Too many broken feathers... need opinions

[jmfleish]

Pulling feathers hurts and can do serious damage to the wing. I'd just patiently wait for the feathers to molt and let nature take it's place but that's just my opinion. You're going to have the same problem whether you pull the feathers or not...you still won't have any feathers to support newly growing feathers. The only difference is, if you pull them, you won't have to wait as long for the new feathers to grow in and not have any support. Are you willing to put your bird throug the painful process of pulling them. Even if you put him under to pull them, it's still painful after the fact. I couldn't do it unless there was some kind of medical need to have them pulled. I don't think this qualifies as a medical need but that's just my opinion.

 

[Chantilly Lace]

Young macaws are usually very rough on their feathers, although his case does seem to be an extreme one. The tail feathers were always broken when my two boys were that age, I think around age 2 they started getting better. They didn't break their wing feathers very often, but the tail was horrible. I do not suggest pulling the feathers, most vets won't even do that anymore, so only if it is the only option. An avian vet can put a stitch, more like a staple in their if it is still bleeding. Phoenix had that done once when he broke a flight feather and it would not stop bleeding. I still have blood flung on my wall that probably looks like a murder scene lol. Poor baby, I feel so bad for him. I definitely think flight will help him out, do everything you can to get him flighted and go from there. Just have lots of quick stop, cayenne powder, and corn starch on hand, and keep a close eye on him.

 

[Macawnutz]

I don't think some of you are understanding. There is nothing to imp, there is nothing to clip. 90% of his broken feathers are at the base. I do not believe it would help to imp maybe two wing feathers or I would. I love the idea and I would love to do it but there is nothing to attach them to. I would do anything to keep my babies from harms way, and money is no issue when I am talking about my birds health. Last year alone Korbel had nearly $12,000 in medical. I don't mess around when I am talking about health or safety. The idea of pulling a feather is also not taken lightly here. Which is why I posted a thread about it taking opinions. Ever pulled a feather while your bird is bleeding to death? It is scary and upsetting. 16 years with a large flock of birds I have done it one time. Maui has me stopping a bleeding feather once a week and I had to pull one to stop it last week. They break at the base, fall out in a week or two because of the trama and regrow in under a month. Never ending cycle. I doubt pulling and regrowing more new would even help but as I said I'm venting. It's upsetting. I'm worried it will happen when I'm not home. No answers just venting.

 

[jmfleish]

Sarah, Reggie D2 started plucking pin feathers about six years ago. He would let the feather get to a certain length and then for some ungodly reason, he felt the need to pluck it out. When he first started this behavior, there would be blood everywhere because he wasn't very good at pulling the feather all the way out and it would bleed until he could get it out or I would pull it out and we might see two to five feathers a day that would be like this. I was a mess because I would come home from work and there would literally be blood everywhere and I could have sworn that one day I would come home to a dead bird because Reggie most certainly was going to bleed to death. I had him tested for low iron because I thought for sure he was losing too much blood and I was terrified that I was going to lose him. My vet at the time said that I was worrying too much and the iron test came back just fine. We tried every colar there was and nothing stopped him from pulling feathers. She said to stop worrying and I calmed down a little bit and Reggie got better at pulling them. Now he has less to pull and we don't see nearly the blood we used to.

I'm telling you this story to try and ease your mind a little about the blood loss and to let you know that I know where you're coming from. I'm also thinking that it's not going to make a lick of difference to pull these feathers. I think your best course of action with Maui is to keep him caged until the majority of his flights grow back in, as hard as that's going to be or when you do have him out, to try and keep his movements to as little as possible. A lot of people have had this problem in the past and this does seem to be the only way to get the feathers to come back in. I've seen it a lot on the free flight list and that's the best answers they can give as well. It's a slow and painful process for the owner as well as the bird but it's the best advice I've seen given out. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Featherpaws]

i think caging would be the next best option. as pulling them will hurt and cause more damage plus it will just keep the cycle going. it may sound mean or cruel to lock him up, but it would be for his own safety he can be let out for a small amount of time, but i would not think it would be best if he were out too long. lets try to get these feathers back up and running! trust me, i KNOW. tsuka is the king of feather issues. hes broken over 50 blood feathers his whole life, has dropped countless deformed feathers from the damage of knocking out blood feathers and breaking them. he has had a cyst partially form and get pushed out of his wing by a new feather. hes fallen on his tail from not being able to fly that he has a feather on his tail permanently damaged, it grows in as a double feather every time.

