What to Do About A Broken Blood Feather

Revised: October 28, 2023

What is a Blood Feather

Blood feathers are a fascinating and important part of a bird's life. They are young feathers that are still growing and have a blood supply inside them. These feathers emerge when a bird molts or when they're growing new feathers. During this time, you might wonder what makes a blood feather different from a pin feather.

The main difference between a blood feather and a pin feather is that blood feathers contain blood vessels inside them. This blood supply helps nourish the feather as it grows. You can easily tell them apart because blood feathers have a dark, thick shaft while pin feathers have a thinner, translucent one.

As a bird grows a blood feather, it can be a little uncomfortable for them. They might be sensitive or itchy around that area. If you gently touch a growing blood feather, you'll notice that it feels warmer to the touch due to the blood flowing through it. It's essential to be gentle and avoid pulling on these feathers to prevent any harm or pain to your feathered friend.

Blood feathers take some time to fully grow, typically a few weeks, while molts, when birds shed old feathers and grow new ones, can last for several weeks to a few months, depending on the species. To ensure your bird's blood feathers develop properly, it's important to provide them with a well-balanced diet. Proper nutrition is crucial for feather health.

Additionally, avoid sudden temperature changes, which can stress your bird and impact feather growth. Regularly inspect your bird's feathers for any signs of damage or bleeding from broken blood feathers. I've developed a routine of visually examining my birds for any injuries or signs of bleeding whenever I approach them. That way, if I catch any issues, I can treat it promptly.

I've developed a routine of visually examining my birds for any injuries or signs of bleeding whenever I approach them

 

What is a Broken Blood Feather?

If you have a bird, whether you're a "newbie" or an experienced birder,  you need to know what to do about a broken blood feather.  Broken blood feathers are the #1 minor medical problem that a pet bird will experience.

Your bird molts or loses its old feathers, to grow fresh, new feathers once or twice a year.  As new feathers are growing in, they require a steady  blood supply which is delivered through the shaft. A feather shaft is the stiff middle part of the feather.  Think of the shaft of a blood feather like a vein that delivers blood where it is needed.  

At first glance, you may not see the pink, blood-filled shaft of a blood feather. They're hard to spot on your bird's neck, head, or torso. You can see the pinkish blood flow in the larger wing and tail feathers.  

Our birds can easily break larger blood feathers in play, if they get it caught in between the cage bars, or if the bird falls off of a perch when it becomes startled. 

Baby birds often break blood feathers. They may not have the physical stamina to perch all night long and they can get night frights and fall off of the perch.

Can A Bird Die From A Broken Blood Feather?

Most birds will experience broken blood feathers in their lifetime, so be prepared to stop the bleeding and offer at-home treatment. It may just save your birds' life. 

In order to fly, bird's have to be lightweight, so they have smaller volumes of blood in their body. When a blood feather breaks, it's a bit like an open faucet, depleting the blood supply. The wound will bleed until it clots.

An untreated broken blood feather may cause your bird to bleed out. It is important to stop the bleeding as fast as possible. 

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 A broken blood feather is a very painful and frightening experience for your bird and can result in rapid blood loss if not dealt with quickly.  A frightened bird may flap about out of fear and pain, thereby increasing its heart rate and worsening the bleeding.

Plan ahead so that if and when your bird breaks a blood feather, you're equipped to act fast. Keep your hospital cage clean and ready for just such an accident and replenish your Styptic powder yearly.

 

 Image of a broken blood feather

Supporting Your Bird With A Broken Blood Feather

While your first instinct may be to pull a broken blood feather out, keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to stabilize your bird, NOT to cause it further injury. Any time that your bird is injured and bleeding  --

Follow the “Three P’s:"

• Preserve life
• Prevent further injury 
• Promote recovery

Take a deep breath and calm yourself. Birds are very sensitive to reading our emotions and they pick up on our cues about how to react.  That reaction will be a flight or fight response if they sense your fear.

If you are stressed out and frantic, you will put your bird into a panic, increasing its blood pressure and increasing the blood flow. You should remain calm at all times during this process, being steady and clinical with your bird, almost as if you had no emotional attachment.

Most cases of bleeding can be clotted. This is definitely the treatment of choice. Read on for everything you need to know about home treatment of a broken blood feather.

