How to help picking pinning feathers

[rmmslat]

My quaker, Pico is amazing. However he has been extra grumpy and itching and picking lately. I have noticed thie "pinning" type feathers. He also has a dandruff like situation when scratching and picking. I read most parrots enjoy helping with picking the pin feathers but Pico dosnt like it. m I hurting him? And what can I do about the dandruff?

[Eric&Rebecca]

It's not dandruff it's keratin. That's normal and something this bird will have its whole life. It's healthy. This is worse at times of molting and growing new feathers as the pin feathers are coated in keratin and are sensitive.

You should mist your bird everyday with room temperature water. NEVER warm! Room temperature of cool. Also a bath should always be accessible to the bird.

Molting is a very uncomfortable time for a bird so you need to help by misting the bird daily. The keratin and pin feather gradually soften and the bird will preen them out but it takes some time. The grumpiness is hormones, discomfort as energy taken from the growth of new feathers.

During this time you should be feeding more proteins and carbs and vitamins d and a to assist feather growth

[feathermum]

I have found some birds love the preening help, usually head & neck only, but some don't like it @ all!! my nanday HATEs it, so I take him in the shower to help,give him a large bath bowl, & spay if needed...if ur quaker doesn't like it. then don't do it. it means that they are sore,& could still have a blood supply, best to just help where u can,like diet change & showers ect..

[rmmslat]

You say diet helps. Pico is super picky. I have tried almost every treat out there. It seems he can tell when I put the vitamin drops in his food. It's not bad. Kind of sweet.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Birds are picky if you let them... i know that sounds really horrible but its true... Sometimes its the food itself but the way its presented. For example, George will only eat carrot when its grated but you give it to him in a cube... what the hell is that?! On the other hand Edmund is scared of blueberries, hisses at them! Cut them in a half a voila!

Also most birds won't eat it if you just put it in the bowl in front of them. You have to try offering in different ways too, handfeeding, dangling from a kebab, clipping to the side of the cage, putting on a feeding platform...

[feathermum]

I have found the kebob very helpful!! also, food that is like a toy...birds are foragers by nature, sometimes ( if not most times) let them forage for their food, there are a million different foraging toys out there, hide some food in his fav. toy, or something I have just started using that really seems to work ( w/ most ) is putting lil' bits of fresh or dehydrated fruit/vegis in little paper cups, or caps from jucie bottals (whatever) & hang them in different spots around the house that they go to i.e different play gyms.

may I ask what u are feeding him?

[Pajarita]

Quakers are one of the best eaters of the parrot species. Equal to conures (to which they are closely related) and second only to amazons. Keep on insisting, they are stubborn things, quakers are, but their stomach will win in the end. Try corn, they ADORE it! But, as a dietary aid to molting, add sesame seed.