How to Pull a Blood Feather

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posted on 17 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Blood feathers are developing bird feathers—most commonly found in the wings and tail—that replace older ones. When a bird starts to molt, it's normal for these feathers to start growing in faster. But in active birds, they can become broken and cause them lots of pain. Since these feathers still have veins, it is important to pull them as soon as possible after they break and follow the proper procedure. If you feel uncomfortable with this procedure, take your bird to an avian veterinarian.

Steps

Locating the Affected Feather

Wrap your hand in a towel and hold your bird with its back to your palm. Hold your bird firmly to prevent it from moving around, but not tight enough to hurt it. Keep its head in between your middle and index fingers. Make sure the towel covers all of your fingers so that the bird can't bite your skin.

Extend your bird's wing or tail to access the blood feather. Removing a blood feather from the wing requires care to prevent damage. While holding the bird with your non-dominant hand, use your dominant hand to move the towel and expose the affected wing. Now, extend its wing gently using the index finger and thumb of your dominant hand. Have a friend hold the extended wing in place. You can also hold it open with the thumb of your non-dominant hand, but this is more difficult.

Remove blood feathers that are broken and bleeding. Examine the damage of the blood feather to determine if it requires removal. If the blood feather has emerged more than half from its shaft, it's mature enough that it can be saved. But if it’s experiencing significant bleeding, it should be removed immediately. If the bleeding is minimal and the feather is mature enough, apply 1 small drop of cornstarch, white paper glue, or clay paste to the wounded region and it should heal.

Locate the exact spot where the feather extends from the wing. Before pulling the feather, you need to apply pressure to the location on the wing the feather extends from. You should feel a bumpy spot at this location on the skin. The bumpy spot is where the follicle ends in the bird's body.

Removing the Feather and Preventing Bleeding

Find the stem of the blood feather and grab it with forceps. The stem is located beneath the feather, extending from the wing. After locating it, grab it firmly using hemostat forceps or needle nose pliers. Take care to ensure they are perpendicular to the direction of the feather's growth. Don't use tweezers, as they're ineffective for pulling feathers. Be sure to firmly grip the stem as close to the skin as possible.

Pull the blood feather out firmly and quickly. Make sure that you're gripping the feather shaft—not the flesh—firmly with your forceps. Start by using your fingers to apply pressure to the skin at the base of the feather where the shaft emerges for about 10 seconds. Now, pull the shaft out in one quick motion in the direction of feather growth. If you're unsure of how much pressure to use, pull a birdcage across a table with one finger—mimic the pressure required for this motion. Make sure the forceps are never parallel to the feather. Don't be afraid to pull! If you don't remove the feather swiftly, you can cause profuse bleeding. Not only that, pulling slowly will cause more pain and may further damage the feather.

Take your bird to the vet if the feather and/or its tip are not completely removed. Also known as the inferior umbilicus, the tip and its attached feather should be removed from the skin completely. If you notice that the feather broke off underneath the skin line, take your bird to an avian veterinarian immediately.

Apply a moderate and direct pressure to the follicle site to stop the bleeding. After removing the feather, a small amount of bleeding at the removal site is normal. Apply flour, stopping powder, cornstarch, a bar of soap, or coagulant—just enough to cover the site of the wound—to a sterile gauze pad and press it against the skin. Remove it after about 1 minute and the bleeding should stop. If not, head to an avian veterinarian. Avoid packing your coagulant into the hair follicle. Purchase stopping powder from pet stores, veterinarians, and online suppliers. Avoid silver nitrate sticks or Quick Stop—they can cause poisoning.

Examine the wound in 30 minutes and contact a veterinarian if it's bleeding. After 30 minutes, all bleeding should have stopped. If the wound is still bleeding, apply another batch of coagulant and head to an avian veterinarian immediately. Keep an eye out for weakness, which is a sign of excessive blood loss. If the wound does not clot and continues to bleed, your bird may die.