Pin feather blues

[Kalidasa]

My beautiful baby-girl Nika (GCC) who I recently adopted about 6 weeks ago, is having the dual challenge of her feathers growing back after she plucked herself bald in her former home (she's a rescue), and a seasonal moult. Her feathers are coming in nicely, but she's very itchy and over grooms. But she is not plucking, thank goodness. There's also the extra challenge of her flight feathers coming in, and they're coming fast. From what I've gathered she's never flown in her life. She was kept clipped in a tiny filth dark cage and neglected.
However, she's gone from rags to riches, as she's spoiled to the point of absurdity. I'm not going to clip her, she's taking short jaunts very occasionally, and she can fly about ten ft. before she gets pooped. I've always had fully flighted birds (over 30 yrs) and I intend to do the same with her, but I have to wonder if she's really ready? I've considered having her lightly clipped once more, but I really doubt I could bring myself to do it. She deserves ALL of her feathers back.

 

[patch]

I can't imagine how uncomfortable she must be. If I were her I'd want to soak in warm water daily just for itch relief. I can barely stand the itch I get when a cut is healing. Glad to hear she's doing well

 

[BillsBirds]

Take her in the shower with you. The water is good for her feathers, and the steam will soothe her skin. It might be a good idea for a light clip now, to help her adjust to flying without having full freedom to sail off and crash into things before she learns to maneuver and land. Once she's more confident, let her have full wings.

 

[Kalidasa]

Thanks patch and billsbirds. I've been spraying her lightly, which she dislikes, but she very unhappily holds up her wings when I do it, I can tell she hates it but is just trying to please me. I've considered the shower but I am concerned about temperature and pressure. Any advice on how warm it should be? And should I wear a shirt so she can grip my shoulder? What's the proper (if any) way of showering with them???Photo and image hosting, free photo galleries, photo editing

 

[JasmineGCC]

I run the bathroom tap at lukewarm temperature and my GCC Jasmine jumps into the sink and stands under the pouring water spreading her wings and tail. She doesn't like spraying and when I tried her in the shower with me she freaked!

 

[BoomBoom]

Yes you can take him to the shower, for 5 mins. You're shower head should have something to adjust the pressure. If that doesn't work, adjust the faucet. If that still doesn't work, partly shield the spray to break the pressure with your hand.

Perch him on your finger for better control. Make sure to take him out of the stream every so often so he could have respite from the steady water. Be careful that he doesn't feel like his drowning.

Adjust knob so you get room temp. My sun conure loves cold which I give him if I know the day is warm enough so he doesn't catch a chill.

He must be comfortable so he could find the experience enjoyable and look forward to doing it again. God knows he's suffering enough from the molt, so every bit of comfort for the pin feathers , both physically and 'psychologically' helps. What I do is I stand under the shower first, so my sun conure sees that the water won't hurt him, and he will have time to prepare or brace himself. I praise him and speak in soft tones the whole time.

An alternative to the shower is the kitchen or bathroom faucet like Jasmine suggested. For that he is going to want to bath himself. What I do is set a table top perch in the sink. Run the water. Cup my hands to catch the water. Boomer walks over into the tiny pool I created with my hands and wades in. Once settled, he will literally put his head directly under the faucet for 3-5 seconds to get soaking wet. For simplicity, you can also just use a shallow bowl where he could perch the rim. Its just that the method I use is what my bird seems to prefer. He enjoys it judging from his sounds. It took him a while to bath this way, but once he knew he is safe with me, he started enjoying it. It's now part of his play activity. Maybe your bird can learn to love it this way too.

Good luck!

 

[Kalidasa]

We're outside right now, (gorgeous day)and whenever she's outside, she bathes in her water-bowl multiple times. I've put a regular bowl full of lukewarm but it's ignored. Only the water dish. When she comes in, I change the water and that's that.