Saltys damaged wing feather - what to do?

Saltys vet has him trimmed on the first , third, forth and fifth primary feathers, leaving the second primary ( second from the outside) at is long, natural length. Saturday morning, he somehow bent that second feather and it was sticking out almost 90 degrees out from the wing and he was clearly uncomfortable with it. He was shaking and twitching it rapidly , trying to reset its postion ( I think). I extended the wing for a second, and helped him reset its position. It seemed OK all day, and night, but it happened again this evening and once we reset its postion, you can see that its still not 100%.

Question - is it advisable to just pull this feather out? The vet did not with the reasoning that it will offer support to the new blood feathers he is getting on his wings ( Salty is in the middle of a fairly deep molt). I am worried that he will again get it bent and perhaps break it and have blood loss. I know how to pull feathers, but Geri, who is home all day with Salty, does not, and it's doubtfull she could do it.

Gus just went through this...he had a brutal clip, all the primaries on both wings. He finally molted most of them one at a time and new ones grew in. On the right side they came in fine, but the left was a problem - one would grow in, and get broken in half. Then another. All together he managed to break several on that side, so his wings look pretty uneven. Once they broke they were fine. Do you think it would help to cut the feather shorter? Then maybe it would be more supported by the secondaries but still give dome protect to the new feathers.

Perjo has had quite a few bent feathers in his first 2 years on this planet and she's fidgeted with them quite a bit, sometimes she ruffles herself and they go back to a nice resting place. Never seen any blood when one did finally break off.

The Clip style your CAV provided is one of the best to help limit the effects of any Active Parrot from causing a new Feather to become damaged and you are faced with the likelihood of a bleeding new flight feather.

The best route is the one you have been using! The second is to clip the full length feather at the same length as the other Vet Trimmed feathers, per: Kentuckienne.

One of the joys of an Active Amazon!!!

If Geri is uncomfortable, it will be better to leave the feather as is and not have a minor problem turn into a serious issue if either Salty or Geri get any part of the process wrong!

Hope that this helps

Thanks guys. I was discusing how to stem a bleeding feather with Geri last nite - I hope it never happens when I am not home or away on a gig or in CHina. Salty will bleed out for sure.

I am going to see what it looks like up close when I get home later.

Was thinking about you question to yourself regarding what happens when you are not at home! That is a question that near every Parrot Owned person asks at some point! That drove this idea:

- Who other than you can 'handle' Salty?' And by handle, I mean Salty will let that person place full hands on /over his body?

If no one, that is you next trick training assignment!

Goal 1:
- Teach Salty and 'insert name here' Salty handling fun and needed positions to closely evaluate Salty's physical condition. Open Wings to see under wing area and body. Open tail feathers and see under tail area. Both legs, claws and nails, and also, neck and head region.
- To see what is healthy now and what areas are of greatest concern and locations in which injuries can commonly happen.

Goal 2:
- Develop an Emergency First Aid Kit or upgrade if needed. NOTE: There is a transition developing to calling these kits: Emergency Medical Kits.
- Teach Salty and 'insert name here' to allow and do basic bandaging (rapping) to hold legs and/or wings in place.

No Easy Task! But, as we both know: Practice and plan for the worst and rejoice if it is never used.

NOTE: At the very end of the Amazon Forum Sticky Thread: I Love Amazons - ... I have added the Foundation for a well developed Emergency First Aid Kit. We have elected to upgrade segments of that supply to support both Parrot and Human(s).

This last Spring, we where a test sight for "Liquid Skin" A new product on the Market that allows none blood-covered skin surfaces to be held together without the need of a bandage. We now have added that to the kit. (Bring skin ends together, lightly clean surface, apply Liquid Skin, hold for an additional minute!

SailBoat, didn't you once say you had taught one or more Amazons to allow you to hold them to your ear to take their pulse?

"Boats, thanks bro, I can always count on you and the other folks on this Board. I have some but not all of that together. The really good suggestion is the second party. Thankfully Salty LOVES my son ( in fact he is Saltys 'person'; Salty also loves me and tolerates Geri. But Erik would be the second one for sure. Great idea for the things to try.

