Curly feathers

[tammieb]

Crystal,

Somone posted on another forum about their gould hen's broken wings feathers and was told that the damaged feathers should be plucked out so the new feathers can grow in. I wanted to check with you before attempting to do this with my canary. What is your opinion on this matter?

Thanks for you help.

TammieB.

[Crystal]

I personally don't think that is necessary. During her next molt she will lose those feathers and grow in new ones. Pulling out the feathers now can force new ones to grow in sooner, however if the damaged feathers are not a threat to her livelihood at this moment, why cause her any pain in plucking them out or risk damaging her skin/wings? The only reasons I could ever give to justify plucking feathers is 1. if the feather is needed for diagnostic testing or 2. if plucking the feathers will somehow improve her circumstances in an "emergency" type situation (i.e. if the bird has a broken blood feather that needs to be pulled out to save the bird's life).

If this were my canary, I would leave the feathers alone for now and concentrate on alleviating her itchiness or whatever it is that is bothering her and causing the feathers to take on this appearance in the first place.

Whenever possible, it is best to treat the source of the problem and not just the symptoms.

Best of luck,

-Crystal

[tammieb]

Thanks!

I will leave her alone then. She isn't having any problem getting around her cage. And whatever seemed to be causing her to mutilate her wing in the first place seems to have been alleviated.

TammieB.

[Crystal]

Oh good! I'm really happy to hear that :)

[JeannetteD]

Any suggestions for helping a Lavender waxbill that has feathers on his back missing?

I do not have access to alot of the feather growth supplements that you have in the States, or in Australia.

Right now we are using a couple drops of wheatgerm oil on the food, as the previous keeper suggested.

Any tips would be great!

Jeannette