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One recent Sunday, Charmaine and I went up North to visit my brother and his family. We were having a nice time playing outside, until Charmaine took a wild leap off my shoulder, (the main reason I need the harness) flapping away, and dropping a primary flight feather! This feather was a new and not yet clipped and was jutting out beyond the previously clipped primaries.
Bear in mind, I had noticed that feather, that very morning and thought,"hmmmm, I wonder if that feather is gonna cause a problem...since it has no support, all by its lonesome there...maybe I should bring the birdie first aid kit (with hemostat and clotting stuff)î...Did I?? Nope. Anyway, I retrieved the feather, and to my horror, saw the bloody stump. Now, there I was in the middle of nowhere, with three little kids tearing about. THANK GOD MY BROTHER WAS THERE, and I wasn't baby-sitting! By this time, I got to take a look at Charmaine and of course, his wing was soaked in blood, as was my shoulder, neck and the side of my face! Now remember, we were in (relatively) the wilderness, and my brother knew of no avian vet and it was SUNDAY MORNING!!!!! My mind was racing, my heart was pounding, and my EMT emergency cool-head kicked in. I ordered my brother to run and get me needle-nosed pliers and a towel. Again, thank God he was there! He ran and got the pliers, and I grabbed a towel from the bathroom. By this time, we were in the (white) kitchen, and the blood was splattered on the floor, walls and refrigerator!
Let me say this, by the way. My brother is NOT an animal person. He would never let me bring either of my dogs to his house, nor would he ever have a pet in his home, although he was a great rescuer of lost animals when he lived with my parents. For some reason, he loves Charmaine and lets me bring him anytime, even though he makes ten times the mess any dog would have made.
He was SO good in this emergency. I had to show him how to hold the bird in the towel, while I tried to get the rest of the feather out. This was a first (and I hope, last) for ALL of us! Poor Charmaine did not know WHAT the heck was going on, and protested loudly. Steve (brother) did his best to cradle Charmaine in the towel, while he tried to grab the feather. He was so bloody, that I couldn't really see exactly what was happening, and missed twice, pulling out little bits of fuzz from somewhere in there. Poor birdie was still bleeding.....I had visions of my baby bleeding to death, right there in the kitchen. Charmaine was squawking, not so much screaming, and squirming around like crazy! He managed to get his head out of the towel, and his beak was flashing and slashing around. But God bless him, he did not bite either of us, even though at one point, my finger was right inside his beak. I was feeling so awful, I almost wished he'd taken a bite out of me ((note to self, call shrink)). I could not get the blood feather, and we were all pretty freaked out. I asked my brother for some flour or cornstarch, but there was none in the house. He ran out to the store to buy some, and I set Charmaine down on the basket-perch. I smoothed him down and pet him, and he was understandably breathing heavily and looking freaked! I stood there and said a brief healing prayer, gathering my psychic strength. I placed the towel just over his head, while he was standing on the perch. I held his head gently, and with the same hand (I do not know how I managed that) held the bloody wing spread out. I took those slippery, bloody pliers, found the bloody stump and YANKED it out!!!!!!! That thing was the diameter of a soda straw!!!!! But I got it, and I got it all!!!!! I looked at Charmaine, and he looked at me. I really feel as if he knew I was helping him, although from his perspective, I can't imagine how he could know that.
A minute or two later, Steve was back with the cornstarch. I showed him the stump, and he couldn't believe it either! At this point, my brother, recognizing how upset we all were, allowed the bloody Charmaine to sit on his shoulder, while I applied great handfuls of cornstarch to the wing! I couldn't tell if it was still bleeding, and I wanted to sop as much up, and clot any holes, so I just STUFFED the wing-pit with corn starch! You can imagine, Charmaine was not thrilled with this either, and was flapping like MAD!!! So there we all were, drenched in blood and caked with cornstarch!!!! At this point, looking at my beloved, beleaguered brother, and my sweet baby bird, I burst out LAUGHING!!! WHAT A MESS!!! It was time to calm down.
I tried to start cleaning up the kitchen, but my brother told me to go sit quietly with the bird and give him water to make sure he did not dehydrate. Good advice, no? He sat the kids down (6 yr. old girl, two 4 yr. old boys), told them what happened, and that we had to be quiet around the bird so we wouldn't upset him. They were really good about that. I took Charmaine outside; we sat in the sun (nice and warm) and he just sat there, kinda dazed. I gave him a few drops of water every couple of minutes. He wouldn't even look at the almonds I offered him (his very favorite) and that was pretty scary. But, after a couple of hours of rest, he gobbled about three almonds and some pinenuts, and was back to his old self.
Now, after the long story, let's get to the point. BE PREPARED AND BRING THE FIRST AID KIT WHEREVER YOU GO. LEARN HOW TO PULL A BLOOD FEATHER!! READ UP ON IT! I could have lost Charmaine!! What if we were out on a walk, or if my brother wasn't there, and I couldn't find the pliers?? I never thought it would happen to us, and it did!! You just never know.
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