Well, got a call from Bee this morning, and my little "Duck Butt" broke another wing blood feather. Fortunatly Bee got it to stop bleeding and he is fine.

We were wondering if anyone has any advice, as to how to help Pita, so he won't break as many feathers. It's like a catch 22. His balance is off because he is lacking tail & wing feathers. So as soon as they start to grow in, he falls and breaks them.

Bee's vet suggested putting a towel on the bottom of the cage so if he does fall he will have a soft landing. Bee has done that, and she is looking for something to put on her kitchen counter so when he is on there, he won't fall off it like he did this morning.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions as how to keep him safe and feathered....LOL
__________________

The poor guy! I am just shocked at the problems he's having keeping his feathers attached! I guess Ollie broke out all but 3 of her tail feathers when she was a baby, but we've been lucky in that in her almost 2 years of life, she's never broken any blood feathers!

I guess I would just keep things as padded as possible. Does he have a lot of toys in his cage? I like to allow Ollie plenty of room to flap around without hitting her wings on anything, and potentially breaking feathers. If things are overly crowded, maybe she could try taking a few things out to see if that helps?

Maybe if you put the towel and lower his perches, that would help? Poor little duck butt. I hope he grows his little tail feathers back soon. I wonder if you got the broken ones pulled... perhaps it will help him to grow the new feathers quicker?

I agree with the towel, and maybe larger perches so he has a firmer grip. How much calcium does he get? Maybe he needs a bit more calcium in his diet.

When I got my white bellie caiques, they were just 4 months old and were not steady at perching. I saw them lose their grip and fall a couple of times before deciding I needed to do something to buffer their falls. I ended up layering a bunch of newspapers -- about 3 to 4 inches thick -- on top of the grates and layed a cushy towel on top of that. I then put about 6 sheets of newspapers on top of the towel that I then changed out every day. Worked like a charm! No more hearing those dreaded "thumps" to the bottom of the cage.

I also remember when I brought home my macaw, and he was just 5 months old then, I turned some sturdy cardboard boxes upside down in the bottom of the cage and layed newspaper on top that I would change out every day. His tail feathers always looked kind of beaten up until his first molt, but Cooper never lost a tail feather!!

Rope perches might help, too.

But if you find a REAL cure for "duck butt" in long-tailed birds, I wish you'd let me know, 'cause my Goons play rough, and they're always breaking tail feathers off. Or with Ceilidh, he breaks his wing feathers off simply by flapping them VERY hard! I'm worried he'll never fly again if he can't keep his flight feathers from breaking.....

Gayla I have no idea beyond padding the fall area. Mostly they grow out of it fairly soon about a year. I don't have any duck butt suns mostly 6 or 7 tail feathers when they should have about 12. I have a budgie with no tail but her buddy did pull a few out. They seem to be growing back in bunches. Pita will probably have to learn that 'look ma no hands" can cause falls if the beak doesn't grip.

Irish the way Ceilidah and Mickey play I am surprised either of them has any wing or tail feathers. The video was great.

the duck-butt protection program:

here are a few changes i implemented yesterday to make sure i won't be missing 1 day a week at work because of bloodfeather issues

*) i took toys out of the cage to give him more room... he wasn't too thrilled at the beginning, but oh well...

*) i have a towel on the bottom grate covered with news paper and lowered the food dishes and main perch... for the rest - he likes to be up in his cage, not much i can do

*) i donated my 2 couch pillows to the duck-butt protection progam. they are now moved with mr. duck-butt wherever he goes (play rack, cage top, etc... wherever he is, those 2 pillows are underneath)

*) the duck-butt protection program also includes a duck-butt protection fence yesterday, pita got spooked when valo took off for a flight around the kitchen accompanied by some vocalization, and instead of heading forward, mr. duck-butt raced backwards... well, the kitchen counter does have an end to it... so, with some pvc pipes and connectors, i know have a fully functional duck-butt protection fence... (pictures to follow)

*) i aquired a fluffy bathroom rug, that also follows the duck-butt around for extra soft landings in case he does loose grip somewhere....

LOL nice job. In addition to all the protection stuff, I keep them pretty confined/contained for about 4 days when I see a blood feather. IT seems to be the critical point. After Toby breaking two really badly at once in Sept and one in Dec it stopped. I raised his protein overall too. He was regrowing from a hard clip.

You may want to examine his wings every day until they are all out in full.

I dont let them out together alot especially near walls ....only in the center of the room. I removed toys too like you did.

I dont encourage any rowdyness and keep the lighting on the low side like through mini blinds instead of huge bright streaming light that makes them want to party. lol.

I kept Piper out and flying AWAY from Toby to let her burn off energy.

IF that didnt work I would have seperated them for the week because she was inadvertently involved in his breaks either from spooking him or perhaps even trying to PLUCK ONE herself (it was dangling lol).

I increase the protein a bit during feather time, whether it's a juvie molt or regular molt or a wing feather or whatever. The feathers are protein and it seems to help push them out. That would be cooked beans -I use adzuki, mung, or lentils. Regular peas are ok, too. And egg. Or Protein 25. I dont use animal meats.

But you dont want to keep high protein all year round meaning to the extent you see alot of pin feathers if they arent molting. That's a sign it's a bit too much. Bordering on a soft molt which isnt good.

OH, I would be pulling the broken ones. I just saw the part about getting it to stop. There's a nerve in there exposed and it hurts, they say. Sorry to say that on a Saturday night.