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[Cage Cleaner]

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[Natacha]

So my green cheek loves preening the Sun Conure, but he hates being preened. They get in a fight if the Sun Conure tries to be nice and reciprocate, so I am still the one who is in charge of dealing with the GCC's pin feathers.

I'd like to hear how others do this. Specifically, when you preen pin feathers, do you just break the tips of them, or do you break apart the entire shaft up to the skin?

The tip and whatever part of that part that is white and easy to flake off - you must be careful, if still growing there will be a darker portion towards the skin and touching that is a no-no - and they'll let you know!

[coral]

i never even knew i had to do that!

[Cage Cleaner]

OK, good to know. It's kind of pitiful he won't let her preen him back because he's really the one that needs it. Heh.

[liz]

What I do is pinch the ends with my fingernails to crack the wax. But I am very careful to just crack it and not twist.

[Cage Cleaner]

So twisting is bad?

[coral]

i dont understand how to do this lol! i tried with a few but i didnt really see any results can someone explain it a little more in depth please? xD

[liz]

All you want to do is crack the wax so it will be easier to preen. I you twist the wax off you will run the rist of loosening the feather.

[coral]

how do you crack it? and how do you know if its ready to be cracked?

[liz]

It is wax. When you crack it you will see splinters of white wax. If it comes off easy go ahead and slide it off. If the bird compains you know you have twiste. When pinching between finger nails your bird usually doesn't even feel it.