i am the mom of three parrots:
Dorothy- African grey (cag)
Bowie- blue and gold macaw
Nellie- hyacinth macaw
Reggie- hyacinth macaw
Marnie- white bellied caique
Ok - I promise I'm not a stupid person ... although this is going to sound very stupid ... What exactly does this mean? I know what pin feathers are, but how do you "help" them along?
~Alexandrine Parakeet~2 Red Lored Amazons~Blue Fronted Amazon~Black capped conure~4 Green Cheeks~4 Parrotlets~2 lineolated parakeets~9 American budgies~9 English budgies~ And lots of babies :)
[/QUOTE]Ok - I promise I'm not a stupid person ... although this is going to sound very stupid ... What exactly does this mean? I know what pin feathers are, but how do you "help" them along? [/QUOTE]
Sometimes birds will let you rub their little pins between your fingers which will help that casing to open up and expose the feather. My too let me do it all the time, ziggy doesn't really let me pet her and billy will let me give him neck scritches when he has pin feathers but he doesn't like if I actually try to open them up at all.
Try not to work at the ones that are still growing and have blood in them. If you squeeze one of those to break it open it can be painful for your bird. I don't know if there are nerves in there or maybe the blood squeezes back into the body but if I accidentally nip one of those on Tootsie she will react as if it hurts. Generally she is happy to let me crack them open and help the feather to emerge. But now that I have Rosa here, they are taking care of each other's feathers. Which I don't mind because those beaks are much better at doing the service than my thick fingers. I'll just have to make sure that I get that snuggle and bonding time other ways.
My little guy likes some help with his pins. he will come over and bow his head for scritches. If one is still growing and I accidentally try to scratch it (don't worry, no damage, no blood) he cracks them though.