Should I Pull A Broken Blood Feather?

No! (In most cases.)

It's 2021. Prominent avian vets are no longer encouraging us to pull out a bleeding blood feather as the first line of defense.

There are a couple of reasons why this method is frowned upon by modern veterinarians.  

First, pulling out a feather is incredibly painful to the bird as the feather shaft is deeply embedded in living skin tissue.  When you pull the feather out, you end up ripping out a bunch of skin tissue and potentially causing damage to ligaments and bones, too. 

Can you imagine how painful that would be? 

Secondly, your bird will have a rough time getting over this painful, traumatic experience. Causing your bird intense pain will affect your bond with it and could possibly result in a very nervous pet.  Sort of birdie PTSD.

If you deem that pulling the feather as necessary, I'd recommend that you have an avian vet perform the task. They can support your pet should it go into shock from the pain and treat the area to prevent an infection or deal with the pain that this secondary injury has caused. 

Instead, Induce Blood Clotting

In most cases, the safest, most efficient home treatment for a broken blood feather is to induce clotting. Your goal is to minimize blood loss and avoid further injury. 

Leaving the Broken Blood Feather In:

Unless your bird is bleeding profusely and you just can't stop the bleeding after several minutes, it is best to leave the blood feather in.

Stop the bleeding by applying pressure to the affected feather and use a clotting substance.  Then, eep a close eye on your bird observe to ensure that the bleeding has indeed stopped.   

While any blood loss is a concern, well-nourished birds have remarkable clotting abilities and minor blood loss can be treated at home. Birds with vitamin K deficiencies will have a rougher time.

Vitamin K rich foods include green leafy vegetables, like kale, spinach, turnip greens, collards, Swiss chard, mustard greens, parsley, romaine, and green leaf lettuce. 

Dr. Greg Burkett describes in his DVD Avian First Aid, that he has not pulled a blood feather for over a decade!  

Why?  It used to be thought that a bird could only lose 10% of its blood volume without it becoming a critical emergency, but Dr. Burkett, a Board Certified Avian Vet, proposes that a healthy, well nourished bird can lose up to 30% of its blood with fast recovery. 

Of course, you don’t want to push it! But, keep in mind that while a broken blood feather is a serious concern, you’ve got time to let the body heal naturally. So, do what you can to minimize blood loss calmly and quickly.

https://lafeber.com/vet/presenting-problem-broken-blood-feather/

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How To Support a Bird With a Broken Blood Feather 

Hopefully, you’ve got a bird first aid kit. Or, at least a human first aid kit.Grab the following items:  A clean towel or baby blanket Clean, sterile gauze Styptic powder, ordinary baking flour, or cornstarch to clot the blood Vet Aid Spray Your vet’s phone number Now, take your bird to a small, quiet area. The last thing you want your bird to do is to try to escape and flap around. Gently restrain your bird. Stay calm and talk calmly to your bird. [link to toweling post] Using a gauze pad or two, gently apply pressure to the affected area for 10 - 15 minutes. Check the wound to see if the bleeding stopped, or at least, dramatically slowed down.   If your bird is still bleeding, apply Miracle Care Kwik Stop Styptic Solution, ordinary baking flour or cornstarch liberally to the area. Grab a fresh gauze pad and continue applying more pressure for 10 minutes or so.  If your bird is still bleeding profusely, call your avian vet or an emergency clinic.  Keep reapplying a clotting agent and pressure, as necessary. If the bleeding has slowed down to a trickle or stopped all together, grab your clean bird hospital cage and line the bottom with a clean, soft towel. Make sure that the perch is low and place your bird inside.  You can use a heat lamp or heating pad to warm your bird up. Keep your pet in a dimly lit, calm area where it can rest and start to settle down. Offer easily accessible water and food. Check on it every 15-30 minutes looking for any signs of blood.   Once your bird has been stabilized for at least an hour, you can resume normal routines. If your bird hasn’t stabilized in an hour, call your vet, or jump to this section on stabilizing  moderate to severely injured bird.

