Help please :(

[kanundra]

My Bobby seems to have a bent feather. Which is really, really annoying him. What can I do? A friend says he'll most likely break it off himself. But I don't want him to pull it out. Don't even know how it's happened, hubby said it was like that at 9am and he was fine at 7am when I saw him.

Poor thing. He's still eating though, don't think he'd ever stop that.

Dawn

 

[ShellyBorg]

If its not a blood feather just trim that feather above the break so he does not pull it out. If its a blood feather you will need to pull it before it breaks and may cause extream bleeding.

 

[khaiqha]

How exactly is the feather bent? Because as long as the inner shaft isn't bent (the hollow white part at the base) giving the bird a bath will straighten the feather out.

Do watch your bird though to see if it happens again. It took me awhile to realize my Alexandrine was bending his feathers on purpose.

 

[kanundra]

Thanks for the replies. I presume it wasn't a blood feather. He's since chewed it off. And is back to his normal self. Happy as larry.

I think it was an accident. When he was flapping in his new cage he's not used to it yet.

 

[weco]

Thanks for the replies. I presume it wasn't a blood feather. He's since chewed it off. And is back to his normal self. Happy as larry.

I think it was an accident. When he was flapping in his new cage he's not used to it yet.

You say he chewed it off...look very carefully & see if there's a bit of the shaft still visible, sticking out of the follicle...if there is and you have a pair of needle-nosed pliers or better yet a pair of forceps, tightly grip the shaft stub and yank it out...NOT PULL IT, but yank it.....

It won't bother the bird unless you're not sure of yourself & start wigging the shaft around in the follicle...in which case you might get bit.....removing the shaft from the follicle will cause the follicle to begin regenerating a new feather...leaving the shaft stub until it is moulted out normally could cause it to get caught on something or cause the bird to continue worrying with it & damage the follicle.....

Often, damaged follicles have to be cauterized and/or excised/removed, but removing bothersome feathers can prevent that.....

Good luck.....

 

[kanundra]

He's not tame enough for me to get hold of. I've only had him three weeks and never held a bird. I'd be afraid of doing more damage to him and losing the trust we've started to build. I'll see if I can get a friend to come around, if not he's off to the vets for a first check up etc.


At the moment he's just started to come out the corner of the cage for carrots with me sitting right next to it with the door open and my hand on the side. So progress is good. He comes out of his cage and sits behind me most of the evening, after climbing the curtains to get there.

He's listening to music now, chirping along.

Thanks for the replies. Will keep you informed.