# Sister’s cockatiel had a blue quilled feather.



## TechnoCheese (Jan 11, 2019)

My sister’s cockatiel recently pulled one of his tail feathers out, and the quill of the feather was light blue. She says he was chewing on it before so it might of been broken, but she also said there was no red. Tortoises are more my specialty, and she doesn’t want to join a bird forum. Thoughts?

I’ll see if I can get a picture later.


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## wccmog10 (Jan 12, 2019)

When feathers are growing they tend to be a blue color. While they are “in blood” you can see a blue tent to the shaft. After they finish growning the blood flow stops. If it was a blood feather that was broken/ taken out the bird could have bled to death. I’ve heard of it happening. While feathers are growing they require a lot of blood flow. So when one gets ripped out you get a lot of bleeding. This is why I’m not sure it was a blood feather that was blue- when it got removed there would have been a lot of blood, and none was reported. 

-Wade


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## TechnoCheese (Jan 12, 2019)

wccmog10 said:


> When feathers are growing they tend to be a blue color. While they are “in blood” you can see a blue tent to the shaft. After they finish growning the blood flow stops. If it was a blood feather that was broken/ taken out the bird could have bled to death. I’ve heard of it happening. While feathers are growing they require a lot of blood flow. So when one gets ripped out you get a lot of bleeding. This is why I’m not sure it was a blood feather that was blue- when it got removed there would have been a lot of blood, and none was reported.
> 
> -Wade



Okay, thank you! I don’t believe it was a blood feather, so it just means he’s growing?


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## wccmog10 (Jan 13, 2019)

If he has his flight feathers grown in the bird is finished growing. If he was biting at his own feathers and pulling it out- he decided something was wrong with it or he is self mutilating. This is out of my realm of experience. My back ground is birds of prey, not birds that have emotions. Self mutilation is something parrots and the like do when they are not happy, sad, depressed, etc. And birds of prey don’t ever really have these problems because they do not have the social aspects that parrot types do. 

The feather could have just been damaged and he knew it, so he took it out. It should grow back with the next moult, if not sooner.


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## TechnoCheese (Jan 13, 2019)

wccmog10 said:


> If he has his flight feathers grown in the bird is finished growing. If he was biting at his own feathers and pulling it out- he decided something was wrong with it or he is self mutilating. This is out of my realm of experience. My back ground is birds of prey, not birds that have emotions. Self mutilation is something parrots and the like do when they are not happy, sad, depressed, etc. And birds of prey don’t ever really have these problems because they do not have the social aspects that parrot types do.
> 
> The feather could have just been damaged and he knew it, so he took it out. It should grow back with the next moult, if not sooner.



Thank you! He hadn’t been showing any signs of stress, and as far as I know, that’s the only one he’s pulled out.


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