cockatiel: is constantly hurting his wing breaking a blood feather…

Okay, thanks so much for that extra information. It's very helpful and I am so pleased to see that you have done an excellent job with the cage size, and an outstanding job choosing perches. That's good about the night light as well. Few new bird owners have a clue about night frights and that they need the night light. All birds should be that lucky. One other thing to consider that might help. If his cage is in a room where any other pets might be walking around after dark, and/or if there are any windows that face the street, that could be adding to the problem. If headlights can sweep through the room after dark, that can really frighten them. If that's the case, and if you don't already, I'd suggest covering his cage at night with a dark cover. The bad news is, the vet who trimmed his wings fibbed and apparently has no idea at all of how to properly trim a bird. I'm sure I won't have to tell you, don't ever let that person near your bird again with clippers. I also would not be comfortable with that person as a vet for my bird. If they are that uninformed about a matter as simple as a flight trim, what might they do in a real emergency? Goodness knows. That is such a problem with so many dog/cat vets. Only the most reputable of them will admit up front they do not have the extensive, extra training and experience needed to work with birds. I'm going to give you a list of links that will hopefully assist you in locating a true Avian vet. If you can find one, go ahead and get the information with your other emergency numbers. If this problem with the blood feathers keeps up for much longer, the odds are good that you are going to have an emergency with him. The goal of trimming the flights is not to prevent the bird from flying. It is only intended to keep him from gaining altitude. A properly trimmed bird will be able to fly/glide for 15-20 feet, gradually losing altitude and will be able to execute a perfectly balanced landing, completely in control. If he is falling, he is in danger of more than broken blood feathers. Cockatiels always land, tail first. It is a much too common and serious injury for a Tiel who is over clipped, to hit the floor, those stiff tail feathers hit first and 9 out of 10 times, the tender skin near the vent will split open. That's an emergency and if you don't get to a proper vet when that happens, the bird will be lost. I have been through that one with one of my own Tiels who was over clipped before I got him. He leaped out, fell like a rock and started pouring blood. I was very lucky that my avian vet was close and I had him in her hands within 15 minutes. Even so, she said we would have lost him, had I not gotten there that quickly. He needed 4 stitches to repair the tear and IV fluids for about 4 hours to offset the blood loss. I jokingly tell folks he is my $75 Tiel with the $400 backside. But of course, it's no laughing matter when it happens. Back to the trim, what probably happened was this person stretched out his wing, more than likely used sissors and made one sweeping cut across the flights with no regard to length left or to the placement of the cuts. One can only do a proper trim by cutting one feather at a time, and placing that cut at a proper angle so it does not rub the ribcage and so that the raw edge is cushioned between the coverts. Here are three sites, all of which have diagrams and/or pictures to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Click here: Birdmart.Com - PARROT CARE: GROOMING YOUR PARROT - WINGS. Clipping your parrot's wings is vital to your bird's saf Click here: WingAndNailClipping Click here: Wing Trimming Unfortunately, the only thing you can do for now is to wait out the regrowth that must take place before it's going to be safe to have him out of the cage and very far off the floor or other hard surfaces. Also hope that extra precautions will stop the night frights since that's the single most common cause for a broken blood feather. I don't know if you are already researched on how to immediately remove, and deal with a broken blood feather so I'll give you information about that as well. In case you didn't know, when they break, the stub must be removed immediately and the bleeding stopped or the bird can quickly bleed to death. That broken stub will act just like a siphon. The safest thing you are likely to have at home to encourage clotting, after removing the stub, will be cornstarch. Next best is flour. Stay away from the so called Quick Stops, styptic and other products as they can really sting and burn. The cornstarch or flour is totally safe and very effective and will not burn him. Click here: Cockatiels, Blood Feathers, Broken Blood Feathers,How to Pull a Broken Blood Feather from a Bird, What is a Blood If he continues to have the frights, you may want to remove one each of the nail trimmer and the wooden perches, just until he gets those exposed blood feathers, once again well protected by proper regrowth. As for diet, you are on the right track but I can offer suggestions to greatly improve it. It's not surprising that he doesn't care for fruit. Not many Tiels do. But there are many more things he can and should be getting. An ideal diet will not be more than about 25%-30% seeds and seed products and no sunflower seeds, other than a rare treat. Same with millet, it should be a treat and not a regular part of the diet. For a Tiel, one sprig of millet per week is plenty. Both of those are very high in fat and can lead to liver disease, among others. He needs the pellets mixed with his seeds and he needs a separate bowl everyday of safe "people" foods. Just some of the things he can have are cooked brown rice, cooked pastas, well cooked bean mixes, hard boiled or scrambled eggs, small bits of well cooked chicken breast with all fat and skin removed, small squares of whole grain toast and leafy greens. The greens he can have are Kale, mustard, turnip and collard greens and Romaine lettuce. No ice berg because it has zero nutritional value and no spinach because it has oxylates that can interfere with his calcium absorption. I'll give you links to help with more suggestions about diet, some about basic bird care including the household toxins you must never use around him and some on the consequences we can expect, health wise, from inadequate diet. Thee calcium issue is important for all birds but on the chance you have a female instead of a male, it will be critical. A never ending supply of cuttle bone is the best way to insure a constant supply. For a female bird to be low on calcium, should she decide to lay eggs, it can be life or death. Without enough calcium to form solid shells, she will not be able to pass them and will be egg bound. That is life threating and must be dealt with immediately or it can be fatal, either from the egg itself, from the egg rupturing inside her, or the worse case scenario, she suffers a prolapse of her uterus from straining too hard atttempting to pass the egg. If you are positive you have a little guy, you won't have to worry about that but if there is any doubt and/or if you should ever get a female, it will be valuable information for you. I hope all this will help you out and I hope that little sweety can get past this terrible feather trim without any further, or serious injury. If anything is unclear or if you have any more questions, at all, just let me know. Best of luck to you. Patricia

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