7 week old macaw dropping feather

rnurse

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Mar 2, 2020
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Hi,

My baby macaw is dropping his feathers. I noticed one drop out some time ago, now my mother has confirmed that she saw one drop today and yesterday. Is this normal?
 

texsize

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I don't know anything about Mac babies but my Cockatiel babies did not drop feathers.
The parents did start pulling (plucking) feathers off the babies and I had to separate them except for feeding time.

I would be worried.
 

Owlet

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Oct 27, 2016
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Hi Murse, just a few days ago you were saying your macaw wasn't growing feathers? Do you have more than one baby macaw?
 
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rnurse

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It's growing slowly. They a about an inch long now, on the edge of the wings. But I noticed that one might drop out here and there.
 

itzjbean

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Jan 27, 2017
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They shouldn't be dropping feathers, they should be coming in like crazy. Here's an example picture of a 7 week old greenwing I just googled. Does your baby look anything like this? If it has much less feathers, your baby is stunted and is not thriving.

r7Pz2cr.jpg


This article shows a baby greenwing growing from 1 - 11 weeks of age.
 

Owlet

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are you feeding them the formula or still fruit/grain puree?
 
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rnurse

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I was feeding him the formula, but e started coughing majorly, so I backed off of it for a few days. Now he eats blended banana twice a day, and oatmeal twice a day, till the crop is filled. This diet isn't bad, and isn't much different from the formula, which is based on soya and wheat.

I will try the formula again in a few days. I believe I had the formula too watery of a consistency. I was averaging the 1/3 formula to 2/3 water. Now I will use tablespoons to measure the amount of water to formula, and I believe I will end up with a thicker consistency, much like the blended fruit, and blended oatmeal.
 
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rnurse

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My 7 Week old Green Wing is definitely growing, and is very full of life, passionate young parrot. I will take more pictures again next week.

But his feathers I believe are still small for 8 weeks. We'll tell with time. Maybe he's just a slow developer. The breeder i got him from feeds the fruits as well.
 

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