you can read his story here if interested, it might offer some comfort with your macaw. ive been there and it is a living heck.

http://forums.avianavenue.com/bird-boulevard/92468-tsukas-story.html#post1404737

 

[JLcribber]

Sounds to me you know exactly what the situation is. There is no real solution other than restricting her movement "somewhat", try to supply a soft environment and waiting it out.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Personally for me, its harder to pull a blood feather than have a dead dried feather pulled. Those living blood feathers are, well, Alive. And very painful to pull. Mera didnt even flinch when I pulled a couple of her feathers. But when I plucked a back feather that was a broken blood feather, you'd think I had maimed her.

And yes pulling the old ones still doesn't provide the new growth with support until they are adult feathers and the blood receds, which is why when I did it to Mera she remained stationed on the bottle brush gym and the couch. Would you be able to.contain Maui in one area? Youd probably have to allow separate out.of cage time and take the nets down.

 

[Bokkapooh]

i think caging would be the next best option. as pulling them will hurt and cause more damage plus it will just keep the cycle going. it may sound mean or cruel to lock him up, but it would be for his own safety he can be let out for a small amount of time, but i would not think it would be best if he were out too long. lets try to get these feathers back up and running! trust me, i KNOW. tsuka is the king of feather issues. hes broken over 50 blood feathers his whole life, has dropped countless deformed feathers from the damage of knocking out blood feathers and breaking them. he has had a cyst partially form and get pushed out of his wing by a new feather. hes fallen on his tail from not being able to fly that he has a feather on his tail permanently damaged, it grows in as a double feather every time.

you can read his story here if interested, it might offer some comfort with your macaw. ive been there and it is a living heck.

http://forums.avianavenue.com/bird-boulevard/92468-tsukas-story.html#post1404737

Caging a macaw for the next 1-2 years, is cruel.

 

[KatherinesBirds]

Just a thought.....Shadow, my Red Bellied is just over a year now and she did this on a less frequent basis. I watched her and she was playing pretty hard so I thought perhaps that was it. Then I noticed that she just could not seem to cope with a new feather on her wings coming in and sometimes on her tail. She broke them off! Yep, we had blood....
I went down to a craft store and bought a big bunch of Raffia. Natural kind, no dyes. I tied a big bunch to the inside of her cage and right away she went to work shredding and clipping it off piece by piece until her cage and water dishes were full. Messy. Then I kept on buying more and replenishing it. After about two months the bitten off feathers ceased. Haven't found one since. The Raffia is not demolished like it used to be but is still chewed on.
Who knows what goes on in their little brains! Yes, I have pulled nine blood feathers while my African Grey was bleeding to death in the dark after an earthquake. It takes All of our Courage and Adrenalin to cope with this and we are often pushed to the max. I really wish you luck in figuring out what is happening with your dear bird.

 

[Macawnutz]

Well, maybe I should go back to the beginning of this thread and just duct tape his little feet to his perch.

I do agree with everyone. Pulling them is cruel, caging him is cruel, performing weekly surgical interventions is cruel. There is no winning here. Maui would do much more damage in the cage then out on the playgym. He does not go on the net and the floor around the playgym is foam. My biggest fear is my vet is two hours away and the closest ER clinic is 45 minutes away (with no traffic).

