An update on Homer’s plucking (advice needed)

[lemonora]

Hope everyone is in good health,

For people who are not familiar with Homer’s issue, he can’t fly so he fell over a year ago, a really bad fall and since then he started getting stress bars and plucking.

Sadly, he is still plucking obsessively, he often plucks the small baby feathers, that are dark and the liquid inside is black, I caught pictures of one that is still intact, is it normal to be black inside when it’s still a new feather growing?
I live in KSA with no avian vets around us, and I still can’t find organic aloe Vera plants anywhere.
He has a half bare back and various naked spots on his chest, top of wings, and near his tail, he occasionally gets blood on his beak from plucking, and small scabs on his skin.
We feel helpless and our hearts are aching for him, we are desperate to help him in anyway possible, we would greatly appreciate any kind of input or advice.

[criswell]

Oh, what a poor little guy. Sorry I can't offer any advice. I hope others are able to help.

[Hezz]

I’m sorry, but I’m all out of ideas to try to help Homer. The “black’ inside the new feathers is blood - new feathers have a blood supply until they have grown their full length and as the feather matures and gets ready to be a proper feather the blood supply recedes back down the feather until it withdraws from the feather completely. So a pin feather with a blood supply is often called a blood feather and will be the one that bleeds if knocked. With no blood supply the pin feather is just a pin feather until i fully emerges.

If you are able to get hold of any aloe vera plant, I would do so, remove all soil, replace with organic potting mix, or as close to as possible, let the aloe grow for a while, removing all the leaves it had when you first bought it and only use the new freshly grown leaves.

[Marianne Marlow]

If you cannot get a plant, can you buy aloe vera gel? we can get it in a tube.

Like this:

[lemonora]

Jan 12, 2022 0:42:34 GMT Hezz said:

I’m sorry, but I’m all out of ideas to try to help Homer. The “black’ inside the new feathers is blood - new feathers have a blood supply until they have grown their full length and as the feather matures and gets ready to be a proper feather the blood supply recedes back down the feather until it withdraws from the feather completely. So a pin feather with a blood supply is often called a blood feather and will be the one that bleeds if knocked. With no blood supply the pin feather is just a pin feather until i fully emerges.

If you are able to get hold of any aloe vera plant, I would do so, remove all soil, replace with organic potting mix, or as close to as possible, let the aloe grow for a while, removing all the leaves it had when you first bought it and only use the new freshly grown leaves.

Thanks Hezz,

I’m so relieved about the blood feather thing, you have no idea how worried we were, thanks again sooooo much❤️

And about your aloe Vera plant suggestion, I really like it, and will definitely try to do it as soon as possible, and hopefully we would have organic aloe Vera in the house soon.👍

Thank you Hezz so much for all the information you’ve given me, I really appreciate it❤️🙂

[lemonora]

Jan 12, 2022 10:11:40 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

If you cannot get a plant, can you buy aloe vera gel? we can get it in a tube.

Like this:

Thanks Marianne for your input, I appreciate it ❤️

We used to use a similar one (for us humans), but sadly, it had so many chemicals added that we stopped buying it, and I can’t find a pure one, without the added ingredients.

Thanks again Marianne 🙂