If you can tell your birds broken its feather, and the stem is still in but not bleeding, is it ok to leave the stem to come out naturally? i recently had a feather sitting at a 45 degree angle for a month, i left it to come out but was worried these kinds of things can cause discomfort?
Hi Stacey,
All feathers have blood flow when they are growing, but once they reach full length, the blood flow stops and the feather shaft is dry. It sounds like the feather may have been a mature feather that didn’t have blood. I’ve seen what you describe, and generally the feather falls out or the bird picks at it until it comes out. If he doesn’t seem sensitive about the feather and there is no blood, the feather can be left alone to fall out naturally. A broken feather only needs to be removed if blood is dripping from it, there is a visible blood clot at the broken end, or the bird seems bothered by the feather such as squawking if you or he touches it or if he is constantly picking at it.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
