ideas on Opal's flying and possible feather problems

reeb

New member
Oct 23, 2017
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Cape Town, South Africa
Parrots
Berry (♀ Cockatiel) hatched June 2017
Opal (♂ Budgie) hatched 13 August 2017
Pearl (♀ Budgie) hatched 15 August 2017
+ an aviary of 16 other budgies! all hatched 2014-2017
So, some of you may remember that I posted about Opal's flying issues near the beginning of the year. We took him to the vet, and all tests showed that he was healthy, except he had a minor respiratory infection which we easily treated and he fully recovered from it. At the time, his wings were mid-molt, so it was pretty difficult to tell if it was a feather problem. Anyway, he's been flying much better, gets height and does dips and what not, however he is still not as fit as Pearl and Berry.

So, I decided to have a look at his wings, and they are very scruffy. Not malformed or plucked or anything, just kind of uneven. They look bright in colour, and healthy otherwise. He gets a really balanced diet, but nevertheless my biggest concern is that he is lacking nutrition in some way.

Does anyone have knowledge of feather problems?
 

LordTriggs

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May 11, 2017
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Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
he could just be banging his feathers or even over-preening slightly, it's not unheard of with birds growing feathers after a clip
 
OP
reeb

reeb

New member
Oct 23, 2017
568
Media
4
Albums
1
84
Cape Town, South Africa
Parrots
Berry (♀ Cockatiel) hatched June 2017
Opal (♂ Budgie) hatched 13 August 2017
Pearl (♀ Budgie) hatched 15 August 2017
+ an aviary of 16 other budgies! all hatched 2014-2017
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he has never been clipped, that is what worries me
 

LordTriggs

New member
May 11, 2017
3,427
24
Surrey, UK
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Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
could be he's a little uncomfortable with the new feathers coming in, or like I say bashing against something.

Try finding a new foraging toy he can get his mind on, possible some more fresh veg in his diet
 

MonicaMc

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Sep 12, 2012
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Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
Cockatiel - Casey 2001;
Wild Caught ARN - Sylphie 2013
Pictures may help... and a bath or two, too!


Some birds are also better flyers than others, just like some humans are better runners than others.
 

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