Cracking pin feathers?

[Anya]

I haven't had to crack Loki's pins in years, since he and Blaze preened each other, but it's that time of year. He fluffs up if I go to crack them, which makes it easier, but he also wiggles around a ton and makes me worry about accidentally pulling them.
Has anyone got advice for preening conures? They're so small .
Thanks in advance!

 

[T00tsyd]

Syd seems to have me trained pretty well. He offers his head, I start to investigate for pins and he moves until I reach one that's 'ready'. He then goes very still and closes his eyes and I know I can squeeze. If I get it wrong or it proves not ready he gives a little squeak and moves sharply. I then say I am sorry, he gives me a hard look and usually offers his head again so I know I'm forgiven.

I am just putty in his feet. I'm not sure how it happened. I thought I invited him into my home but he is definitely the boss.

 

[RemiBird]

Remi's head always seem in some kind of state of pinnies and molting.
He loves it when I preen his head for him. Petey, on the other hand, does not like her head touched.

 

[Orin2017]

I haven't had to crack Loki's pins in years, since he and Blaze preened each other, but it's that time of year. He fluffs up if I go to crack them, which makes it easier, but he also wiggles around a ton and makes me worry about accidentally pulling them.

Has anyone got advice for preening conures? They're so small .

Thanks in advance!

I’m no expert, a first time bird owner myself. I have one GCC. One thing I have noticed, which softens up the pins and makes them easier to break up, is a mixture of oils: coconut oil, hemp oil, flax seed oil (equal parts). I administer one drop per day during molt, using a syringe we obtained from our avian vet. It is a needless syringe.

Originally we tried safflower oil; however, despite loving safflower seeds, she doesn’t like safflower oil.

I hope it helps you. It does make our GCC’s pins softer and easier to break up. She allows us to do this for her.


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[Squeekmouse]

Ok... silly question... are you suggesting the oils be fed to the bird or applied to the pinfeathers?

 

[Orin2017]

Ok... silly question... are you suggesting the oils be fed to the bird or applied to the pinfeathers?

No such thing as a stupid question.

I directly feed the oil to the bird via syringe. No needles. Just avian vet plastic syringe. She licks it up as it comes out so I don’t need to force her beak open.

We noticed that she had a thing for olive oil when she started helping herself to it in the kitchen. That’s when we noticed the correlation between softer pins. We asked the avian vet whether it would be safe to feed her small amounts of some different oils and we were told it shouldn’t be harmful. Only, we didn’t see any nutritional benefit in olive oil, which prompted us to try coconut oils, etc.


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