Random flight feather...

[blueberrybuns]

I was cleaning around Kiki's cage today and I noticed a single flight feather on her left wing. She has her wings clipped and I had not noticed this one feather being there before. I stretched out her wing and noticed that it is one of the feathers on the very end of the wing. How fast can a flight feather grow in? This looks like it popped in overnight. :S

[Bea]

That's the way it always seems to happen!:p If you are planning on re-clipping her you need to make sure there's no blood supply to the feather first, it's easy to see because you'll see the red in the 'stem' of the feather.

[blueberrybuns]

Thank you for the explanation. I was a little bit confused. :p

If it is only one flight feather, will she be able to "fly" any more than if she did not have any. If so I will clip it. I looked at it and there is not pink down to where the other feathers are clipped so it looks like it will not be too dificult.

[Bea]

I'd just leave it and see, she probably won't be able to fly off cause i'm guessing she's been clipped from a young age. Am i right in guessing that she's beginning her first moult? If she is then you may as well just wait till she's finishes because she'll get loads of new flight feathers and you'll have to keep redoing it.:p

[blueberrybuns]

I am starting to think that she is beginning her molt. I think she is about 4 months old and she seems to be preening more. I have not seen too many feathers in her cage though. This is my first bird so I am unsure of how many feathers to see coming off of her.

[Bea]

At first she'll probably just lose little white fluffy feathers. It could take weeks before she starts moulting properly, i know it seemed to take months for Blinkie to start moulting properly.