Rose Breasted Cockatoo Maturity + Shaking Head

EllenD said:

The feather "stems" are called "pin feathers", and they are just the first stage of feathers when they start to grow-in. They have that white sheath around the actual feather, and those white sheaths become dry and are very, very itchy. You can sometimes help your bird by very gently rolling the pin feathers between your two fingers and breaking them apart, releasing the feathers. The dander you're seeing is most likely not dander at all, but rather the pin-feather sheaths flaking away. If the pin-feathers are all over his head/face, then this may very well be the reason that he's been shaking his head, as their heads/faces are the one place that they can't preen themselves to remove the sheaths by themselves, relieving the itching. A shower will also be helpful with the itchiness. They also make a spray that contain natural Purcellin Oil in it, which is what comes out of their preen-glands and they dip their beak in and preen themselves with, and you can buy it at any Petco and spray it on him, very lightly, and this can also help with the itching, it's made by Ecotrition...

Keep in mind that pin-feathers are extremely sensitive, and if the sheaths aren't ready to flake apart and you push on them or pull on them accidentally, it's painful for them and they'll let you know that. You only want to gently roll the white sheath part of the pin-feathers between two fingers to break them up, that's it.

As far as when he'll fully lose all the pin feathers and have his full mature feathers, it's going to take some time, as he's only 6 months old, which is extremely young for a Galah. The fact that he's covered in pin-feathers means that he's getting there, but it's going to take some time. Keep in mind that this is going to happen every time he molts as an adult too, usually that happens once a year or so, depending on the bird. So every time they grow a new feather in, they get new pin feathers.

****If all of his pin feathers finish and are gone and he is still shaking his head, then this means that something else is going on, and you need to take him to a CAV, which you may still want to do right now just to be safe. I'm pretty sure that's probably why he's shaking his head, as it's extremely uncomfortable for them and they can't get to their heads/faces to help themselves, but you're always better safe than sorry. Again, warm showers, the Ecotrition feather spray with the Purcellin Oil, and also trying to help him break up the sheaths around the pin feathers will help.

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