8 weeks Blue and gold baby

[macawpower58]

I also notice any beak change has my boy 'feeling' his beak for hours, even days.
If you're filing, she could be checking out the differences you've made.

 

[Nouf]

My husband and we’re brainstorming to what could cause this, the weather here is dry and the water is salty. We also noticed she scratches her head and ears but don’t know if it’s normal being a bird or not. I feel she’s getting hungrier than usual but she doesn’t eat a lot of véritables (Her mid day meal) and basically her main meals are soaked pallets in the morning and formula at night, her weight hasn’t changed and she poops normally.

attached is 3 photos one for feather we saw her pluck aggressively today and one for feathers in her cage and one for fathers that were around the house since most of the time Tangawizi is outside with us. I also attached a video showing her preening her feathers.
In a previous video (page 26) she’s making the squeaky voice a lot more than usual is it normal? Is it just a baby voice or an indicator of some sort?

thanks everyone

 

[Macawnutz]

What a playful silly girl.

Well, she is definitely barbering her feathers. Not a single feather in any of your three pictures is naturally molted. I was hoping to see a mixture of both thinking her molting was irritating and causing the barbering but I see no evidence of natural molt.

One cause could be her scissor beak but in truth it should be more difficult to barber with that condition. She seems to line up the bottom beak pretty well when she preens, no? Is the bottom beak not level or is there a gouge that could be causing this? Maybe a piece that is snagging the feathers causing her bother?

Her baby noises and squeals are completely normal to me. None of her sounds are distressing. Playful blue and gold talking is all I hear. Scratching and messing with her ears... ???? While I want to say normal we are searching for something abnormal to pin point the issue. A slight yeast or bacterial infection could cause an imbalance of pressure in her ears. It could also irritate her enough to be uncomfortable and pull at her feathers. Considering she is still handfeeding it is extremely possible she could have a fungal or bacterial infection.... so... My suggestion is to get her in to see a vet and lets see a cbc, fecal sample and mouth swab. Might be a good time to have the vet do her beak again anyway.

I know the vet is not the easiest thing where you live. It's actually not been easy for US residents lately either. Bring a few feather pieces with to show the vet and run a few simple tests.

She is just so stinking cute though! Such a little personality. Plenty of mischief going to be had in your house.

 

[macawpower58]

You mention your water is very salty. Is this also what she drinks?
If so, I'd get her bottled water instead. See if that helps at all. Salt is dehydrating, and your air is also dry.
I'd also not bathe her in the salty water, use the bottled water in the mister.
This could be causing her to feel itchy as her skin may be dryer than it should be.

Just a thought.

 

[Nouf]

What a playful silly girl.

Well, she is definitely barbering her feathers. Not a single feather in any of your three pictures is naturally molted. I was hoping to see a mixture of both thinking her molting was irritating and causing the barbering but I see no evidence of natural molt.

One cause could be her scissor beak but in truth it should be more difficult to barber with that condition. She seems to line up the bottom beak pretty well when she preens, no? Is the bottom beak not level or is there a gouge that could be causing this? Maybe a piece that is snagging the feathers causing her bother?

Her baby noises and squeals are completely normal to me. None of her sounds are distressing. Playful blue and gold talking is all I hear. Scratching and messing with her ears... ???? While I want to say normal we are searching for something abnormal to pin point the issue. A slight yeast or bacterial infection could cause an imbalance of pressure in her ears. It could also irritate her enough to be uncomfortable and pull at her feathers. Considering she is still handfeeding it is extremely possible she could have a fungal or bacterial infection.... so... My suggestion is to get her in to see a vet and lets see a cbc, fecal sample and mouth swab. Might be a good time to have the vet do her beak again anyway.

I know the vet is not the easiest thing where you live. It's actually not been easy for US residents lately either. Bring a few feather pieces with to show the vet and run a few simple tests.

She is just so stinking cute though! Such a little personality. Plenty of mischief going to be had in your house.

Thank you!
Can you see what a bundle of joy she’s and that video isn’t even capturing quarter of the silliness and cuteness we deal with everyday.
To answer your question in order:
She can level her lower beak normally with no issue and we will have to file her beak a little bit more we will take her right away.
As for the infection, when she get irritated she starts throwing things or biting randomly and aggressively (below a video of when she got angry at her food bless her heart).
you should see her vampire-like scar she left on my neck because my hair got in the way of her face one time!
we will do the tests immediately and I pray she gets better ASAP we will keep you all posted

 

[Nouf]

You mention your water is very salty. Is this also what she drinks?
If so, I'd get her bottled water instead. See if that helps at all. Salt is dehydrating, and your air is also dry.
I'd also not bathe her in the salty water, use the bottled water in the mister.
This could be causing her to feel itchy as her skin may be dryer than it should be.

