hey all, i'm new to the forum and i wanted to post a question.
this afternoon i found my cockatiel (Dundy) with a fair amount of blood under her wing. i couldnt tell if it was coming from the tip of her wing, from a blood feather (couldn't find any broken unless it has clotted or broken near the follicle)or from the side of her breast under her wing. we cleaned it as best we could, but the major thing that we found was a patch of skin under her wing about the size of a dime that lacked any feathers. me fear is some kind of picking and mutilating, but i've had her for 8 yrs and never ever hand any sort of probs like this.
it's a couple of hrs later now and i've noticed no new bleeding, but she's obviously obsessed with those dirty feathers.
where i thought she was bleeding was around the base of the first 4 primary flight feathers and there's some new feathers growing there, but i hesitate pulling any of them for fear i get the wrong one .
any ideas? anything i need to do now?
thanx all!!
brad
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Wing bleeding???
Replies (4)
i found a blood feather in her cage and there's obviously some blood clotted on the end of it, but it doesnt look broken. if it's pretty much clotted i think i'm ok, but what about those bloody feathers? she's not the best bather in the world!.
thanx again
brad
Does she mind being sprayed with water? Or does she like the shower? If she likes being held you might even try having a damp cloth and letting her "play" with it while cleaning her up a bit.
If you are positive it was a blood feather than great. But if she has an actual bald patch she needs to see a vet as they can get many different parasites and infections that can cause plucking or loss of feathers.
Stephanie
thanx so much for the reply stephiesoo. i'm 99% sure it was a blood feather that was the cause of our probs. the main deal was that it was already out and i couldn't decide where the bleeding was coming from.
as for showers and bathing. i've always tried to spray her or something, but she's never taken to the water at all.
thanx again
brad
I would check under the other wing to see if there`s a corresponding bare-patch over there. The feathers under the wing are naturally sparse (since it`s kept so near to the body they don`t need the extra insulation there). It may be worth checking out with a vet if it seems to be different from the other wing.
