Broken Flight feathers

kiwination

New member
Nov 22, 2014
39
0
California
Hello
so my meyers, dotty, has had her wings clipped since ive gotten her and her wings are starting to grow back (yay!). but there is one problem:

before i made a post about this awhile ago and it turned out she broke a flight feather. she was fine and actually didnt even bleed or anything. we went to go take it out and after that she was fine and the groomer said that the follicle seemed to look heathy and no signs of infection or damage. now she broke another one... on the same wing...

this time though i dont think its going to be as easy because you can actually see the blood in the feather still and it hasnt fully grown in i think.

My question is: is this a common thing to happen when they are previously clipped? should i just keep her clipped for this reason?

I dont know how she keeps doing it. last time i think she just fell in a bad spot, but now im starting to think other things are going on. do you think she isnt use to having feathers there and they bug her? or she is trying to pluck them? i give her lost of toys and i of course spend a ton of time with her. i cant even leave the room without her trying to follow me lol. she has been a little hormonal lately. is it because she has never fledged and doesnt understand what these things are growing out of her? lol

pls share your thoughts!

also about her being flighted, i know that i will train her even if i never ever plan to free flight a small bird like her, but im still alittle unsure on how to actually teach them to fly. does it eventually come to them? ive heard of some birds ( especially the larger ones) never want to fly. is this a big possibility? if so i may just keep her clipped for her own safety and comfort.
 

riddick07

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2011
2,106
46
PA
Parrots
Blue & Gold Macaw (Titan) & Yellow Naped Amazon (Kelly)
When new flights are growing in after a clip it is very easy to break them since they have no protection from other feathers. All it would take is her spreading her wings to flap and hitting the feather on a toy or bars. Is she flighty at all? Does she flap in the cage a lot or roughhouse with toys? You might want to reduce the amount of toys hanging about so she has room if she likes to do either of those. If she tries to follow you and falls than chances are she is going to break a flight. Your going to want to move her with you or put her away if you don't want to take her out of the room with you. You just have to be careful until she has enough flights on each side that they can protect each other.

When my cockatoo was regrowing from his clip we broke a lot of blood feathers because he is flighty. I had the first few yanked but just left the others when they snapped if the bleeding stopped. Obviously keep an eye on them if you leave them in for infection or bleeding starting up again. If you want her flighted you'll just have to get through getting a full set back. Don't cut new feathers coming in or you'll cut a blood feather which you don't want to do.

I've taught all my little ones how to fly and my cockatoo learned control after getting his flights back in. My Amazon I'm teaching now and he is almost to the point of taking off on his own. If you want a flighted bird chances are you'll get one if you try to teach them to fly after they get flights. The bigger ones do seem to take longer...mothers teaching her macaw and he is starting to take off occasionally but he isn't overly fond of the ordeal half the time.
 
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kiwination

New member
Nov 22, 2014
39
0
California
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Yea she is very energetic for a meyers i feel and she likes to "freak out" and run around and flap and whistle and scream. Its so funny lol she does it usually when there is a fly flying around her or she sees a shiny reflection off a phone or something lol. I think its her being frustrated that she cant eat/kill it lol

she also does try to fly/jump to me already and ends up plopping to the floor.
 

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