Poor little pin cushion...

[CADenise]

It's been more years than I care to mention, but my little one ( yes, still nameless ) has become a pin cushion with new feathers. We hit the B&G 7 month of age mark since hatching on 9/10/09 and being a handfed baby, I've already been concerned about self grooming skills. Growth is happening, the skin stretching and new quills are what I can only imagine, have become a real pain... It's been cooler here so I normally bathe on the weekend when I really crank up the heat.. I've tried slightly, pinching and rolling but don't want to pull. HELP!!! What do you do in this situation? Especially behind the neck and head, where it's only a footie thing to scratch? :susp: Oh, it was great to find how people felt about leg bands, little one has one and I looked under it this afternoon and found some blood on the tiny feathers under it... It will be gone the next trip to the Vet - like this weekend... My 75 lb guard dog ( keeps the little one safe when I'm not home ) is chipped and I'm still on the fence about putting the same size / material into a 3 lb bird... All thoughts are welcome and appreciated...

[iti hoa's mom]

It's been more years than I care to mention, but my little one ( yes, still nameless ) has become a pin cushion with new feathers. We hit the B&G 7 month of age mark since hatching on 9/10/09 and being a handfed baby, I've already been concerned about self grooming skills. Growth is happening, the skin stretching and new quills are what I can only imagine, have become a real pain... It's been cooler here so I normally bathe on the weekend when I really crank up the heat.. I've tried slightly, pinching and rolling but don't want to pull. HELP!!! What do you do in this situation? Especially behind the neck and head, where it's only a footie thing to scratch? :susp: Oh, it was great to find how people felt about leg bands, little one has one and I looked under it this afternoon and found some blood on the tiny feathers under it... It will be gone the next trip to the Vet - like this weekend... My 75 lb guard dog ( keeps the little one safe when I'm not home ) is chipped and I'm still on the fence about putting the same size / material into a 3 lb bird... All thoughts are welcome and appreciated...

I was on the fence about chipping and read for about 5 years. Two summers ago I had 14 of my 18 birds chipped and they all did fine. The smallest was a blue crown conure and the largest a B&G

Peggy

[Julie]

Denise!

My father lives up in Auburn and his home is MUCH cooler than mine down the hill. Do you have a warm air humidifier that you could put in the same room as the little one? Mine seem to do much better when there is one to help them through the really itchy phazes of molting. It also helps when we are running the heater in the house which tends to suck all the humidity right out of the air. Don't place it right next to the cage, at least a good couple feet, but we notice a dramatic difference.

And on the bathing, just getting a mist from the top of the shower and not a full dip can definately be helpful too. It depends on the bird and how much they do or do not like to bathe. I have never had a macaw before but a lot on this board have. I have a CAG, an Bare Eyed Too (self mutilator) and 2 tiels. All dry dusty birds.

Do you come all the way down to Roseville to the aivian certified vet, or do you go to a vet up in Auburn/Grass Valley?

[Dot]

Denise, my Scarlet has sinusitis. The vet at Texas A&M suggested a daily bath for all my birds. After all, that is what they would be getting in the home country. LOL

I thought we were only supposed to use cool air humidifiers. I run mine 24/7. Because the Scarlet has such problems, I keep the heater on 64 in the winter and the AC on 76 in the summer. If the humidity is below 40%, I leave them in jail and boil water. You can buy the little deal to measure the humidity at Radio Shack.

[Patty, Linus and Co.]

The warm air humidifiers throw less mold spores and fungals into the air due to the heating process. No need for a humidifier here in FL. Sometimes it feels like there's more water in the air than air. lol

[Larry, Baby and Me]

The warm air humidifiers throw less mold spores and fungals into the air due to the heating process. No need for a humidifier here in FL. Sometimes it feels like there's more water in the air than air. lol

Patty -- you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Wait until August... you will see what I mean.

:eek::eek:

[Larry, Baby and Me]

Hi Denise,

There are folks on both sides of the fence when it comes to chipping a bird.

There have been reports of turmors growing around the chip in dogs. No reports on birds having that problem that I know of.

Some people fear that the chip might migrate to other parts of the body -- I haven't seen any reports to substantiate that fear.

Some people don't trust a foriegn object to be in a bird that might live for 50-60-70 years.

We have to ask ourselves, what is the purpose of chipping a bird?

To get the back if it is stolen -- that is a possibility, if the person who buys the stolen bird would have it scanned.

To get the bird back if it flies away -- most birds that fly away die before they link back up with a human.

So why would we chip a bird? Dunno.

So the best thing is to take every percaution that the bird does not have a chance to fly away or gets stolen.

My Umbrella Cockatoo is not banded or chipped. But chipping is an individual choice.

Lar

[Larry, Baby and Me]

A chipping success story.

Chipping saved this cat's life.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/17/cat-gets-comp-flight-unknowingly-traveling-new-mexico-chicago/?test=latestnews

Lar

[iti hoa's mom]

"Some people fear that the chip might migrate to other parts of the body -- I haven't seen any reports to substantiate that fear.

Some people don't trust a foriegn object to be in a bird that might live for 50-60-70 years."


Chips are placed in the muscle on a bird so no migration problem. Dogs and cats have them placed under the skin and there were a few reports of change in position of the chip.

I worried about this but now days there are pacemakers, artificial hips, artificial heart valves so maybe the chips will be ok also.

Peggy with just a few rambling thoughts

[Patty, Linus and Co.]

Patty -- you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Wait until August... you will see what I mean.

:eek::eek:

I am just getting SO excited for summer, what with the hurricanes and humidity and everything else FL has to offer.