Avian First Aid is a comprehensive presentation designed to teach owners how to properly handle a pet bird emergency

 

Only Pull A Blood Feather Out As A Last ResortFor The Following Reasons

Removing a broken blood feather is NOT the recommended treatment in the vast majority of cases. Remember that an overwhelming majority of broken blood feathers will heal with clotting support.

 Most blood feathers will heal on their own with clotting support.

As I mentioned above, pulling the blood feather out is  extremely painful for your bird and can put your bird into shock.  It can also cause severe emotional trauma.  Primary wing and tail feathers are attached to a bone and ligaments. Imagine how painful pulling one of these feathers would put a bird in a deadly case of shock.  

You want your bird to trust you. Your bird needs to trust that you will always be its ally.  Causing severe pain while under the additional distress of restraint and pain will severely damage your relationship with your bird.  Leave this delicate and painful medical procedure to an experienced avian vet if at all possible.

But, more than that, it is likely that you’ll damage the feather follicle when pulling out a blood feather. In other words, the skin tissue that holds the feather in place will be ripped out with the feather. 

It's likely that that particular feather follicle will not be able to grow normal feathers again.  The feathers may grow in curved and they won’t align with the surrounding feathers.  This discomfort alone can result in a feather plucking problem.

Next, pulling the shaft out can result in even worse bleeding underneath the skin.  This is called  a hematoma.  A hematoma is when your bird develops a large, deep painful bruise deep under the skin.  It is very difficult to treat, prone to infection, and may induce a feather plucking habit.

How long does it take a broken blood feather to heal?

Once the bleed has clotted, the healing can begin. But, your bird has been through a traumatic event and it will be critical to provide general supportive care to your injured bird. 

The healing time depends on a variety of specifics about the injury:

1. How much blood was lost
2. The bird’s pre-injury health
3. If other body systems, like ligament damage or bone damage was incurred.
4. Whether your bird went into shock

MILD INJURY

If you were able to clot the blood quickly on a healthy bird so that it didn’t incur any additional tissue damage, you can anticipate a quick recovery of about 24 - 48 hours. 

MODERATE INJURY

If your bird lost a moderate amount of blood, other body organs may have been affected. 

Make an electrolyte mix to support your bird or even hand-fed it.  You can find a bird-safe electrolyte recipe for it here.

 

At this stage, I’d suggest:

• Use the hospital cage to support rest and healing
• Monitor your birds weight on a daily basis until your bird back to it’s normal weight, normal eating eating habits, and it’s normal activities each day.  

SEVERE INJURY

If your bird lost a substantial amount of blood or the broken blood feather had to be pulled out, recovery will take longer. Please seek veterinary care if this is the case.

Hopefully, you were able to get quick, expert veterinary care. Read this blog post to learn how to stabilize a severely injured bird and know when to get veterinary care: Stabilizing a Sick Bird & When To See A Vet.

Expect your bird to feel sick and weak. It’s resiliency and stamina will be lower. Plan to potentially support your pet with the following activities:

• Keep your bird in an intensive care (ICU) hospital cage to support rest and healing. Your bird should be kept warm, be allowed to rest, and it’s condition should be monitored every hour or two.
• Ask your avian vet about appropriate pain medications
• Monitor your birds weight on a daily basis until your bird back to it’s normal weight, normal eating eating habits, and it’s normal activities each day. 
• Hand feed your bird to support nutritional intake
• Keep in contact with your avian vet 

 

In Conclusion... 

It's scary to find your bird bleeding.  Broken blood feathers is a common problem, especially when a birds wings are trimmed to avoid flight.  But, they happen at one time or another with all pet birds. You don't want your bird to bleed out.  Print my free guide of the steps to take to stop a bleeding blood feather.

Related Posts:

Feather Plucking Essentials: Perfecting Your Bird Grooming Skills

How To Trim Bird Wing Feathers

How To Prepare a Bird First Aid Kit

Resources:

Blood Feathers In Birds

Burkett, Dr.Grey Avian First Aid DVD

http://www.hagen.com/hari/docu/firstaidbleeding.html

http://littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/health-bloodfeathers.htmll

http://www.newyorkbirds.net/bleeding.html

http://www.hagen.com/hari/docu/firstaidbleeding.html

https://unchartedsupplyco.com/blogs/news/basic-first-aid#1

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