Rough-edged/Ragged Feathers

About a month or two ago I noticed that a few of Pippi's feathers were looking a bit worse for wear. I looked it up and found several instances of caique owners saying that their caiques always got their feathers banged up, and they always looked a little bad before molting season. This made me much less concerned, so I decided to wait until after her molt to worry any more. However, we're pretty far into summer now, and her feathers are looking worse than ever! There are some where it looks like the feathers have actual tiny chunks missing from the ends rather than just being ragged, too. She is molting, but only very gradually (as usual) and the feathers on her wings/back where the y are worst have not molted yet. I thought at first it was just banged up feather edges or maybe a lack of preening, but now I'm worried it could be over preening or feather chewing, although she gets baths almost every day and has plenty of destructible toys. I'm most likely going to take her in for a vet check up soon, but I just wanted to see if you guys have any suggestions for what's causing this. Thanks in advance!

What are you feeding your bird? I have a green cheek conure and she used to have black tips on all her feathers, and everything was dull and alittle ragged. I just fed her Zupreem pellets for the longest time. Then, about a year ago she developed some behavioral problems and I started feeding the bird veggie mash in addition to the pellets to help her heal and get healthy again. Within weeks, her feathers were growing in bright and beautiful and they have never looked healthier. Her feather problems were a lack of vitamins and minerals, which she gets from the mash now.

Seems like a vet visit might be your best bet. Issues with feathers could be caused by so many different factors that it will be almost impossible for one of us to pin point the cause to the ragged feathers.

She gets unlimited Roudybush pellets and some sort of fruit/veggie every day, and occasionally healthy people foods to supplement her diet. She also gets bee pollen with her food about 2-3 times a week. There was no change in her diet, so I don't think that's what it was, although it is a possibility I guess. I decided to take her to the vet if molting didn't help. She has molted out some of her feathers, and the new ones came in looking beautiful, so I'm hoping the rest will do the same.

How often do you bathe her?

Hello, I have that same problem with my bird. Your pictures are the first I've seen that look similar to mine. Have you found the problem? The feathers grow in perfectly, but soon after the edges just deteriorate. Some of them are like triangles in the ends.

Hldesi - that is either FDB (Feather Destructive Behavior) or just rough play/can't control tail feathers/cage too small kind of thing.

Well...... she doesn't play rough at all....and her cage is huge ☹ I just want her to have pretty feathers. I was hoping there was something that I could do. Thank you for your input 🐦

Does she get exposure to sunlight? If you have a travel cage that you can securely latch and spend some time in sunlight, and dappled shade, making sure you don't over heat your girl. I think you could see some benefits..just an idea. My vet had me useing sunlight with my rescue. If you already do baths, good diet and big cage, then some natural unfiltered sunlight could help. Or a bird multi spectrum light.

you say you have a huge cage but make sure the perches are positioned so that the tail feathers don't rub against the cage or other obsticles. I don't really see anything wrong with the feathers.

I have a ringneck as well, and her current cage is larger. It's 32" x 21" x 35", not counting the stand.

I do think a bigger cage would be beneficial, and one without wooden dowels as perches. It's not good for their feet.

I think parrots get feather mites don't they? That's what it looks like to me on the caique, because the damage seems too even on all the feathers and I would have thought accidental or even deliberate damage would be more concentrated to certain feathers. Even a small cage wouldn't explain it for me, not unless your bird moves around, flaps and flys in a space where all of its feathers are touching something?

Please go to a vet. Firstly we could all be completely wrong! Secondly if it's something that needs treatment they'll know what's safe. Regarding mites I've seen people - on Facebook, not here - recommending people treat their parrots with products used for chickens or something bought online, which is scary!

Hope you get it sorted.

HIdesi what an absolutely stunning bird you have! Beautiful! The tail damage looks more like damage to me, my birds tail can look far worse than that, on more than one occasion I've thought he'd taken a big chunk off the end! A good misting shower sorts it out though, took him a while to enjoy it, but when he's in the right mood now he loves it.

The feather damage on the body does look like it could be more deliberate. Again - broken record I know, but - a vet visit will probably answer any questions you have and help you work out what might help.