Feathers!!!

[SoCalWendy]

When molting, does your birds like to play with the feathers they are shedding?

Seems like every time I look at Rio she has one, whether is a downy feather or the other kind in her mouth, rotating it around, then spits it out, turns her head to her side and watches is slowly drift down, down down.

Okay, so is it normal?

 

[MarciaLove]

yep normal my cockatoo uses his to scratch his head lol! And my BCC likes to play with them a little.

 

[GreyG]

I've been known to pick up the big flight feathers off the floor and hand them over as if they're a new toy....keeps 'em on their toes!! lol!!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Rosie does not, but Kenji does. The first time I saw Kenji chewing the base of a secondary feather I watched him like a hawk to make sure he wasn't plucking XD

 

[BillsBirds]

Mine do also. I had a GCC that "captured" a dropped feather from my 'too, and carried it around for a week. Hiding it below his water bowl, and taking it out & flying around with it like some trophy. After about a week, he chewed it, and dropped it and watched it fall, as if saying Good-Bye to it.

 

[Mare Miller]

Sassy likes to pick them up and stuff them back into her wings! I've noticed that she will also do this with shredded paper, chunks of rubber from the flip flops that she loves to demolish, almost anything that it small enough to chuck into her wing feathers.

 

[Mayden]

Mare, that's just too cute!

Merlin plays with his, he chews his though (can't really hold stuff), just kinda rolls it around in his beak a little, then drops it.

I worried at first that it might encourage him to see his feathers as toys, plucking etc, but nah. He just likes to chew it once they're out. Kinda like the people who play with the fingernails they've just bitten off in their mouth I guess

Not seen Charlie do it yet though.

 

[happycat]

Yes! Kirby does this all the time. Sometimes I'll walk in and he'll have a feather in his beak, doing the same thing your bird does. Just rotating it around and then he drops it. XD

 

[SoCalWendy]

I'm so relieved this is pretty normal. It's so funny when she fluffs and the lil white downy feathers come out and she tries to catch them.

 

[Pajarita]

They might but they never get a chance because one of my quakers uses them in 'her' cage (she weaves them between the bars of an empty one she decided is her nest) and she is always on the alert for a freshly dropped one.

 

[Skyhawk]

Closeness always effects the the feeling no matter it is a human or a bird or any kind else.
Birds are very sensitive to feel the lake of affection or the love of the other livings around them.