• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Folicle damage, poor feather structure

Jaguar

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
7/11/14
Messages
3,243
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Real Name
Ry
The last flight fell out today - not that I'm surprised, it didn't have much protection - but I thought it would last long enough for me to clip it. I took him out of the cage and placed him on top for breakfast - when he fluttered a little to balance himself it fell right out.



Not as bad of shape as the one yesterday, but still... nasty pinched end.

Anyway, wing pics. Sigh. Some of them don't even resemble feathers at all - they're so thin and spiky.

 

Timmy&Crash

Jogging around the block
Joined
12/11/13
Messages
668
Location
Central Illinois
Real Name
Rick
That pinched end looks more like Timmy's with the follicle damage but his were not even this developed and sharper farther up the quill.
 

Jaguar

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
7/11/14
Messages
3,243
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Real Name
Ry
Geez. How did Timmy's wings turn out?

I forgot about the other wing - but just imagine a beautiful fully flighted cockatiel's wing. That's his other one. Night and day! That wing hasn't lost a feather since before Christmas. I can clip it if it would help but I don't know. He doesn't fall much. Heck, even with his gimped wing he still flew from the floor and landed up on my computer monitor (and promptly pooped down the front of it). It just wasn't graceful in the least...
 

Timmy&Crash

Jogging around the block
Joined
12/11/13
Messages
668
Location
Central Illinois
Real Name
Rick
Some people have recommended clipping Timmy's left wing to give him more balance but I have been reluctant hoping his right wing flights will grow out. Didn't say anything so I wouldn't jinx it but he had 4 flights on that wing coming in side by side and one of them is almost fully grown. But the past couple days he got rambunctious and broke 2 of them :( we keep hoping and praying but its been a long frustrating experience for us both. I cant imagine how a poor bird feels when the gift have flight has been taken from them.
My fault for not asking all the right questions from his breeder. And is why I would not recommend DnR aviary to anyone they clip all their babies before even allowing them to fledge. Even though this breeder has 5 star rating on birdbreeders..... but that's another story (them allowing the breeder to pick and chose what reviews to post)
 

Macawnutz

Seriously Nutz!
Super Administrator
Vendor
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/21/11
Messages
32,902
Location
Wisconsin
Real Name
Sarah
That bad wing... I'm not familiar with the littles.... It's looks like he has most of his secondaries. Yes?

You have the first few impact feathers growing in... I would not touch them and try to keep him calm during their growth. They are spikey because they are new and not preened, otherwise they look to be good feathers. Treat him like glass and let those grow in without damage, your bird is doing WAY better than Timmy.

Some people have recommended clipping Timmy's left wing to give him more balance but I have been reluctant hoping his right wing flights will grow out. Didn't say anything so I wouldn't jinx it but he had 4 flights on that wing coming in side by side and one of them is almost fully grown. But the past couple days he got rambunctious and broke 2 of them :( we keep hoping and praying but its been a long frustrating experience for us both. I cant imagine how a poor bird feels when the gift have flight has been taken from them.

:( I KNOW it's not what you want to do... I did the exact same thing with Maui and refused to clip the other wing... time and time again he broke them.

Maui is flying again. :) After he had the night fright that sent the feathers flying again I clipped the other wing to match. Immediately he was a new bird. He was not flying anyway with one wing butchered so I finally conceded. I'll get some pictures for you this weekend Rick.
 

Jaguar

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
7/11/14
Messages
3,243
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Real Name
Ry
Yes, his secondaries are fine, it's just the outer 7 primaries that keep breaking. There's 5 growing in now and the 2 that broke recently. They're growing in pretty good now, so I hope they stay in! :banghead:
 

Timmy&Crash

Jogging around the block
Joined
12/11/13
Messages
668
Location
Central Illinois
Real Name
Rick
LOL@bubble wrap him .......seems like that might be the only thing that may work. But I have padded the floor too. Thank goodness we haven't had any of the split keel or chipped beaks but wow can't begin to count the number of broken flights on that right wing.
 

Jaguar

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
7/11/14
Messages
3,243
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Real Name
Ry
We were doing good till today. I found this feather on the floor -


Looks much better than the other ones did, but it doesn't look like it was a clean break. It was also the most developed feather on the wing so here we go again :(
 

Colbon2

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
12/2/12
Messages
1,277
Location
Alberta, Canada
Real Name
Nikki
oh, that's not good... sorry to see that.
 

Jaguar

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
7/11/14
Messages
3,243
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Real Name
Ry


Now this blood feather fell out... I don't know what to do any more :crycry2:
 

Wolf

Jogging around the block
Joined
9/12/14
Messages
854
I don't know for sure but I really think this may be a vitamin issue. It could be a deficiency in a certain vitamin or it could be too high of a vitamin that is directly causing this or being too high it could inhibit the absorption and usage of any number of other vitamins. I am not a vet and don't have any training to back me up, but it may be worth checking out.
 

Wolf

Jogging around the block
Joined
9/12/14
Messages
854
I understand that the standard blood word may not show the problem and therefore come back fine. A case in point being that of liver function. It will show up on standard blood work but only when the liver function has been reduced to the point just short of total liver failure and can't be treated effectively. It takes a bile acids test to detect the problem while it can be treated effectively. So unless the blood work is testing for vitamin deficiency, I am not certain that it would show up. All I know for sure is that this type of problem is normally either a dietary issue or a genetic one.
Honestly, this is all I know, and I am sharing it. What to do if anything is entirely in your hands and I don't know what else to do or if there is anything that can be done for certain. Just trying to express my concern for your bird and wishing you all the best.
 

Jaguar

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
7/11/14
Messages
3,243
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Real Name
Ry
He lost a fully grown tail feather yesterday, too. That one had been in for months. o_O Dunno what's going on.
 

Jaguar

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
7/11/14
Messages
3,243
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Real Name
Ry
One month and no feather loss apart from 3 tail feathers that just kinda fell out on their own. His wing looks great - he can fly fairly well despite his mangled tail. A couple more weeks and the last two flights should be in all the way, hopefully then they'll stay in :eek:

 
Top