wing clipping be sure to do both wings the same so your bird is balanced on both sides. Also, NEVER cut the flight feathers shorter than the coverts. That way you will not risk making them bleed.

(Note: There is a wing clip you may see on the internet that some breeders use where they trim the flight feathers very short after the blood has gone out of the feathers. For this clip it is imperative that it not be a new feather because that will cause your bird to bleed. It is much safer to avoid this trim method altogether.)

:2cents: When I clip the wings on my birds I do test flights. I will trim a few feathers at first and then I do them one feather at a time (with test flights between) to achieve the right cut for that bird. Some stronger birds can attain altitude and require more trimmed feathers than others. You will want your bird to be able to glide to the floor at about a 45° angle and not land with a thud.

If you are not comfortable trimming the feather(s) yourself you could ask the breeder or your avian vet to do it for you.

Some people like their birds to be flighted but I like to keep mine clipped so they can't fly outside or get up to the highest window sills or otherwise get into too much trouble. I have also found that it is easier to work with a bird when it can't fly away. :)