Advice on feathers

[littlecaique]

Hi,
I was wondering if I could get some advice about some new feathers on my caique who turned 1 year old today. ( Birthday Cake ) My avian vet is currently on leave, getting married so I will have to wait until January for a yearly check up. Anyway, it seems that many people on this forum have a lot of knowledge, so I thought I would run this by everyone here.

I have attached images of the areas in question.

1. Tail Feathers
The whole tail seems to be growing back a mixed yellow and green colour. Not too visible in the photo are two large blood feathers on either side. They both seem stunted and I am wondering if they should be removed.

The back of the tail on the other hand looks pretty normal.

2. Wings
There are two yellow patches in either wing that have appeared lately.

New flight feathers are finally growing in. There are 4 in total that have grown back so far. The two front primaries on either side look dry down near the stem which can be seen in the last picture I believe, its just a little blurred.

He eats, a combination of Tropimix and Vetafarm Pellets with of course fruit vegetables, and rice.
Health wise, he seems good. Poops like a trooper. Eats like a boss. Plays like the devil.

 

[EllenD]

You'll have to forgive me, as I don't know anything about your bird's history, but I'm going to assume that he's been healthy overall, with no serious issues...

Since he just turned 1 year-old yesterday, he's right on-track for going through his first very large molt, which is the largest of his life. He's shedding his young baby feathers and growing-in his mature, adult feathers. As such, you're going to see some color changes, such as the yellow appearing on his shoulders. Most species of parrots do go through some natural color-changes after their first big molt into adulthood. So the color changes are totally normal, and you'll probably see more (I don't know much about the natural colors of Caiques)...

This is also the reason for the blood-feathers, as he's growing-in his adult feathers, and the feathers on both his wings and his tail are very large, and they all have a large blood-supply to them...You mentioned that those two large blood-feathers are "stunted", but they aren't "stunted", they just haven't grown-in completely yet, which is confirmed by the fact that they are still blood-feathers. Once they grow-in completely, the blood-supply will be cut-off; but as long as the feathers are still growing in the normal, proper, healthy way that they should, they will have a blood-supply...So they aren't at all "stunted", they are simply still growing-in, which does take a long time when it comes to the large ones...The fact that each of those feathers on BOTH SIDES are the same length and have their blood-supplies is what tells you that they are growing-in normally, and are healthy, and NO, THEY SHOULD NOT BE PULLED!!!! If you were to pull those two immature blood-feathers right now, he would just have to start growing them in all over again, and they wouldn't grow-in any differently or any more quickly than they are right now!

This process just takes time, that's all. This is the largest molt he will ever go through in his entire life, and it can take months and months for those large flight and tail feathers to completely mature and grow-in. But they look healthy, they have a blood-supply bi-laterally, or on both sides, so everything looks normal and good. Don't pull anything!

Again, all of the color changes you're seeing in the new adult feathers that are growing-in are normal, as most baby parrots are colored differently than they are when they hit adulthood. And again, as long as a feather has a blood-supply, it's still growing and does not need to be pulled in order to try to get it to grow-in more quickly, as it won't.

As far as the shafts of his feathers being dried-out, this is totally normal, and is why molts can cause birds itchiness and irritation. As pin-feathers, or new, immature feathers grow-in, the keratin sheath around the new feather starts out being soft and fresh, and the longer it's there protecting the feather inside of it, the dryer it's going to get. And you'll also probably see that a lot of the baby feathers that he's in the process of losing are extremely dried-out, because they are at the end of their life-cycle. It's totally normal for a bird that is molting to be itching himself all the time, and this is where giving your bird a bath or shower a couple of times a week can bring him some relief from the itching, and can also help to bring out some of the dead feathers. Also, some people like to buy some Vitamin E oil or some Ecotrition "Molt-Ease" spray, which you can buy at Petco, and apply a bit of that lightly on their feathers if their skin is dried-out and they have a lot of pin-feathers...

All-in-all I'd say that your Caique looks very good. He's just a year-old bird going through that first huge, long molt into adulthood. His diet sounds great (I too feed Tropimix seed-mix along with the Tropican pellets), you're feeding both a very healthy, natural pellet and low-fat seed-mix, along with fresh veggies. So you're doing everything right...you just need to be patient about allowing this molt to happen and finish...Do not pull out any feathers, especially blood-feathers, lol. They look like extremely healthy new feathers coming-in...

 

[Laurasea]

Yep Ellen D covered it !! Nothing to add here except great pictures! You joined a great group of people who all worry and watch over our Fids! ?