Playing with molted feathers?

[jeanna]

Jasper is FINALLY molting! Woohoo! Haven't seen a clipped feather fall out yet, but every day I notice that more feathers are lost. Well Jasper seems to be pulling out loose feathers as he preens himself. I don't see him forcefully plucking anything, just grabbing the feathers that come out as he preens along. Well every time he gets one of these feathers, he grabs it with his foot and proceeds to chew on them vigorously. He likes to mangle them until he loses interest and drops them to go back to preening.

 

Is that normal? I don't think I've ever had a bird that liked to play with its own feathers like that. He's definitely not plucking though. I just hope he doesn't think it's fun to play with his feathers and end up plucking them out when he's finished molting. He doesn't do it with the downies, just the bigger ones with longer tips.

[Dave007]

It's totally normal. Sometimes, they mouthe the feathers for hours before dropping them. With wing and tail feathers, they hold them and scratch their heads with them.