Playing with fallen feathers?

[PockyMommy]

Pocky has this weird thing going on. He's currently molting so a lot of his feathers are just falling off.

However, when a medium sized feather (such as a wing feather) or a long feather (tail feather) falls off he picks it up and holds it like a sword. its actually kind of cute. He'll chase after it if it flies away and he'll clean the feather part and chew on the shaft tip part until its almost completely clear. Afterwards he'll just hang on to it for a little bit then give it to me and waddle away.

Is this normal? It's not like he's pulling them out on purpose.

 

[Boysmom]

Ruby does the exact same thing. She loves to play with and chew on her dropped feathers. It has never lead to plucking or feather barbing either, it's just something she does.

 

[triordan]

I"think" I was told at one time that there is something in the shaft that is actually good for them... can't remember what it is though

 

[PockyMommy]

I'm glad he's not alone! It's really cute when they do it!



Oh that would explain why he totally clears out the shaft!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Lol Kenji likes to play with his molted primary feathers! He chews up the shaft. I'm glad that he doesn't destroy his beautiful tail feathers lol

 

[DallyTsuka]

my guys love their feathers too lol


mango playing with one of dally's molted feathers

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bw0EQauBnU]Mango and the Feather - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Peanutsmum]

Peanut's just the same!! Loves inspecting any feathers that have molted out and gets possessive when I take them away lol

 

[Calace]

My tiels used to do this too! Very cute to watch!