Parrot IS HURT!!!!

[MillipedeFarm]

i woke up this morning and my african grey parrot has dried blood on his head and he has chipped a toe nail straight down!! he is eating fine right now and seem ok....i cant really afford to take him to a vet...
he often freaks out when he sees something and it looks like somethign has been prowling in his cage and i have be seeing a pesty little mouse running around....i think he saw the mouse and flew around his cage like crazy and bumped his head.....
should i let his wounds heal on there own? i dont know what kind of sauves i could put ona parrot that wouldnt hurt him....i dont know what to do

 

[KellyHM]

As long as nothing is currently bleeding and he's not picking at the bloody spots just let him be. Monitor the spots to make sure they don't get infected and give him some extra yummy treats to take his mind of the stress.

 

[MillipedeFarm]

i took some photos

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Poor baby bonked himself. Do you cover the cage when he sleeps? I wonder if the mouse climbed in for a bird food snack. I don't know how your set up but is there a way to grease the legs of the cage stand?

 

[dixygirl]

Oh he'll be ok. Mine bumped himself like that before and it went away in a few days.
He's such a cutie

ETA: the claws look a little long. He could have just scratched himself. Might help to trim them a bit. The vet used a dremel rotating sander for that.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I've worked with/bred parrots for about 16 years now and I've seen some pretty bad wounds on them. The cheapest thing you can keep on hand, should your baby bang himself again, is regular flour. See, parrot blood doesn't clot as fast as our blood does, so they bleed more profusely for longer periods of time before their blood will clot. Styptic powder is expensive and flour works just as well. I've never used styptic powder. I've always keep a small container of flour on hand cause accidents can happen, anything from a wing clipped too short, to an accidental cat attack, etc. Your baby doesn't look so bad. Let him be and watch to make sure he doesn't pick at his toe. He can't reach the one on his head to mess with it so that one should be fine. Let me ask you this, do you cover your bird at night? I place a dark sheet or cover over my cages because when shadows or lights, or even the movement of a cat or dog in the room catches their attention in the dark, they can freak out and start slamming around in the cage until they hurt themselves. It's hard to get them to calm down again once they've gotten themselves into a panic. As for the mouse, I don't really know what to tell you other than try to set a trap for it? If your cage is on a stand you can try greasing the legs as suggested, but mice can jump and if they want in somewhere, they WILL get in. Persistent little buggers that they are. I'm glad my cats keep mice to a minimum here. If you do cover your bird, I also recommend that as you enter the room, before you lift off the cover, talk to him. Say good morning, call out to him, something to alert him to the fact that you are coming to remove his cover. And slowly lift the cover. It sounds like your baby might be a little high strung. I've had birds like that in the past. I'm down now to one elderly cockatiel but he's pretty easy going. The flapping around at night is called night terrors, and once in a blue moon my Bailey will have them too. But that's rare. Also keep in mind, African Greys are purported to be the most intelligent of all parrot species, so it's like dealing with a toddler all the time, and armed with that kind of intelligence, I can understand them having panic attacks from time to time! Good luck with your baby. And oh, if it does start to look like either of his wounds are getting infected, which I doubt they will, there are salves and oral antibiotics you can purchase either in the pet stores or online. Once my friend brought her beagle over (didn't know the dog was coming or I'd have had my birds locked up tight!) while I had my birds out and the beagle got a hold of my favorite cockatiel and ripped her to shreds. I kept flour on hand since the moment I got my first parrot and I grabbed it and began applying it all over Murphy, packing it into her wounds, and under normal circumstances she would bled to death in a matter of minutes, but I stopped all the bleeding and even the vet said that my fast thinking is what had saved her. She went on to live a long life. I've used it to stop bleeding from night terrors more than a few times over the years. I wish you luck, and hope he doesn't hurt himself again.

 

[Epona142]

Hey there, DITB, nice to see you're still alive! We've been missing ya lately.

Sorry to see poor Grey got hurt, hope he gets better soon.