Just a thought.

Thank you or responding.

We only feed her filtered water and never salty water since we brought her, however we started using Air humidifier in case the dry weather is the reason.
Sometimes we bathe her in the shower which isn’t filtered but we will only use filtered water from now on also just in case.
i hope it’s the dry weather and the humidifier could fix it tbh and not an infection or anything as serious

 

[Shezbug]

I love all her videos, she’s a real cutie full of personality!! I really love the video of her throwing bits of food though! It’s so cute
Burt used to throw bits of food like that too, now he just throws the whole bowl

 

[Macawnutz]

You mention your water is very salty. Is this also what she drinks?
If so, I'd get her bottled water instead. See if that helps at all. Salt is dehydrating, and your air is also dry.
I'd also not bathe her in the salty water, use the bottled water in the mister.
This could be causing her to feel itchy as her skin may be dryer than it should be.

Just a thought.

I considered this too and it could very well be a possibility. I figured the vet trip was warranted and the vet would see any dry or irritated skin. I would also expect that if this were skin related it would be more or a plucking issue and less of a barbering issue. ???? I'm not a vet though.

Korbel started barbering his chest area at about a year old... maybe less. Took me forever to find the cause. I knew he had leg/knee pain but it was a year or more before we confirmed that on a CT scan. My dramatic motherly behavior taught him to use the barbering for attention. It's taken almost 8 years to unteach that behavior and we are probably 85% of the way cured. This hits home for me!

Thank you!
Can you see what a bundle of joy she’s and that video isn’t even capturing quarter of the silliness and cuteness we deal with everyday.
To answer your question in order:
She can level her lower beak normally with no issue and we will have to file her beak a little bit more we will take her right away.
As for the infection, when she get irritated she starts throwing things or biting randomly and aggressively (below a video of when she got angry at her food bless her heart).
you should see her vampire-like scar she left on my neck because my hair got in the way of her face one time!
we will do the tests immediately and I pray she gets better ASAP we will keep you all posted

I have 7 macaws Nouf. Two I raised from babyhood. I know exactly how silly/cute/playful/crazy/stubborn/messy/loud/and naughty they can be!
Your video does not look angry. More playful than anything. I doubt she has much to get upset about right now.

I'm not saying she has an infection, we are just taking precautions and checking. You have something abnormal happening and the first thing you do is cover your bases and make sure there is no illness. If there is illness you will have caught it nice and early so it is easily and quickly treated. In the meantime try to watch her and see if you can better pinpoint what is going on. If you see her being rough with her feathers put her in your lap and gently help her preen. Preen her head for her and talk gentle. My guys know the word "gentle" and I can use it when speaking about biting, interacting with other birds, preening, just about anything I would like a calmer attitude with.

 

[Nouf]

Hi again,
So we haven’t taken Tangawizi to the vet yet because it’s a weekend and they’ll open tomorrow.

However we have been observing her very closely and noticed she uses the same preening movement to her feet a lot and scratches her cheek & head, as for her ear when she scratches it she opens her mouth wide. I have put some coconut oil on her feet and the scratching reduced a lot. Also how can I help preen her myself?
We also noticed some hard roots in her head and in the place of where she’s barbering (btw I don’t know the different between plucking and barbering) which seems like new feather (could that also be the cause of her irritation?)
My husband suggest we should shower her often (we usually do 2-3 times a week) but I think the more we shower her the drier her skin might get, so help us please?
Finally this week she doesn’t want to sleep and bites a lot, I have attached a video from tonight’s tantrum is it possible she’s crying? Or am I being extra dramatic?

 

[macawpower58]

As long as the water is clean, you can bathe her daily. When I lived in Nevada (very dry), my birds had daily baths to keep their skin and feathers healthy. Don't forget in the wild they live in rainforests, they need that moisture.

I also didn't hear any crying, just normal baby noises.
If you're seeing lots of feathers with thin white sheaths, then those are new feathers growing, and they will work at them.
Mine never seemed irritated by new growth, but if I hit one accidently, they let me know! They can be sensitive.
You can gently roll them in your fingers, and help loosen the white sheath.

