Broken Tail Feather

[Spider]

Hope all is well. Today I discovered a broken tail feather. I think it was a result of a botched landing. So, what to do? Take to vet or do it your self? I am squeamish And don;t like the thought of causing pain. Whats your take. If its an easy procedure, I can do it but it would be my first.

P.S.

Did you take your babies on vacation too with you?

John

[Maggie]

Hi John,

If the tail feather is broken halfway, I would just leave it until it is ready to naturally molt out on its own (possibly cut off the broken part that is hanging). If there is a problem and your babe's tail is bleeding, you will need to pull it out or go to the vet. If there still is bleeding, pat the area with cornstarch or flour to may it stop.

Again, if the problem is a blood feather and the area is bleeding, the feather needs to be out and the bleeding must be stopped by the flour or cornstarch. But if there is no emergency, I would leave it alone.

Please realize that pulling out feathers causes the same pain as having your finger nails pulled off. That is a lot of pain and sometimes sends Greys phobic. So, I would avoid that stuff unless it is absolutely necessary.

Some vets seem to be trigger happy and pull out tail feathers that look a little shabby. They seem untouched by the pain this causes. I advise everyone to not do this to their birds unless absolutely necessary.

Hoping this helps.
Maggie-
PS: Yes. Merlin went with me everywhere. You can get some GREY'T travel hints by going to Helpful Hints on the public part of this site.