What are these strange feathers?

[Thechoplady]

Sophie is about 5 years old now. Ive had her since she was one. I am used to her preening quite a bit and seeing her feathers laying around. Usually the feathers are either small grey fluff balls or long feathers with sheaths that look old and brittle, and look like they were ready to molt. In the last month ive been seeing these feathers. They look strange to me. Are they plucked feathers? Is she starting to pluck? Are they diseased feathers? Maybe they are normal and I just never noticed them before? The last time she was at the avian vet was 8 months ago and she had a clean bill of health then. Im attaching a picture of said feathers. Forgive me, as these were wet and I just showered her but I still think you can see them pretty well. They are small and you can see the feather part at one end, then you can see the sheath, and then a bulb like appearance at the other end. Has anyone here seen feathers like this?

 

[rheashard2]

I enlarged pic. Hard to tell but they resemble blood feathers. New feathers are surrounded by similar material in pic with a blood supply. When grown, blood supply dries and bird preens the surrounding material off new feathers. They can be itchy growing. If she's pulling those out there's a risk of bleeding. Have you noticed blood on her or her area?

 

[kme3388]

It’s hard to tell by photos but when Nico rips out feathers that are growing in they look similar. He’s already missing feathers so it’s easy for me to find where they are coming from. Have you examined Sophie’s body to see if you see where she is ripping them out?

 

[kme3388]

These feathers also look wet, did you find them in an area that is wet?

If you are ever unsure always consult a vet. Better to be safe than sorry. Especially if she is just starting out feather plucking. It could be for a variety of reasons, and you don’t want that to become habitual. It’s much harder to correct when it becomes chronic from what I’ve learned, and have experienced.

 

[Thechoplady]

These feathers also look wet, did you find them in an area that is wet?

If you are ever unsure always consult a vet. Better to be safe than sorry. Especially if she is just starting out feather plucking. It could be for a variety of reasons, and you don’t want that to become habitual. It’s much harder to correct when it becomes chronic from what I’ve learned, and have experienced.

Thank you. Yes they are wet, as I just took her out of the shower. I do see she has a tiny thin patch on her crop. I made an appointment with our avain vet but that wont be for another couple of weeks. Our water quality has recently changed and I began giving her some treats (nutriberries) that I dont usually give her. I threw out the nutriberries and switched her water from tap to bottled so Im hoping that might help.

 

[Thechoplady]

I enlarged pic. Hard to tell but they resemble blood feathers. New feathers are surrounded by similar material in pic with a blood supply. When grown, blood supply dries and bird preens the surrounding material off new feathers. They can be itchy growing. If she's pulling those out there's a risk of bleeding. Have you noticed blood on her or her area?

Thank you. I have not noticed blood on her however, when i squeeze the bulb end of the feather there is a little red discoloration that comes from it. I think you are correct. The only thing that has changed lately is our tap water quality and i started to give her nutriberries as a treat. (she has always been on a all chop diet so i thought the nutriberries would be a real treat for her. ) I started to now give her bottled water instead of tap and i threw away the nutriberries. I hope one of these thing will help. Here is a pic from today and i see a little sparse area over her crop and on her neck. She is 5 and has never plucked before.