She does bother her feathers quite a bit. Make sure to ask the vet if her skin looks dry or irritated.

 

[Nouf]

As long as the water is clean, you can bathe her daily. When I lived in Nevada (very dry), my birds had daily baths to keep their skin and feathers healthy. Don't forget in the wild they live in rainforests, they need that moisture.

I also didn't hear any crying, just normal baby noises.
If you're seeing lots of feathers with thin white sheaths, then those are new feathers growing, and they will work at them.
Mine never seemed irritated by new growth, but if I hit one accidently, they let me know! They can be sensitive.
You can gently roll them in your fingers, and help loosen the white sheath.

She does bother her feathers quite a bit. Make sure to ask the vet if her skin looks dry or irritated.

can’t thank you enough!

 

[Shezbug]

Barbering is them chewing their feathers and causing damage, plucking is when they grab the feather and pull the whole thing out of their body.
Im guessing the hard things you’re talking about will be pin feathers. Here are some pics of pin feathers (new feathers)

Tanga makes the sweetest sounds in your videos, I do not think she is crying, just being a baby macaw. They make some very interesting sounds at times lol.

 

[Macawnutz]

OMG is she cute!!! I want to just grab and smush her!

There is no crying. Just silly baby noises. I really can't answer the sleep thing.. She could just be being a stubborn macaw or something may be bothering her. That I just do not know from across the globe. Do you dim the lights for bed? My bird bedtime routine is pretty solid. They know once they are in their cages it's in for the night.

If she has new feathers ( pin feathers like Shez showed you in pictures ) That would cause her to scratch at her head. She can not preen her own head feathers and that's what mom is for. If you rub her ears that will cause her to yawn ( it's actually a crop adjustment but most call it a yawn ) That is normal. Her or you touching her ears will cause a yawn. It makes an imbalance of pressure and they are readjusting. Yawning more often than normal can be a sign of a fungal infection but... have your vet do a mouth swab and you will find that out.

Her playing with her feet looks normal. She does have a bit of wear on her foot that I can see. ( the pink spots ) usually too small or too big of perches will cause that. I think in your case you need a few larger perches that are not dowel rods. Natural tree branches are best as they are not uniform. I don't see that it's bad enough to bother her a bunch.

You really can't stop her from preening so try to let her be with that. Just kinda keep an eye on her for feather pieces being removed. She does not seem to be plucking so remove that word from your thoughts. Barbering is when they chew off pieces of the feather but not pull out the whole feather. Often with plucking it's the whole feather removed and it can have blood on the tip. I'm not seeing any tips removed at all and if I did I would assume molting.

It's been a long day and if I'm confusing you let me know and I will explain better in the morning.

 

[Nouf]

Barbering is them chewing their feathers and causing damage, plucking is when they grab the feather and pull the whole thing out of their body.
Im guessing the hard things you’re talking about will be pin feathers. Here are some pics of pin feathers (new feathers) View attachment 357363 View attachment 357364

Tanga makes the sweetest sounds in your videos, I do not think she is crying, just being a baby macaw. They make some very interesting sounds at times lol.

Omg the sounds! They melt our hearts every time. She makes it so hard to stay or even get mad after getting bitten by her lol
thank you for the pics and the explanation.

 

[Nouf]

OMG is she cute!!! I want to just grab and smush her!

There is no crying. Just silly baby noises. I really can't answer the sleep thing.. She could just be being a stubborn macaw or something may be bothering her. That I just do not know from across the globe. Do you dim the lights for bed? My bird bedtime routine is pretty solid. They know once they are in their cages it's in for the night.

If she has new feathers ( pin feathers like Shez showed you in pictures ) That would cause her to scratch at her head. She can not preen her own head feathers and that's what mom is for. If you rub her ears that will cause her to yawn ( it's actually a crop adjustment but most call it a yawn ) That is normal. Her or you touching her ears will cause a yawn. It makes an imbalance of pressure and they are readjusting. Yawning more often than normal can be a sign of a fungal infection but... have your vet do a mouth swab and you will find that out.

Her playing with her feet looks normal. She does have a bit of wear on her foot that I can see. ( the pink spots ) usually too small or too big of perches will cause that. I think in your case you need a few larger perches that are not dowel rods. Natural tree branches are best as they are not uniform. I don't see that it's bad enough to bother her a bunch.

