That was the first thing I had done with my rescues (amazons). Vet said it would help to know if bird was a she during any medical issues that would arise.
Did you go to an avian vet or are normal vets okay? Only one avian vet here in the whole country thankfully it is a 4 hour drive there. I could always send my own feather/blood sample but I usually do so with a friend that is used to doing this as i am a softy and cant properly do it.
i am thinking of taking dolly to the avian vet anyway since i think her feathers might be breaking a bit too easily. Im not sure if she is aggressively preening or if her feathers are just weak. I spied on her preening and she is not even biting them off and they were being sheered off little by little, one ‘barb’ at a time. They were tiny, maybe that is why i didn’t even notice the smaller ones.
i might have to stay overnight to go to the avian vet. I will have to get her a proper travel cage where she can stay for longer periods in, acclimate her to it too. Also some household members got covid so I have to self quarantine for awhile also means i can’t get the friend to take dna samples.
could her 7 year bad diet take a toll on her feathers now a year later? Or is my food not complete enough? They told me she was only eating sunflower seeds there.