One wing feather?

[Eurycerus]

I just realized that on one of Diggy's wings he has one feather that is unclipped. Not sure how it happened but should I get that clipped? Is it dangerous to have one random feather grown out?

[marie83]

I dont think one feather will make much of a difference to his balance so its unlikely to harm him in that sense but there may be more of a chance of it getting caught on something but when his feathers grow in your going to be running that risk anyway I'm afraid.
I mentioned it to someone the other day (cant remember who) but do consider imping. I dare say it might be alot of work finding a charity that has feathers available in your country but imo it would be totally worth it and will aid regrowth of the birds new feathers when they start growing in. What i mean is some birds struggle to grow the new feathers as there are no supporting feathers around it...

Greg Glendal has a feather scheme running in this country which is free of charge. If you cannot find anyone in your own it might be worth contacting him to see if he would be willing to ship some over or knows of anyone else who could help.

[Eurycerus]

Yeah that's my fear, that he'd get it caught and break or rip it... If he was my parrot I'd consider imping. Unfortunately, considering the parrot rescue is more a proponent of clipping than not clipping, I get the feeling they probably wouldn't pay a vet to imp Diggy for me.... Nika's wings grew out pretty evenly which was great and didn't pose a problem. This little feather must've been growing when they clipped him last. I'll take a look around though and see if there's anyone local who'd be willing to do it for free. I didn't know some birds had trouble growing their feathers back. I'll keep an eye on him.

[marie83]

Ahh sorry, I forgot he was a foster bird and not an adoptee. Adopt him already damnit How long will you have him for? do it on the sly if you wont get checked up on or have to hand him back over too soon

Honest I'm joking about the last part, your in a priviged position being able to help these rescues and you will do more good by working with them and subtley trying to change their approach than by going against them. I wouldn't try to put ideas in your head

[Eurycerus]

Not sure how long he'll be around. There's a potential adopter (PA) interested in him and I sent some info about Diggy to the species coordinator about him. He's still very shy and tentative. I tried to push his boundaries just a little bit yesterday and got a nip. Oops took things too fast :/ He'll need a lot more work by whoever takes him into their lives, but he's adorable and a sweet parrot.

There seem to be people on both sides for and against volunteering for the rescue, so I'm hoping the old guard, who believe in clipping, will give up or stop volunteering eventually and the new guard, who don't believe in clipping, will become the leaders.