It's_all_about_Karma

Hi all, Please bear with me, I know this is long, I have main questions bulleted below so you don't actually have to read all of this, but please know your time, suggestions, advice, similar issues, ANYTHING, would be VERY VALUED & APPRECIATED. I have the utmost respect for those blessed strangers willing to give their time to a stranger; you have my most sincere 'thanks' in advance. Our Karma is *almost* 2 yrs old, fully flighted, VERY ACTIVE ...and a tad clumsy. She's also molting her flight feathers. She has a 'broken' flight feather & the break is a good inch below where one would normally clip. It's NOT a live feather, it's not causing her pain, but it's cocked at an odd angle, and I'm worried that in her wandering and climbing, it may get caught or poke her. Can we just clip it at the break and assume the lower shaft will fall out (she's molting her flights) ...or do we HAVE to pull it out completely? We've never done the 'pliers' thing and wouldn't feel comfortable learning on her - if that's necessary we'll have to take her in tomorrow. Again, my concern is that such a BIG feather that won't stay in place will get caught or jab her while she's playing; clipping at the break would remove that possibility. BTW ~ We HAVE given her a day to remove it herself, following her vet's advice, who feels that grooming and molting for Grey's is a learning process, and we should allow her some time to remove semi-molted &/or broken feathers herself (???). ...he believes performing their own grooming is an important & necessary skill, something that in the wild, CAG's spend considerable time doing. ...I think he suspects we over-react just a bit, lol. BUT, this is roughly the 4th time this has happened during a molt, and she doesn't remove them herself. The first time, we were able to 'get her' to remove it by bringing it to her attention like a game. The second time it fell out completely on it's own during a bath. The third broke just at the line you'd clip. Now this one. So: *Does anyone else have this issue? *Any advice on how to handle it? *SHOULD she be doing it herself? Is it abnormal for her to ignore these huge falling out or broken feathers? *How much time would you allow your CAG to remove a semi-molted or broken (dead) feather, if you allow them time at all? *We want to give her a light clip AT LEAST until she's out of molt, any reason not too? Our thinking is that the LENGTH of her flights coming out are what creates the dangerous possibility one will get caught, torn from her skin, OR jab into her if she were to land on it at a certain angle - does this make sense to you guys? (beyond the 'clip controversy';we have the neutral opinion is every bird/situation is different) *Should we, or do you, limit activity during major molts? ~ she wakes with the energy of a 4-yr-old kid living on Pixie Stix & Monster's. She's an only pet (child, lol), allowing her the freedom to roam between her cages & climbing stands, and spends a solid hour every day playing, "GIT IT, KARM!" on the floor, where she 'tackles' toys, feet, etc. She has literally stumbled & flipped 360° while 'running'. Is this a no-no during molts? WHEW! THANK YOU ~ especially if you made it through my entire book Kristy, Tony & Karma(licious)

Hi everyone. My first actual post, but have gotten a ton of info and ideas from reading everyone else's, so I owe u all a thank u before I even ask my question! Ok, our girl's name is Karma. We've gotten her leash trained and familiar with water for bathing/misting through slowly introducing both as things to play with, and it's worked great - she actually gets excited when she sees her leash because she knows she's going outside. BUT, she's 11 months old and we haven't done anything as far as toweling. Honestly, we never had to restrain any of our birds for wing or nail clipping, and since we leave them either flighted or semi-flighted (can fly from high position, but can't get lift from ground) we don't do either very often. Sand or pedi-perches were all our green cheek ever needed. Karma, however, could cut glass with her nails DESPITE having every type/shape of perch possible. Since this is her first nail trim, were having the vet do it, but i know he towels for nail clips. Other than her 6month visit, she's never been toweled. At 11 months, did we miss the opportunity to make this stress-free? I'm worried because even if we don't need to towel her for stuff like nail clipping (she's fine with us picking up & holding her toes) there's ALWAYS the chance of a first aid emergency requiring us to restrain her, and obviously an emergency would be the worst time to spring something unfamiliar and scary on her. So, any thoughts or suggestions? Has anyone else had to towel & if so, how did your bird react to it? Did you towel BEFORE it was necessary to get your bird used to it? Last, is it normal for her nails to be so SHARP? They aren't particularly long or overgrown in any way, just sharp.She has a zillion things to climb on and destroy, tons of wood and we've spent a ton of $$ on perches guaranteed to help with nails, but I swear, she must use them to sharpen them when we aren't watching! Oh, and perches are size appropriate and varied, so that not the problem. She's such an amazing baby girl, we want to make as few mistakes as possible during these important years. Thank you!