# Blood feathers, and flying/flapping in cage



## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

I don't have a flight cage, but there is enough room for my birds to stretch their wings etc. Sometimes these guys flap their wings like crazy and don't stop for 20 seconds and fall down and crash into things. and I get SO frightened for them when this happens! But so far nobody's been hurt it seems.

Is this normal for almost 8 weeks old babies...? Also I haven't seen any blood feathers growing when they stretch their wings. Do blood feathers just grow to their full length or almost full length and then does the blood return back into the body, making them okay if they break? 

I'm terrified of them breaking one, but I haven't seen any on them. So should I be worried about blood feathers when they do this?


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## Odysseus (Jan 27, 2014)

I believe this is a normal behavior for birds of that age. At this age they are still building up their muscles and testing their flight capabilities. Naturally as babies they will be awfully clumsy which unfortunately increases their chances of injuring themselves and breaking blood feathers. 

I believe blood will be supplied to a feather until that feather is fully developed. When the feather is fully developed the opening that previously allowed the blood to travel through the shaft will close up. 

The birds I have taken care of have never broken a blood feather. I am not quite sure how common it is for a cockatiel to break his/her blood feathers.

Here are some links to articles which may be helpful: 
http://www.birdtricks.com/blog/dealing-with-a-broken-blood-feather/
http://www.cockatielcottage.net/feathers.html

When it comes to broken blood feathers, cornstarch is your friend!


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## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

I see! From the looks of it, all of their feathers are fully developed. I don't see any new ones coming in, which makes sense since they would grow all of their first feathers all at once c: Thank you for that article too! What a relief! ofc I'll keep an eye out but at least there's one less thing to worry about as much c:

I'd be too scared to pull a blood feather out, so in case this ever happens I will use the cornstarch to stop it from bleeding then take the birdy to the vet c:


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## Odysseus (Jan 27, 2014)

paoputrees said:


> I see! From the looks of it, all of their feathers are fully developed. I don't see any new ones coming in, which makes sense since they would grow all of their first feathers all at once c: Thank you for that article too! What a relief! ofc I'll keep an eye out but at least there's one less thing to worry about as much c:
> 
> I'd be too scared to pull a blood feather out, so in case this ever happens I will use the cornstarch to stop it from bleeding then take the birdy to the vet c:


No worries!


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## tasheanne (Dec 31, 2014)

Super common for them to break a blood feather! It's the most common minor injury. 
One of mine broke heaps when she was younger because she'd got spooked and flap around like crazy. Just today another one was hanging upside down and lost her grip, fell, and cracked a blood feather a bit. They've always clotted and then either continued growing normally or bird pulls it out on its own. I've been lucky though, sometimes you need to pull it out yourself, apply cornstarch or rush them to the vet if it's snapped too low down to deal with yourself. 
When you see they're moulting, the blood feathers won't be far behind. If they're prone to falling, lower the perches and put a towel at the bottom of the cage to cushion any falls (you can cover it with newspaper too so the towel doesn't get disgusting). That's what I've had to do.


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## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

tasheanne said:


> Super common for them to break a blood feather! It's the most common minor injury.
> One of mine broke heaps when she was younger because she'd got spooked and flap around like crazy. Just today another one was hanging upside down and lost her grip, fell, and cracked a blood feather a bit. They've always clotted and then either continued growing normally or bird pulls it out on its own. I've been lucky though, sometimes you need to pull it out yourself, apply cornstarch or rush them to the vet if it's snapped too low down to deal with yourself.
> When you see they're moulting, the blood feathers won't be far behind. If they're prone to falling, lower the perches and put a towel at the bottom of the cage to cushion any falls (you can cover it with newspaper too so the towel doesn't get disgusting). That's what I've had to do.


Ahh alright! I'll keep this in mind when they start moulting. Thanks!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

paoputrees said:


> Sometimes these guys flap their wings like crazy and don't stop for 20 seconds and fall down and crash into things. and I get SO frightened for them when this happens! But so far nobody's been hurt it seems.


Does this behaviour happen at night? What you are describing sounds like a 'night-fright', and if this happens when they cannot see, they can really hurt themselves. If you don't use a night-light already, I would start using one just to be extra safe.


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## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

Nope its not at night! They've been perfectly sound at night this past week that I've had them. I do have a night light on too though

these happen during the day, sometimes it looks like they are reacting to something they see outside the window (even though I see literally nothing there), but not always. When it looks that way, sometimes closing the blinds calms them down. Half the time they just randomly flap their wings while holding onto a perch and then they seem to lose balance and fly about the cage for a bit


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## tasheanne (Dec 31, 2014)

The flapping whilst holding onto the perch is pretty normal/common. Are these birds clipped? Usually it's clipped bird behaviour but not always.


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## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

tasheanne said:


> The flapping whilst holding onto the perch is pretty normal/common. Are these birds clipped? Usually it's clipped bird behaviour but not always.


They aren't clipped, but they are still small enough in size to be able to fit their wings fully spread out inside the cage. My late cockatiel, Jerry used to do this while hanging upside down on only one side of the cage bars, but was always able to stay in place, so I wasn't sure what these guys were doing falling/flying from their perches. Perhaps especially since they are young, they will be clumsy going about it


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