I guess we stay on the path we are on unless it gets worse. (no laughing when I post pictures of him) I guess we can look on the bright side.... he has not split his keel open in months and months.

 

[catkarma]

As other's have said, it's a tough situation and there really isn't a right or wrong, it's what works best for you, Maui and your environment. I'm guessing you don't have a cage at all for him and he's free to roam on stands 24/7? I skimmed a lot of the postings, so forgive me if I missed, but could you modify his "stand" so it's lower to the ground or raise the 'ground' up closer to him? Is that where he's doing more damage is falling? Are the footings unstable whereas he's falling or are they slicker surfaces, like pvc? Or too large he's not gripping properly? That could certainly cause excess clumsiness. maybe there is something more you could modify where he spends most of his time to make it easier not to fall. Working with him on a table and encouraging Foot Toys, to strengthen his feet too an option?

I'm with JL and a few others mindset....do not go pulling all the feathers. I do a fair amount of rescue/rehoming and have actually seen birds who have developed infections in the folicle and I won't ever believe that pulling one doesn't do damage (aside from the extreme pain).....there are times for sure it needs to be done, but my opinion would only if it's bleeding and won't stop. Cayanne pepper works well in the extreme cases, my choice before pulling a big one.

Best of luck - keep up the great work and eventually, this will all be a problem of the past. Oh, and I do think breeder was improper in not letting him properly fledge, to give him a chance to REALLY be a bird. Taking efficient flapping away at such an early age is detrimental to their longevity.

 

[Mrcrowley]

How clumbsy is he would him being imped make it more dangerous for him or help I would hate to see him crash and really hurt himself. I am just worried for you and him you know more than me ill shut up...

 

[Macawnutz]

How clumbsy is he would him being imped make it more dangerous for him or help I would hate to see him crash and really hurt himself. I am just worried for you and him you know more than me ill shut up...

http://forums.avianavenue.com/healthy-highway/112330-imping-maui-cross-your-fingers-5.html

 

[Joey wade]

I was just searching the forums for information on imping (Vader has no tail left). What was the outcome with Maui? @Macawnutz

 

[Harleyandme]

Hope he gets better

 

[Macawnutz]

I was just searching the forums for information on imping (Vader has no tail left). What was the outcome with Maui? @Macawnutz

Oh my such an old thread.

Baby macaws are playful and really could care less what they look like. Their big tail gets in the way of playing and always looks a mess. Maui's tail looked as if he had been ran over with a lawnmower, twice.

Both my babies have beautiful tails now. They are 5 year olds. I wouldn't consider imping for a tail issue, if this were Vadar's wings that would be a different story.

He has a lifetime to be beautiful, right now he wants to play.

 

[clawnz]

I was just searching the forums for information on imping (Vader has no tail left) QUOTE]

No need to imp tail feathers. It will not be long before new feathers grow in. Imping is done for flight.
as Macawnutz said.

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Oh my such an old thread.

Baby macaws are playful and really could care less what they look like. Their big tail gets in the way of playing and always looks a mess. Maui's tail looked as if he had been ran over with a lawnmower, twice.

Both my babies have beautiful tails now. They are 5 year olds. I wouldn't consider imping for a tail issue, if this were Vadar's wings that would be a different story.

He has a lifetime to be beautiful, right now he wants to play.

I need to check date on the posts more often!! I was reading it like it was happening now I was already to give you a "birds are tougher than we often give them credit for" speech. Poor Zane must tough as nails as him as fallen more times than I can count. And I can totally relate to the blood feather pulling too. Thankfully he doesn't fall nearly as much anymore and it's only once in a blue moon now that I have to pull a blood feather.

Sarah I'm glad both your babies are doing great now!!

 

[Begone]

What was the outcome with Maui? @Macawnutz

I also want to know this.

 

[Macawnutz]

I also want to know this.

You guys are so funny. This thread is 5 years old.

This is the outcome, enjoy.

A Very Special Gift..... *Repost* | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum