Just a little Jerry update

I was flicking through my tablet this morning and come across a photo i took of Jerry when i first got him. I was so shocked i couldn't remember him looking so bad




He has still got a long way to go but he is starting to look so much better on his chest.



A lot of his wings feathers have fallen out too and are in process of growing back along with a hell of a lot on his head and back..

i feel so sorry for him tho. He will come for me to scratch his head but its so hard not to catch his new feathers on his head and they seem to hurt him when i do. So some slow massage rubs are doing him for now although he gets a bit bored of that after a few mins as he normally loves a good hard scratch lol.

If cover is soft to the touch leave them alone. If they are hard they are ready for attention. As always, if he says don't touch, then its don't touch.

Recovering Amazons are a joy to be part of, so enjoy and build the memories.

SailBoat said:

If cover is soft to the touch leave them alone. If they are hard they are ready for attention. As always, if he says don't touch, then its don't touch.

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I don't get what this means SailBoat sorry

The difference between a new feather ready to be released from its covering and one that is still developing can commonly be determined by whether that covering is soft (flexible) to the touch or hard (brittle) to the touch.

Scratches in general is welcome on existing feathers. However 'preening' which is the process of helping your parrot remove the covering from a new feather is different it that it is specific to a feather. Commonly, during scratching, one comes across a new feather and most owners will switch from scratching to preening without even thing about it.

You more than likely hit a new feather, which is not ready (still soft and flexible), and that is most likely what your Amazon reacted too.

Hope this helped.

Ahh right thanks yeah that cleared it up nicely.

How would i help him preening with feathers that are ready to do so ? and will this actually help him along ? or will the feathers come through on there own ?

They would probs have another bird preen the feathers that they cant reach themselves right ?

Simmons said:

Ahh right thanks yeah that cleared it up nicely.

How would i help him preening with feathers that are ready to do so ? and will this actually help him along ? or will the feathers come through on there own ?

They would probs have another bird preen the feathers that they cant reach themselves right ?

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I always get the ones they can't reach on their heads and neck for them...

Birdman666 said:

Simmons said:

Ahh right thanks yeah that cleared it up nicely.

How would i help him preening with feathers that are ready to do so ? and will this actually help him along ? or will the feathers come through on there own ?

They would probs have another bird preen the feathers that they cant reach themselves right ?

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I always get the ones they can't reach on their heads and neck for them...

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What do you do exactly to help them ?

If you look at a pinfeather, you can see the blood vessels, it'll be dark blueish. In a grown feather or almost grown feather you'll see where the vessels stop, and you can gently pinch the top part to break the coating (essentially just keratin) that's covering the feather which will come off in flaky bits. Be careful to not pinch the blood supply, as they do feel pain from it and will react, just be gentle.

I'm sure someone could provide a picture but my quick google didn't provide what I wanted.

Aquila said:

If you look at a pinfeather, you can see the blood vessels, it'll be dark blueish. In a grown feather or almost grown feather you'll see where the vessels stop, and you can gently pinch the top part to break the coating (essentially just keratin) that's covering the feather which will come off in flaky bits. Be careful to not pinch the blood supply, as they do feel pain from it and will react, just be gentle.

I'm sure someone could provide a picture but my quick google didn't provide what I wanted.

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Thanks Aquila i'll have a look next time he comes for a scratch