Feather issue ?

[ranasrule23]

I got my Alexandarine male a month or so back....the previous owner has clipped his wings in a horrible way (as you can see from the pic). My question is will those feathers grow back and also about those white feathers where his tail begins(i think they are called down feathers ?).Are they supposed to look like that ? Is he moulting ?

[liz]

I could not see the pictures clear enough to comment on them.
His next molt should help him regrow his flight feathers.


I have a pedestrian parrot Rambo who did not have flight feathers. He is 30 and never learned to fly. By adjusting his diet and light schedule he did his first good molt this past year. He now has flight feathers but because he was never allowed to fly he does not have the muscle to do it. He can jump off the top of his cage and flap to a controlled landing. He can't fly up. He can fly down. I am working with him to make him flap to build his muscle be don't know if it will work.

If yours was allowed to fly before then he can do some flying even with clipped wings. Let him out so he can keep his muscle.

[ranasrule23]

I could not see the pictures clear enough to comment on them.
His next molt should help him regrow his flight feathers.


I have a pedestrian parrot Rambo who did not have flight feathers. He is 30 and never learned to fly. By adjusting his diet and light schedule he did his first good molt this past year. He now has flight feathers but because he was never allowed to fly he does not have the muscle to do it. He can jump off the top of his cage and flap to a controlled landing. He can't fly up. He can fly down. I am working with him to make him flap to build his muscle be don't know if it will work.

If yours was allowed to fly before then he can do some flying even with clipped wings. Let him out so he can keep his muscle.

just right-click the pics and click "view image" to see the pics

[ranasrule23]

[Wolf]

I really can't tell if he is plucking feathers or just over preening or if he is just starting to molt these feathers, but due to the localized area that these feathers are in, I think that he is over preening them. There is an oil gland at the base of the tail called the uropygial gland, it is the way that they waterproof their feathers and I am concerned that it may be plugged or blocked and this over preening is the result of this blockage. You should take a look at it to see if it is inflamed or looks unusual in any way.

How often does he bathe or get misted?

[ranasrule23]

How often does he bathe or get misted?

once a week I mist him

[Pajarita]

His remiges (wing flight feathers) will grow back. It will take two years for him to regain all of them but they will grow as long as he allows them to do so. As to the down showing, it looks as if he was or had been plucking because, although psittaculas usually have really bad molts (they are the only parrots that normally look moth eaten during molt even when healthy), the fact that this is localized would indicate that it's most likely plucking.

[ranasrule23]

His remiges (wing flight feathers) will grow back. It will take two years for him to regain all of them but they will grow as long as he allows them to do so. As to the down showing, it looks as if he was or had been plucking because, although psittaculas usually have really bad molts (they are the only parrots that normally look moth eaten during molt even when healthy), the fact that this is localized would indicate that it's most likely plucking.

I see him preening the feathers under his wing a lot.If he was plucking wouldn't he do it all over his body ? If he is plucking how can this be stopped ?

[Wolf]

It kind of depends on why the bird is plucking, it could be from something like parasites or lack of things to do, it could be a food allergy or something like I suggested his preen oil gland may be infected or clogged. You need to eliminate any medical cause for it first.

[Pajarita]

Yes, medical causes need to be ruled out first but birds that pluck from behavioral issues don't necessarily do it all over their bodies... actually, most of them start in one spot.