Waterproofing of feathers between male and female?

[camo]

Hi all,

My two are going through some moulting, and so they are getting lots of showers.

I find with Gizmo (male) the water will just run off him until he has really been in the shower for a long time, and then pretty shortly after the shower you can hardly tell he has had one (other than the feathers are darker because they are wet), Pebbles (female) on the other hand the water soaks in quickly (within minutes) and she looks like a drowned rat until she starts to dry. Her feathers seem to more easily seperate into the individual hair like structure the eclectus has, but Gizmo's stays more in the feather state.

I suspect Pebbles, either plucked in the past (before we got her), as she does have a few small permanent patches without feathers (not visible until she is drenched), and we don't know how old she is, so that could be a factor, but not sure if there is naturally a difference between the sexes. Do those with a male and female notice a difference with waterproofing charactoristics between the sexes?

Cheers,

Cameron

 

[Terry57]

I only have a male so am of no help, but bumping you up

 

[Anansi]

Curious, Cameron. I have experienced the exact opposite with Jolly and Maya. Maya's plumage is almost duck-like in its ability to keep the water at bay. And then, once drenched, she dries far more swiftly than Jolly does. Jolly, on the other hand, looks soaked and sodden rather quickly, and takes longer to look dry.

I've come to believe, however, that this is a function of how much they actually want to shower. Jolly is more enthusiastic about taking showers, and immediately opens up for full exposure. Maya, on the other hand, gets far less amped about it all. Takes her longer to really get into it. So perhaps she keeps her feathers more tightly interlocked than Jolly does?

Just a theory, but I think it fits.

 

[SailBoat]

Curious, Cameron. I have experienced the exact opposite with Jolly and Maya. Maya's plumage is almost duck-like in its ability to keep the water at bay. And then, once drenched, she dries far more swiftly than Jolly does. Jolly, on the other hand, looks soaked and sodden rather quickly, and takes longer to look dry.

I've come to believe, however, that this is a function of how much they actually want to shower. Jolly is more enthusiastic about taking showers, and immediately opens up for full exposure. Maya, on the other hand, gets far less amped about it all. Takes her longer to really get into it. So perhaps she keeps her feathers more tightly interlocked than Jolly does?

Just a theory, but I think it fits.

Great subject, which rarely surfaces! In fact, I do not ever recall seeing a document on the subject. But, then I have never done a search either.

My Amazon (yup, different species) kind of falls between. Some showers, I'm watching the water run off him like he has a rain jacket on and other times sink in like a sponge.

Knowing that Amazons do not have an oil gland, but do create a light dust, and since both species used either oil or dust to allow their feathers to move over each other with greater ease. I have an addition theory that builds on yours.

There are times where my Amazon's dust level is higher than normally seen and times when it is clearly lighter. The periods of running-off or soaking in do match! And, being that he sometimes is a bit less active preening also kind of links to those events.

So, is it possible that this 'new' Theory we are creating here, which links levels of preening and the ease of water shedding from the feathers of our Parrots has merit! Either of you two want to put a membership pole together regarding this???

We had better document this Thread, it could be possible that we have fallen upon an area of Avian Science has not claimed!

 

[Anansi]

I didn't know that amazons don't have oil glands. I'd always assumed they did. Thanks for the info.

Hmmm... so if your theory is correct, Steven, and given that my Eclectic Duo is yielding exactly opposite findings to Cameron's pair (small sample group, but let's run with it), then the "weatherproofing" is not so much dependent upon gender than it is the individual efficacy of each bird's oil gland/dust production.

I'd previously theorized that it was a male/female thing myself, as Bixby's plumage was just as easily waterlogged as Jolly's, but Cameron's situation has given me cause to rethink that position.

 

[SailBoat]

If we hold this discussion to only healthy Parrots, thus elimination health based production variations of either oil or dust (species specific). This allows us to first look at when and how extensively a Parrot preens in the oil or dust on /into their feathers. With that stated, it becomes possible to define to what level of 'watherproofing' extensive - moderate preen will produce. Correct?

 

[Anansi]

Definitely an effective basis for the discussion, I believe, though it only takes into account the preening frequency and thoroughness rather than the amount of oil/dust produced by an individual bird. Given the limited number of birds available, however, I think that is a reasonable (and realistically necessary) omission.

In my home, Maya is easily the more frequent and thorough preener of the two. A true Diva. Lol!

Is Gizmo the more frequent preener of your two ekkies, Cameron? And in your experience with amazons, Steven, are the frequent preeners the ones who seem more waterproof? Because, if so, we may be well on our way to a workable hypothesis.

 

[GaleriaGila]

The Patagonian two cents...
When he's in the mood for a bath, he fluffs and ruffles his feathers, thus getting SOAKED.
When he's not in the mood (and is getting a bath because I say so) he keeps his feathers tight, and doesn't get totally wet.

 

[SailBoat]

Looking at my DYHA, the busier he is with preen prior to a shower, the more 'waterproof' he is, and at other times, when is interests are more into making big pieces into little piece the wetter .

I'm thinking that the dust base Parrots 'may' require more daily attentions, but that is just pure speculation, since I have never had an oil based Parrot.

