Hopping instead of walking ?

[KrisandPenelope]

Ok so I am totally new to being a parront and anything that seems different always puts up a red flag for me. I have a very active crimson bellied conure who is almost a year old. About maybe a week and a half ago she started this hopping behavior. It started with a couple of hops here and there to now anytime she is not flying when she is on the floor or my computer desk she is hopping. She is eating, perching, playing normally. She is actually swinging from the bars of her cage as I type this, but the hopping to me almost looks like limping. I checked her foot pads and they are a nice normal color and her grip is normal as well. I went further up her thighs and on the right thigh she has about 5+ really thick pin feathers which I thought may be the reason she is preferring to hop right now. She has her bi anuual vet appointment coming up in about 2 weeks, but if more experience parronts feel this is extremely worrisome I have no problem taking her in as soon as possible. I am working on getting her more accustomed to what happens at the vet like toweling and nail clippers as the last trip she worked herself up to the point where she made herself sick. So the more training time in before her bi annual the better. As for her diet shes on harrison's pellets, fruits & leafy green veggies, sweet potatoes, pumkin ... nibbles of zucchini and peppers, goldenfeast mixes. Shes out of her cage 6 or more hours and shes going through her first major molt so her poor feathers are finally being replaced by nice healthy ones. I've attempted to attach videos. She does pause for a 30 seconds here and there as she saw my phone and got camera shy!
Thanks in advance!

[ame="https://youtu.be/nRhVisftk3s"]Penelope 2 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://youtu.be/6AoOR66eOmk"]Penelope - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Mimsy01]

He looks uncomfortable to me too. It's likely those pin feathers. maybe encourage some extra baths to help with those. If he was older I would almost think arthritis. You can see he starts to walk..and I can almost feel him wince and decide to hop.

If in doubt though, perhaps a vet visit.

Hope he's feeling better soon.

 

[JamesC]

A lot of parrots hop/skip. Usually seems to be a playful thing. My blue crown Rosco will hop occasionally. It looked like Penelope was mainly starting the hop with her right leg leading off though I thought I saw a couple of times where she led off with her left. She does not seem to be showing any discomfort from the movements so it might just be a "new thing" she discovered.

She is a beautiful bird.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Hi Looking at the clips if she were mine I would want her checked over. Unfortunate that it will cause her stress though. My view from what I saw is she wants to use both and tries but something stopping her. I could say give her more rest time but I'm not an AV. Professional opinion IMHO.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Usually when a bird hops, its at a quicker rate and also a more consistent one. Is she standing on both feet and are both expanded correctly?

 

[KrisandPenelope]

Yes she has been standing on both feet evenly, she will fly and land evenly, and even hangs from both feet upside down in her cage. I have seen her run around the past couple of days but still continues to hop more frequently.

 

[KrisandPenelope]

I bumped our bi annual visit to this Wednesday. Hopefully the "hopping" is just a new behavior and nothing serious and that Penelope doesn't get so stressed this vet trip.

 

[KrisandPenelope]

Just got back from the vet about 2 hours ago and all is good! After her physical and viewing the videos she thinks it's just a new behavior and that's it is nothing to be concerned about. Penelope wasn't as stressed as the last time thanks to our recent training but still wound up getting sick once we got home and is now sleeping her rough day off ! Thanks for all the post and answers though!

 

[Doublete]

Great news and great job taking her in!