Snapped a feather in half?

Kiwibird · Sep 15, 2014

Poor Kiwi was 'mistreated' by his mommy today

He has been molting and he has had a wonky tail feather that looked ready to come out for 2 days now. I took him down to the post annex (like I do many days) and some lady asked me "why is his tail like that?" in a very sneery/accusitory voice

When we got home, I decided it was time for that feather to go:54: and gave it a GENTLE tug (like I have on a million and one "ready to go" feathers before) and instead of coming out, it snapped in half!?:52: It wasn't a blood feather or anything, but kind of wondering if the part that is still on him will irritate him or anything? Poor guy gave me the mega evil eye

I feel bad that I didn't just pluck him, I broke the poor little guys feather.

henpecked · Sep 15, 2014

It will be OK. The tail feathers are like flight feathers (primaries anyway) ,they are securely anchored. You really have to pull to get them out. The broken feather will molt when it's ready. If you're trying to pluck them it's almost a two handed job. Grab the feather near the base and support the surrounding skin with your other fingers. Most folks use a pair of pliers. I would NOT recommend pulling these types of feathers, bleeding and follicle damage could result, not to mention the pain to the bird. IMO best to let them fall out on their own. I bet he did give you the "evil eye".

Mango121913 · Sep 15, 2014

He will just moult it out. Mango has one he broke off like that.

Kiwibird · Sep 15, 2014

To be clear, I don't normally just go around tugging Kiwi's feathers to see if their loose:09: But you know, theres sometimes feathers that are just clearly ready to go and you need about as much "force" to remove it as you would to peel a sticky note off glass (i.e. not much). This one was pretty much sticking out perpendicular to the rest of his tail and he kept bumping it on stuff and then turning around to see what happened:20: I guess we'll see how long that sucker planned to stay in there naturally when the half-feather appears on the cage floor... I've just never had one snap before. I've had them obviously still be firmly rooted on him and not bothered them again, and plenty that were in fact ready to come out he barely took notice of (a couple this molt in fact), this one just threw me for a loop.

Kalidasa · Sep 15, 2014

No harm done, and that sneery woman was just being a B. !!! Odd or troublesome feathers happen in birds, and if she knew anything about birds she would know that!

michellebaughman · Sep 16, 2014

Thanks for this post! I am admittedly new to parrots and I noticed an occasional tail feather on the ground from both my babies,was even gonna write a post asking if this was normal. Lol love this forum.

JerseyWendy · Sep 16, 2014

I agree with Chris about the title he gave that woman. :54:

And April, I've got to admit, I, too, have pulled out feathers that were ready to come out, on both the Amazons and the Macaws. One time one of Sam's tail feathers was sticking out sideways at a 90 degree angle, and it looked ridiculous, so I took it upon myself to help him out with it.

When my big macs were still making it a game of grabbing each others tail feathers, there were many occasions were good ol' Miss Scissors helped me cut off 'bad' pieces to give them back their sleek appearances.

Snapped a feather in half?

Kiwibird

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henpecked

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Mango121913

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Kiwibird

Well-known member

Kalidasa

Active member

michellebaughman

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JerseyWendy

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just rambling

kiwi doesn't seem like a kiwi

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