Stroking birds

[SunnyTheConure]

So when I stroke my ringneck on the head I can see under and see his skin is this normal.

 

[SunnyTheConure]

Also he recently moulted and all his feathers grew back perfectly apart from tail feather that grew upside down and later fell off. Is this concerning.

 

[noodles123]

I don't have a ringkneck, but if you move feathers (with most birds) you can see skin. I guess it depends on what you mean, exactly.

 

[SunnyTheConure]

So he went through a big moult and dropped and grew all his feathers back. But then one of his tail feathers grew upside down and didnt have a shaft and eventually it fell out other than that the rest of his feathers around his body was normal. This isn't a sign of pbfd is it.

 

[noodles123]

So he went through a big moult and dropped and grew all his feathers back. But then one of his tail feathers grew upside down and didnt have a shaft and eventually it fell out other than that the rest of his feathers around his body was normal. This isn't a sign of pbfd is it.

It's honestly really hard to say without more details! I know we are similarly paranoid, so I hate to give you such an ambiguous answer, but it is hard to know without testing etc. There are other things that can cause abnormal feathers, if that helps.

 

[Scott]

Can you share pics? None of us are vets or techs but have a lot of experience.

 

[SunnyTheConure]

Unfortunately this was a while ago and I have no pics. His diet wasnt very good back then and he mainly ate just seeds and occasionally I gave him some egg which he would barely eat. Now his diet is much better. The feather grew nice and long but upside down and didnt have much of a base. Sorry about not having any pics this was a few months ago.

Do you think one feather is something to be concerned about.

 

[noodles123]

They can have just 1 that is messed up. Noodles, for instance, has a double feather on her wing (2 coming out of one follicle and the vet thought it was upside down until he saw that it was a 2 for 1 lol). She WAS tested for PPFD previously because she has had a few weird feathers over the years, but she is negative and 2 vets said weird feathers can happen from time to time.

I think that early on, the few weird feathers she had (years ago) were likely due to nutrition and possibly another health issue she had at the time (but that's just a guess)...Not sure about the double follicle but as long as the problem doesn't get progressively worse, it can be normal.

PBFD is always a possibility, but it's definitely not the only one (like I said, it can be "normal" and when I say normal, I mean caused by something like an injury, nutrition, etc etc. Sometimes a follicle can get messed up and permanently produce strange feathers in the same spot, other times, you get a weird feather and the next moult, it grows back fine.

 

[SunnyTheConure]

Okay thanks that helps me feel more relaxed. It's just the one and he did fly around a lot and bump into things so mabye it got damaged cause I'm pretty sure it wasnt always upside down not to sure. With pbfd do they lose feathers whether they are moulting or not otherwise his moult and finished and the rest of his feathers are fine.