Strange looking feather-Advice ?

[KatherinesBirds]

I found this molted flight feather this morning. My Blue Crown is going on 23 and I feel she is on a healthy diet. Volkmans seed mix plus dried fruit & veggies, birdie bread, fresh raw fruits and veggies. Blair's Super Preen and AviCal I use on seed mix on the top of it three times a week. Cooked egg is given two times a week. Should I be adding a calcium supplement to the soft food each day? She has never exhibited any tendency to pluck or chew. One recent change in her environment is the addition of Shadow, a Red Bellied parrot. Shadow does a lot of attention from me since she is very social. My Blue Crown is not as social. Shadow has been here for 8 mo. I see no problems with my other birds and there are no new additions to my flock. Chuckles, my Blue Crown, has full flights now. I want to keep her that way as with my other birds. I am wondering if this is perhaps an emotional stress thing, since Chuckles does show distress when I pay a lot of attention to Shadow. It disturbs me when I take Shadow out since I can see a real change in her character. I try to give her equal time but maybe this is not enough? Could it be nutritional? I do not have the option of a veterinarian exam and bill so being disabled, I must do the best I can with your advice. Any ideas?
View attachment 127392 The feather is of good color but has this lengthwise empty stripe. In this area there is no green color and you can see right through to the paper behind it. This is not a blood feather. It was molted. Otherwise there is no unusual coloring and the rest of the feather does not seem to be chewed on the edges nor is it missing and pieces. I will take a few more photos.

 

[KatherinesBirds]

View attachment 127393 Her feathers and beak seem to be in really good conditon otherwise. View attachment 127394 I can't find any other feathers on her body like this. She seems to be going through a hormonal period right now and gets very nippy and down right crazy at times. If I wait a little while and come back in the room she is sweet! Worst hormonal season I have seen yet. My birds are very quiet. I have five conures in the bird room right now, a pair of lovebirds and Shadow. All seem to enjoy the company of the others.

 

[roxynoodle]

I've never seen that before so don't have anything to say. I've read a lot about unhealthy feathers, too, due to Pete. I mean hours worth, lol!

I'm almost inclined to think she somehow scraped the pigment off since it's on every bit of the feather in that line

 

[Birdbabe]

Ive never ever seen that, so Im no help, but if its a one time thing, with her diet. Seeming excellent I would just keep an eye on the other feathers. Can you email that pic to your vet, just to see what he/she thinks of it? I do that , saves me money and stress.

 

[roxynoodle]

I was also going to suggest emailing the picture to your vet, but I think you mentioned in the thread about yearly checks that you don't have one close by anymore? Maybe I'm mistaken though as there were a lot of posts and I can't remember all of whose were whose.

I know I took pictures of Pete's poop when the liver problems first started and put them on photobucket for my vet to look at.

 

[Greycloud]

I wonder if she ran her beak repeatedly along that feather while it was intact?

 

[roxynoodle]

I wonder if she ran her beak repeatedly along that feather while it was intact?

That or got it caught in something and pulled.

 

[Macawnutz]

My guess is that the feather folicle was damaged and it grew that way. I would not be concerned unless you find more or that feather grows in again that way.

 

[KatherinesBirds]

I have no avian vet out here but I will look into finding one online who would take a look at it even if it means mailing the feather to them. I think feather follicle damage could be a cause. This is a flight feather and she has only had full flights in her life since I stopped clipping all my birds a year ago. Maybe she is yet to discover how to handle herself. I am going to change the location of her perches too just in case she is constantly rubbing on them at night and this might be a cause.
I just realized that I have saved feathers throughout all of her years with me and I have never seen this before!
I so appreciate all of your help!
Katherine

 

[Leza]

It seems like a one time thing to me. Since it was moulted, it was old so she had a lot of opportunity to over preen/scrape it on something etc. If it grows funny again I would be wary but for now it seems fine.

 

[KatherinesBirds]

Yes, it was an old feather. I tend to think it was over preening. Just gave her some new toys and a good bath. She seems to be happy.

 

[jmfleish]

It almost looks like a stress bar going in the opposite direction!

 

[KatherinesBirds]

Yes! This was my first thought. I had the stress bars on several of my birds when I adopted them. From their diets I would say that they were malnourished. However, this particular pattern is running the opposite way. I am watching her to see if she sheds any more of this kind. She tends to be a very emotional little girl so I have to give her plenty of attention.

It almost looks like a stress bar going in the opposite direction!

 

[Macawnutz]

Stress bars happen across the whole feather at the time of growing leaving a horizontal line. A damaged feather follicle would drag across the feather the whole time of growing leaving a vertical issue on the feather. A small injury could have cracked the follicle making this happen. I would love and update when the new feather comes in.

 

[jmfleish]

Stress bars happen across the whole feather at the time of growing leaving a horizontal line. A damaged feather follicle would drag across the feather the whole time of growing leaving a vertical issue on the feather. A small injury could have cracked the follicle making this happen. I would love and update when the new feather comes in.

I was kind of thinking the same thing...could there have been some injury that could have caused this while it was growing the long way but when I tried to type it out, it didn't sound right! LOL! It should be interesting to see if another one gets molted out again in the future.

 

[Kia]

I just wanted to say that I just adore Blue crown conure....they always look like they are smiling. Have you watch the movie "Paulie" Cute cute movie.

 

[Lady Jane]

What would you do if you had an avian emergency?

 

[KatherinesBirds]

I have many years of experience and have equipment and am able to handle several tests and some physical injury emergencies myself and actually have in the past. I handle a lot of my own emergencies myself too. Kind of a survival thing for me. Spent years in a very remote area of the midwest. Raised on a farm and all that. Care Credit is also a great thing to have for yourself and your pets. Just got it the other day!
About the feather, I have sent a photo to a vet in Australia who has offered to give it a look. Yesterday I found a similar feather from my lovebird and she is an over preener when she is in hormonal mood. No other similar feathers have shown up so I am thinking it is a one time thing.

 

[tozie12]

my scarlet macaw has had a feather do this, it was a tail feather. i was told it was 'too old' or 'hadnt molted in a timely fashion' so the pigment had just slowly been rubbed and preened off. the one diff was it didnt run the entire length of the feather. I've tried to find the pic but it happened several years ago and i cant seem to find it. i'll keep looking tho.

 

[KatherinesBirds]

Just received a response from my vet and, yes, he thinks the very same thing! Just an old feather that had the time to get rubbed really well. I am able to handle my Blue Crown and put her on her back while going through the rest of her feathers. She really enjoyed it too!
I am so relieved.