You really can't stop her from preening so try to let her be with that. Just kinda keep an eye on her for feather pieces being removed. She does not seem to be plucking so remove that word from your thoughts. Barbering is when they chew off pieces of the feather but not pull out the whole feather. Often with plucking it's the whole feather removed and it can have blood on the tip. I'm not seeing any tips removed at all and if I did I would assume molting.

It's been a long day and if I'm confusing you let me know and I will explain better in the morning.

Thank you very much for the time and the effort to support us! We are forever in your debt.

So we took our baby to the vet and did fecal test and they found very few parasites so they gave her medication & today is the second. They said if she doesn’t get better they will do blood tests next Wednesday.
The past two days she wasn’t barbering and her cage was clean. However Today I gave her few veggies early in the morning to snack on then two hours later I came to give her her medication dose hidden within a soaked pallet I found this damage been done (images below)

She has been trying to get rid of the pointy remaining of the previously broken feathers form her tail (2 feathers) and her wing (one feather) so could she be trying to get rid of them and ended up barbering few accidentally? (I have attached photos of those as well)

 

[Macawnutz]

Well, the two day break is a good thing. At least it makes it more possible that it's a localized issue and not a systemic issue. These pictures are more focused to areas. You have wing feathers from both left and right wings, basically where you have circled on both sides. One rump feather ( the yellow and blue feather ) comes from behind her leg on her left side and the rest is tail mess.

Yes, that split messy tail feather would be a bother to any bird. I want you to take a pair of sharp scissors or dog nail clippers and cut it back as far as you can. Actually any of her tail feathers that are split in pieces like that should be cut if you can. We want to minimize the damage by removing any feathers that could be causing her irritation.

As I'm sure this is scary I want you to breath. All of these feathers are going to molt out and grow in beautiful again. The damage she is doing, the damage you are doing by cutting feathers, none of it is permanent. We just need to find the cause.

Let's get a picture of the cage again. Let's make some changes to keep her more occupied while we figure this out.

 

[Nouf]

Well, the two day break is a good thing. At least it makes it more possible that it's a localized issue and not a systemic issue. These pictures are more focused to areas. You have wing feathers from both left and right wings, basically where you have circled on both sides. One rump feather ( the yellow and blue feather ) comes from behind her leg on her left side and the rest is tail mess.

Yes, that split messy tail feather would be a bother to any bird. I want you to take a pair of sharp scissors or dog nail clippers and cut it back as far as you can. Actually any of her tail feathers that are split in pieces like that should be cut if you can. We want to minimize the damage by removing any feathers that could be causing her irritation.

As I'm sure this is scary I want you to breath. All of these feathers are going to molt out and grow in beautiful again. The damage she is doing, the damage you are doing by cutting feathers, none of it is permanent. We just need to find the cause.

Let's get a picture of the cage again. Let's make some changes to keep her more occupied while we figure this out.

Again thank you so much for your prompt response and helpful instructions.
We have been playing Tom and jerry to her to try to distract her and I have been with her all the time to a point she laid on top of my tummy an took a nap, I have been standing up for hours with her on my shoulders and play with her to distract her. I managed to cut the split ends as far as I emotionally could, is there any chance I could hurt her if I cut so close to the root?
We are showering every other day with a room temperature spray of filtered water and using coconut oil on her feet. Btw we have calcium perch which isn’t smooth maybe that caused the wear in the bottom of her feet?
She managed to break her last two long feathers.. :’( check the video below. Our heart are breaking for her but it’ll grow back and she’ll be stronger and healthier and we will do everything to ensure it.

 

[Shezbug]

@Nouf is that broken tail feather still hanging? If so you can cut that off if it is bothering her- Burt has broken a few in the past and some of them really annoyed him causing him to badly fuss over the whole tail so there have been times when I have found it better to remove the broken feathers for Burt.

 

[Nouf]

@Nouf is that broken tail feather still hanging? If so you can cut that off if it is bothering her- Burt has broken a few in the past and some of them really annoyed him causing him to badly fuss over the whole tail so there have been times when I have found it better to remove the broken feathers for Burt.

It is, and you’re right it was bothering her and sometimes he’ll bite something next to it by mistake, is it ok that Tangawizi won’t have any long tail feathers left?

 

[Shezbug]

It is ok, it is not a permanent thing and it will make her more comfortable than she is with it hanging and pulling the wrong way and getting stuck on things. Her feathers will regrow