Breaking pin feathers

[Michael]

I've always heard that you're supposed to help your parrot with pin feathers on their heads. How exactly do you do this? And at what stage of development of the pin feather do you do it?

For people with multiple (similar) parrots. Do they do it for each other? Why do they still want to get scratched by you if the other birds can probably do it better?

[Natacha]

I do Shade's pin feathers occasionally. She also goes to Zuri to have them done and she does Zuri's.
Sometimes, Zuri will come to me for that, but she seems to prefer Shade.

I do them for Piper. (Shade actually has tried on multiple occasions to have Piper do hers...)
I do them for Joey.
My boyfriend does it for Petey.

I'm always careful to only do the white part of the protecting thing (can't remember the name for the life of me) and stay away from the part that is still growing.

I either just run my fingers on their heads or go get the ones that stand out and rub them between two fingers to get it to flake off.

[Mona]

Jack and Babylon preen each other. Both birds still like for Doug and myself to rub their heads.

Some birds are more sensitive about this than others. It really is a bonding ritual. Mine lower their head when they want me to rub it. I gently touch the "itchy" pin feathers and rub them between my fingers until they start to turn to powder. If it hurts, the bird will usually pull back and let me know quickly. Some days these hurt and some days they must just itch. All five of my flock like to have their heads rubbed. I always feel sorry when I see a parrot with pin feathers on their head because obviously, they don't have any body to run them off for them. Having said that, there are days when this is extremely sensitive and they won't let me touch them.....

[alight15]

@michael
Ok well, people when they "pet" 'properly' can cover a larger area

If the pinfeathers start sticking out past it's normal feathers/fluff and are visible,it's kinda too late and the bird is tense and itchy,so I try to do it then or when I notice the itty bitty tips getting ready to poke out(they're a different color so you'll notice tiny needle tip sized dots).

Pretty sure this isnt the right way but oh well:
I use my nails to try and break it, (being careful) I lift up the pin feather enough to slide the tip of my fingernail under a bit(from it's side) and try to snip/break it and slid it off the feather carefully,then give it to my budgie to destroy.

I dont really like doing this though,it takes lots of effort,scuffling,and apologizing .However when my budgie cant get rid of it on his own;and it gets bad enough that he starts rubbing against my hands or trys climbing on the back of my hand and rubbing against my knuckles or back of the joints on my fingers. I have to attempt to help; dispite him not being very happy with it.

[lzver]

I help both Lucy and Jessie with their pin feathers on their head. Lucy is molting right now and she'll sit there forever and let me do it. Like Natacha, I kinda rub them together until they become flaky. If I hit a sensitive one, they let me know pretty quick by pulling away.

Lucy isn't a very cuddly bird and only tolerates scratches for shorter periods of time, so I enjoy the extra scratches she tolerates when she's molting.

Jessie is my little cuddle monkey, so any excuse for extra scratches or cuddle time to help with pin feathers is just fine with him

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Scooter insists! I use a combination of rolling, cross-rubbing and fingernail squeezing. He doesn't like it if I pull on the casing, though. I am very careful with new, fully encased ones, and if he ever objects, I back off.

[Choco]

Jack and Babylon preen each other. Both birds still like for Doug and myself to rub their heads.

Some birds are more sensitive about this than others. It really is a bonding ritual. Mine lower their head when they want me to rub it. I gently touch the "itchy" pin feathers and rub them between my fingers until they start to turn to powder. If it hurts, the bird will usually pull back and let me know quickly. Some days these hurt and some days they must just itch. All five of my flock like to have their heads rubbed. I always feel sorry when I see a parrot with pin feathers on their head because obviously, they don't have any body to run them off for them. Having said that, there are days when this is extremely sensitive and they won't let me touch them.....

My blue fronted amazon has needle like feathers on his lil head and kneck we are fairly new to parrots can you please help me? I know he's uncomfortable and you use to be so soft and loves to have his head rubbed but i move one if those needles and he does'nt like it.

[Choco]

Jack and Babylon preen each other. Both birds still like for Doug and myself to rub their heads.

Some birds are more sensitive about this than others. It really is a bonding ritual. Mine lower their head when they want me to rub it. I gently touch the "itchy" pin feathers and rub them between my fingers until they start to turn to powder. If it hurts, the bird will usually pull back and let me know quickly. Some days these hurt and some days they must just itch. All five of my flock like to have their heads rubbed. I always feel sorry when I see a parrot with pin feathers on their head because obviously, they don't have any body to run them off for them. Having said that, there are days when this is extremely sensitive and they won't let me touch them.....

I do Shade's pin feathers occasionally. She also goes to Zuri to have them done and she does Zuri's.
Sometimes, Zuri will come to me for that, but she seems to prefer Shade.

I do them for Piper. (Shade actually has tried on multiple occasions to have Piper do hers...)
I do them for Joey.
My boyfriend does it for Petey.

I'm always careful to only do the white part of the protecting thing (can't remember the name for the life of me) and stay away from the part that is still growing.

I either just run my fingers on their heads or go get the ones that stand out and rub them between two fingers to get it to flake off.

my amazon has ''needles'' what can i do? im new please help.. thank you so much

[skeetersunconure]

im confused... what are pin feathers?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

im confused... what are pin feathers?

Pin feathers are new feathers that are coming in. They are encased in a sheath a lot like the plastic end of a shoelace (called an aglet if you want some useless vocabulary). They are also sometimes called blood feathers because as the feather is growing, it has a blood supply so it can get the nutrients, oxygen etc. it needs to grow. Once the feather is mature, the blood supply "dries up" (I am not exactly sure what the mechanism is that makes that happen).

Birds break off the sheath when the feather is grown in enough, but they can't really reach the ones on their head and neck very well, and they are apparently itchy. I use my the fingernail on my thumb against my index finger to try to gently break and chip off the coating. I am always very careful because I'm afraid if I slipped I could really hurt him! If a feather is too "young" for this, it is apparently uncomfortable to move too much and I get squawked at, and sometimes nipped! But when it is just right, Scooter obviously appreciates it. He definitely encourages me to get in there, it's just sometimes hard to tell WHICH pinfeather is ready and which one isn't yet.