Hmmm, take the Parrot related words out of this and no one would have any idea of what I am talking about!

 

[SailBoat]

The Patagonian two cents...
When he's in the mood for a bath, he fluffs and ruffles his feathers, thus getting SOAKED.
When he's not in the mood (and is getting a bath because I say so) he keeps his feathers tight, and doesn't get totally wet.

I believe that RB is a New World Parrot, Yes? And, that it is highly possible that his feather care is dust based compared to oil based. When he puffs /flaps, he creates a small puff of dust, Yes?

 

[GaleriaGila]

Upon thought....................... YES! Absolutely yes... a dust-bather. In the arid Patagonian desert. Makes perfect sense.

 

[camo]

Oh good, at least there seems to be a variation between birds, even if it may not be related to gender.

Is Gizmo the more frequent preener of your two ekkies, Cameron?

Yes that would fit, Gizmo certainly does a lot more preening, although Pebbles tends to pay more attention than Gizmo directly after showers.

While on possible theories, I was also wondering if flying might make a difference, perhaps helping with conditioning in some way (Gizmo does a lot of flying, to the point that if he doesn't get a lot of time out in a day he will fly laps of the house to burn off energy, whereas Pebbles will fly, but could take it or leave it). Does that theory fit Stephen, for your eckies, I remember one of your two was the more frequent flyer, but can't remember if it was Jolly or Maya (and of cause everyone else including other parrots species)

The Patagonian two cents...
When he's in the mood for a bath, he fluffs and ruffles his feathers, thus getting SOAKED.
When he's not in the mood (and is getting a bath because I say so) he keeps his feathers tight, and doesn't get totally wet.

Gizmo and Pebbles wouldn't fit into that theory, Pebbles is the one that often doesn't want the shower d holds her feathers tight, but Gizmo I have to tell him when his shower time is over. Gizmo would definitely get more water and be more open winged and fluffing etc than Pebbles.

Cheers,

Cameron

 

[SailBoat]

The question of whether a Parrot has an oil gland or uses dust has merit when looking at desert applications. So, it it is easy to understand that Parrots that use a dust base have natural ranges that are or includes deserts.

With Amazon's, they cover a very wide range from Plains to areas that receive rain everyday. Interesting, but likely does not add anything of great depth to this discussion, other than, they likely came from dryer areas and moved into wetter areas.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

I can say with my two, Chicken is easily the one that gets soaked more quickly, whereas Tiki takes a while to even start really getting wet. I had always assumed it was because Chicken gets into her baths much more than Tiki, but maybe there is more to it.

 

[Violet_Diva]

Interesting topic!

I can say that my girl Bella soaks much faster and takes longer to dry off, I use a hairdryer which she doesn't mind. She flies quite alot these days. she also self-bathes in her water bowl from time to time.

My boy Dexter, on the other hand, takes longer to soak through as the water just beads up and rolls off the little green duck! He takes no time at all to dry off and he absolutely LOVES being dried with the hairdryer! He's a little bit of a lazy flier though. I've never seen him trying to bathe himself.

 

[Anansi]

...While on possible theories, I was also wondering if flying might make a difference, perhaps helping with conditioning in some way (Gizmo does a lot of flying, to the point that if he doesn't get a lot of time out in a day he will fly laps of the house to burn off energy, whereas Pebbles will fly, but could take it or leave it). Does that theory fit Stephen, for your eckies, I remember one of your two was the more frequent flyer, but can't remember if it was Jolly or Maya (and of cause everyone else including other parrots species)

Jolly is definitely the frequent flier, Cameron. Maya only flies if she deems it absolutely necessary. So my Eclectic Duo doesn't quite support your theory.

Fascinating discussion. Seems to me that the possibility of either frequency of preening or amount/efficacy of an individual bird's oil/dust being the determining factor is the most likely of the theories posed thus far.

 

[camo]

...While on possible theories, I was also wondering if flying might make a difference, perhaps helping with conditioning in some way (Gizmo does a lot of flying, to the point that if he doesn't get a lot of time out in a day he will fly laps of the house to burn off energy, whereas Pebbles will fly, but could take it or leave it). Does that theory fit Stephen, for your eckies, I remember one of your two was the more frequent flyer, but can't remember if it was Jolly or Maya (and of cause everyone else including other parrots species)

Jolly is definitely the frequent flier, Cameron. Maya only flies if she deems it absolutely necessary. So my Eclectic Duo doesn't quite support your theory.

Fascinating discussion. Seems to me that the possibility of either frequency of preening or amount/efficacy of an individual bird's oil/dust being the determining factor is the most likely of the theories posed thus far.

I thought it was Jolly. Yes certainly knocks that theory out the window. I am glad I have asked the question now (thought it might be a silly topic at first) as I don't think I have read anything before about there being a distinct difference between there feather hydrophobic charactoristics. Based on the responses so far, it does look like there are differences.

 

[Anansi]

I'd brought it up in a thread a while back. Laura (Labell) had mentioned noticing something similar with her birds as well, so i'd chalked it up to gender differences in ekkies... until now.