# Blood feather mystery??



## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

Before I get into this, let me first state that Rocko's wing feathers are clipped. The breeder had his wings cut before he sold Rocko to me, I'm guessing, but I'm going to let them grow out completely as he molts and grows in new ones. This is why his wings are so short.

Anyway.

Rocko's wings have been a bit weird lately. He's been going through his first molt for the past month or so now, and I've been very fortunate to not have to deal with blood feathers.

A few weeks ago, however, Rocko experienced his first thunderstorm. Unfortunately, we were both asleep, it was three in the morning, and this huge *BOOOM BOOMBOOMBOOM BOOOOOOM* woke us both up. Needless to say, it scared him to death. He flapped around his cage like crazy as if he'd had a night terror, and for the next few days he would squawk when trying to preen his left wing.

A few days later, some wing feathers began to stick out of his wings... both of them, not just the injured left wing. One of them had dried blood on it, and that was on his left wing.










Those feathers sticking out (two on his left wing, one on his right) started to come out farther and farther each day. Until the other day (a week or two later) I come home from school, and see this on the floor of his cage...










The feather with the dried blood on it. At this point I'm like "what in THE WORLD is going on??" This blood feather was the wing feather with dried blood on it. It's broken, but very cleanly. There was no blood on him or anywhere else in the cage, and I couldn't find the rest of the feather where it had broken off anywhere on his left wing.

These long feathers have come out WAY too quickly to be new feathers, but obviously this one was a blood feather. I'm absolutely puzzled. I think that maybe the dried blood came from an injury during the thunderstorm freakout? And maybe he cracked this blood feather and it just took a while to fall out? The other feathers that were sticking out haven't fallen out, but they do seem to have gotten longer, and there are more of them. But again, if they were all new feathers, I don't think they would've grown out so quickly.

Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But it's only been around four weeks since that thunderstorm, and these have all begun to stick out since then.

Here's what his wings look like right now:


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

it is still a blood feather, but in the very final stages. you wont find where it broke off, because it didnt break--it was knocked out. it's gonna be sore, but it's fine  

but, if you need to pull a blood feather still:




but, the feather above was a nearly complete blood feather that was knocked out.


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

MeanneyFids said:


> it is still a blood feather, but in the very final stages. you wont find where it broke off, because it didnt break--it was knocked out. it's gonna be sore, but it's fine
> 
> but, the feather above was a nearly complete blood feather that was knocked out.


Thank you for the photo! Haha, I spent a good hour making instructions complete with photos and graphics on how to pull blood feathers, how to restrain a cockatiel, and I have a little cup with a bag of corn starch, some Q-tips, and two pairs of hemostats. All that sits on the shelf under his cage, so I'm prepared 

It DOES look like it fell out, but I used my mom's magnifying glass that she has for her jewelry (10x magnification) and it is broken... it doesn't have the bulbous end on it, and the end is hollow. That's why I'm really confused.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

i've seen the same things with tsuka. it's a knocked out final stage blood feather. it doesnt have the hold that fully mature feathers have so it gets knocked out and bleeds just like a blood feather.


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

Hmmm... still doesn't explain the lack of blood. There was the dried blood on that feather, but I'm not sure how it would reach all the way to the tip without getting anywhere else on him.

And do you think the feathers sticking out now are new ones too? I thought for sure that feathers took 10+ weeks to grow in, but these came out of nowhere.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

they grow very fast sometimes. Tsuka knocked out his whole wing 2 weeks ago, and already i am seeing the new feathers growing in. they're about 1/4 full grown at this point. he takes about a month to grow in his flights.


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

His whole wing? How did he manage to do that??


Thanks for being patient with all my questions, by the way... I'm a very paranoid mama  The last bird I had experienced a stroke at 6 months old (yes, you heard that right) and it was really unexpected and traumatic... I don't want anything to happen to Rocko so I try to do everything I can to make sure he's safe.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

i dont mind questions on the forum. 

and tsuka had a fright, he knocked out all his primaries. he has a history of that, that's an understatement lol


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

Ouch. Poor baby. Rocko's only had two frights... his thunderstorm incident, and one time at like 6 PM. Didn't take long for him to calm down, since his cage was uncovered, it was still decently light outside, and he was only napping.

Hope Tsuka recovers quickly! Sorry to hear he got hurt :frown:


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

he's recovering with little problems  problem is, he's had sooo many problems growing his wings in in the past, and now he's having some feathers grow in with follicle damage. he has one on his tail that grows in as polyfolliculitis because he would land on his butt all the time. that feather has yet to grow back in normal again. and one on his wing has grown back weird twice.


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

That's a shame :/ is there a way to fix that, or is it permanently damaged?


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

its permanently damaged, but i have hopes that one day it will grow back normal lol


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