The vet said like all have, let him deal with it unless it breaks and bleeds. SHe did say if it wanted a second option, I could trim the feather to be the same length as the shorter clipped primaries, which are all coming in with new feathers growing. SO I am going to wait it out - that feather cant last much longer the way Salty pulls on it when it gets all cockeyed. I looked, its def not a blood feather.

Kentucky - yes he did recommend that, I do it to Salty all of the time. Give him rasberries on his belly too.

I know others elect to pull feathers and such, especially when the feather involved is a blood feather (thankfully, Salty's isn't), but I've always been inclined to handle it as the vet has suggested and let my birds sort it out. None of my birds has ever had a blood feather thus affected, though. That would certainly make the decision a lot harder.

Maybe just leave him flighted? Then the feathers would support each other and not get damaged.

Kentuckienne said:

SailBoat, didn't you once say you had taught one or more Amazons to allow you to hold them to your ear to take their pulse?

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Yes I have and I consider it second to 'Step-Up' as part of relationship (bond) building with an Amazon (or any other Parrot).

The vast majority of our Amazons come to us non-flighted and historically older than the 'average population'. In the recent past that has changed 180 degrees as we are now seeing teenagers.

But to your comment: The process of reflighting a Parrot places great pressure /effort on the Heart. A muscle that like the major flight muscles are not ready to support extended flight. The 'great fear' is that the extended effort of even short flight can cause the heart to race to a point that it fails. There are advance signs, but the most telling is being able to actually hear the heart! By being able to place ones ear to the mid-upper chest, one can in fact hear the heart, its pulse, its rate.

For any of this to make any sense, one must first have heard the heart of their Parrot when that Parrot is at rest! That first time is eye opening, because the rested rate of a Parrot heart is very rapid! The goal is not to count, but to understand the change from rested.

It is why I believe so strongly that a Parrot must see their CAV before beginning reflight training.

I see it as very important that every non-flighted Parrot has daily Wing Flapping time building over a year up to twenty minutes. That's taking a full year to go from none to 20 minutes and over the course of a day.

Taking your Parrot who has never done even moderate Wing Flapping and have them do that level of Wing Flapping and it could kill them! So, always get a CAV evaluation is so very important!

FlyBirdiesFly said:

Maybe just leave him flighted? Then the feathers would support each other and not get damaged.

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Less likely to get damaged, true. But it does still happen. Remember, all of my birds have been flighted.

Just to follow up, Salty went to the vet this afternoon. The feather was not a blood feather. and she found that it had cracked 1/2 way through right at the base , just as the shaft leaves the follicle. Instead of pulling the feather out ( big owwie) she snipped it off at the crack and recommended we let the little bit left in the follicle fall out naturally. THe offending feather has a lot of little blood feathers coming all around it so she was wary of just yanking it out. Thanks Dr. D ! Salty got many treats on the way home and is enjoying his lunch now.

wrench13 said:

Just to follow up, Salty went to the vet this afternoon. The feather was not a blood feather. and she found that it had cracked 1/2 way through right at the base , just as the shaft leaves the follicle. Instead of pulling the feather out ( big owwie) she snipped it off at the crack and recommended we let the little bit left in the follicle fall out naturally. THe offending feather has a lot of little blood feathers coming all around it so she was wary of just yanking it out. Thanks Dr. D ! Salty got many treats on the way home and is enjoying his lunch now.

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And, the why I so strongly believe in taking an Amazon to a CAV!!! Solid advise with an explanation! Just Got To Love That Level Of Care!

The first time I met our CAV, she had prior knowledge of my long Love of Amazons. My first response to her was - never assume that I know it! Always assume that I need to know! As a result, I have learned so very much more.

' Boats, Dr. D is not the CAV, but she works in the same office as Dr H. who is, and they have worked together for many years. WHen its something I think serious , I make sure to go when Dr H. is there. Dr. D explained a lot to me today too.