(minor) First Aid advice re: broken feather on fully flighted CAG?

[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)

[Talon]

This happens occasionally. Just leave it alone and let nature do its own thing. You will cause more damage trying to "fix" it yourself. Certainly don't clip your bird if it is used to free flying, for sure, she would try and fly as she is used to, and then crash and be more apt to get hurt!

Relax,and let things happen as they should. No reason to ever limit her during molting times either.

[Dave007]

Well, some of your questions can have exact answers and some can't. It depends upon the bird's situation, how long the situation has been going on and positioning of feathers.

The first thing is molting-----flight and tail feathers fall out because the blood supply in them is dried up which causes them to fall out. New ones ready to come in at the exact same time. This type of feather loss isn't referred to as moting because it can going on all year long when the flight feather's blood supply dries out.

2 things can happen to the broken feather--it will fall out or the bird will put it back in place. You never mentioned when this situation happened so no time can be given right now. If a feather is causing pain or is in danger of damaging other feathers, it needs to be taken out. If you have no experience with removing flight feathers, it must be done by a professional and the reason is because there may still be a blood supply in that feather.

"""BTW ~ We HAVE given her a day to remove it herself,""""

Most of the time it takes much more than just a day for the feather to fall out.

"""""It's NOT a live feather""""""

Never assume that a flight or tail feather is dead. A severely bent feather won't bleed. A broken feather who's interior is exposed will bleed so that's something you shouldn't judge.

"""he believes performing their own grooming is an important & necessary skill, something that in the wild, CAG's spend considerable time doing."""""

That may be true but the vet doesn't live in your house and only you should decide if there's possible problems. It's no big deal for a vet to pull a feather out. The whole thing takes about 20 seconds. The open area at the base of the wing is then clotted so that any blood there stays there.

""""""...I think he suspects we over-react just a bit""""""

That's really none of his business.

 

On to clipping

"""""" angle - does this make sense to you guys? (beyond the 'clip controversy';we have the neutral opinion is every bird/situation is different)*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""""""

 

There's pros and cons about clipping. Feathers will take much longer to come back in whether a bird is clipped or not. My opinion is ---No clipping. It doesn't do anything to a bird as far as feathers growing back in and a bad clip can hurt a bird's ability to get around and it's bad to do that to an adult bird that's used to flying BUT, it's up to you.

""""*Should we, or do you, limit activity during major molts? ~ """"

No bird can be limited as far as activity goes. That goes against nature. Molting feathers are simply falling off and new ones are coming in. What's to limit???

 

Toys on the floor----birds will do just as you describe. They will also hang upside down in the top of a cage and fall straight down to the bottom.

Did she get hurt doing her 360? I think you got more hurt than the bird did.

So, in closing, if the feather sticking out is banging into things, have it removed or wait till it falls out. The length of time it's been displaced says more about how long that's gonna take-----maybe a week, maybe 2 weeks, or 2 days or tommorrow.

Edited January 22, 2012 by Dave007

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

I can relate, to that feather, your bird is not taking care of. Sophie ignored a " feather", that really needed to go. It looked like a very important feather! I was stressing about it, she wasn't taking care of it. Kids lifted up the feather, told her to get rid of it, she did! Sophie is 12 now, so I'm sure this is a different situation. If she didn't take care of it, I would have called my groomer.

My birds can all fly, but have been trimmed thruout the years. To me, it is just as important to find the perfect bird trimmer, as well as an avian vet. They are equal in importance. Nancy

[Acappella]

The first time this happened to Dorian I was on here stressing out, so I understand your worry. Every time this has happened to Dorian its sorted itself out, sometimes in a day, sometimes in a couple of weeks. Don't worry about it unless it seems to be bothering karma. If she's behaving normally, I'd just keep an eye on it and give it time to fall out.