Pin Feathers on Parrots | Jinx

[@saturdaydinnerswithang6439]

I’ve had my African Grey parrot for 19 years and never knew I was supposed to help him with his pin feathers. I had a successful preening session with him tonight. He enjoyed it. Thank you for the education!

[@dominiquesimetiere6996]

Comme chez le coiffeur. Il a l'air d'aimer ❤️

[@MissNebulosity]

It's so cute how he moves his head and lift his neck feathers while you clean his pin feathers. Seems like he really loves that you're helping him.

[@jasperclydeinsd592]

This was so incredibly helpful! I was able to help my little green cheeked conure with all the little prickly pin feathers behind his head. He seemed to really like it except just once he squawked at me and gave me a warning nibble. Thank you!!

[@akelley5534]

your session was too short, dont you know we could watch this for hours. longer next time please.

[@ainimumthaz8947]

I agree

[@jbrown3364]

So satisfying to watch

[@Slone1329]

I actually love preening the birds that let me 😂

[@elsplace896]

I used to do it with my parrot and it was so relaxing.

[@jabbersart6218]

thank you for the popping technique, i was so worried pulling or raking with my nail

[@ruby7741]

Yup I do the same flocking behavior for us so we are all part of the flock and feeling connected. Love it but YES they can be very sensitive with the blood part in the soft shaft. So careful does it. :)

[@TheWeb3Guy]

My Jenday absolutely loves me doing this to him, and it’s satisfying to me as well. 😊

[@TheAlnwickist]

*Deeply* satisfying! ☺️ xA

[@dianneguarino2348]

I help with pin feathers on my chickens it’s a great bonding time with them. I don’t know with parrots but with my chickens it seams to me that the roosters have a lot more pin feathers than the hens

[@deancooper6185]

This is like the bird version of pimple popping, oddly satisfying to watch

[@lewis3761]

Awe hes blushing

[@dianechiucchi2275]

Your video has me wanting to preen again tonight. It is relaxing for me.

[@cathydemuth8241]

My blue crowned conure has a bunch of pin feathers now they are so sensitive that if I pull too hard he will turn around and snap at me. This is a bird that is so friendly never bit anybody but they must really hurt

[@dayleclarke4433]

I only touch my Greys if the bottom of the feather is clear and then I only squeeze and don't pull after I was given a gentle finger crush warning 😂

[@howey935]

No wonder if youre pulling their feathers.

[@heatherreadsreddit8579]

You’re not supposed to pull them! You’re supposed to squeeze the sheath after the pin is partially open, and then use your fingernails to flake off the sheath. She didn’t explain well that immature pin feathers aren’t supposed to be messed with, or it can hurt your bird.

[@rafaellopez9340]

thanks for making this video. I doesn´t have any clue about how to help my parrots with pinned feathers

[@smoke424]

That’s my hobby

[@raymonddelisle6601]

Thanks I wasn't sure if I should do that

[@aspenk8075]

How was your house so quiet I have one bird and my house is like really loud even when I’m playing with him like all the time!!

[@kierstenbrouwer2235]

I love doing this with my bird

[@nv7287]

Awww hes so cute :)

[@sl3580]

When people live with animals they are allergic to they will inevitably need sinus surgery. I learned the hard way.

[@ainationaldiscovery]

magnifique, adorable

[@Shift05]

I love preening my birds

[@brittneypetty554]

When I crack my macaws pin feathers, she recracks the ones that land on me is this normal?

[@eeeeeeeeeeeeeeels]

Brittney Petty Mine does too. It’s just curiosity over a potential new toy.

[@feliciau3368]

I just did my Quaker yesterday but the ones i can't get will they naturally come off?

[@BirdTricks]

Yes they will :)

[@BillyNoMates1974]

Good video. How far down the feather do you crunch up ? I tend to do just the top white section of the pin feather. How often do your birds moult ? Here in the UK we get two lots of moulting a year (Spring and autumn) but I suspect because the UK's day length is quite different (6 hours winter and 17 hours summer)

[@BirdTricks]

I tend to just do the middle to top so I don't agitate or hurt him on accident

[@natejohnson5226]

I love doing my African greys

[@arlenehuffman5015]

How do you help a conure with their pin feathers if they won’t let you near them with hands? I just got him to step up on my arm after having him for 6 mths but not to a level that I can touch him with my hands. He has tons of pin feathers on his head and i want to help him. Any help is appreciated!

[@jasperclydeinsd592]

Would he let you pet him with a soft makeup brush? Maybe if he enjoys that he’d let you start petting his head. Does he sit on your arm long enough to start to fall asleep? This is the time my bird is the most relaxed and easygoing.

[@mehere8038]

surfaces to rub on is what my lorries seem to like for their head ones. They were trying to rub on the cage bars, so I added a range of different surfaces for them to use, such as luffa, pumice perches, a mix of natural branches with knobs & nice rubbing features on them & so on. Mine are like yours, I can get them to step up now (sort of) but they won't allow me to touch them!

[@sugaransom5061]

How do you soften the pin feathers up to be able to push them and get rid of them I twist them with my fingers but it hurts my dolly she is a Catalina macaw almost 5 months old and they're driving her crazy on her head and around her neck mostly on her head and I'm trying to spray warm water on her everyday couple times a day to try to soften them up but they're all the way down in her scalp I need some advice help me out please thank you so much because she cries and it drives her nuts

[@silverbushb448]

Suga Ransom Preening should not hurt your bird. You say you twist the pinnies; you should not twist them, but rather just kind of lightly pinch the pin feather between your thumbnail and your index finger so that your thumbnail lightly scratches and starts to crumble the sheath. If this hurts her then you're going too close to the base, or else they still have a blood supply and are not yet ready for preening. Hope this helps somewhat!

[@mehere8038]

I've been adding oat milk to my lorries baths, cause they seem to get itchy skin & it seems to help & a small part of one of the pin feathers came off after the last bath. No idea if this is a generally useful tip or not, but no harm trying :) The oat milk is meant to sooth & soften. I haven't done it enough yet to say for sure if it is or is just a co-incidence though

[@rajeshkanna6596]

should I remove it? My bird feels pain whenever I touch It

[@reddish4467]

My bird is starting to grow them around his beak, and its really hard to get them. Do you HAVE to break them?

[@BirdTricks]

No, they will happen on their own naturally as well. Some birds enjoy it while others do not. It's a sensitive time, so it can be a relief but sometimes hurt a little if you end up poking it back into them on accident or something.

[@reddish4467]

Okay, I understand. Thanks!

[@mehere8038]

@@BirdTricks hmm how long does that take? My lorikeet's had a tail feather in it's white thing for about a month now. There was a break in the white bit towards the end of the feather & below that break has now FINALLY come off, but at least 3/4 of the feather's still enclosed & doesn't look to be going anywhere. Good to know at least that they are supposed to come off naturally, it's not that she's not doing something she should be, but geez it's taking a LONG time for this one! She won't let me touch her, so I can't help with it, just watch as she preens & plucks but refused to touch this one

[@heatherreadsreddit8579]

If it hurts them, then you’re trying to open an immature pin feather. Wait until they open a bit before helping get off the sheath.

[@unicornwizhez4115]

Both of my birds FREAK when they see there bird dust idk why 😭

[@dafnidknd6944]

My parrotlet had two pin feathers on the head very close to her eye.. i managed to preen the majority of them but i cant get to the base of it... the base still has this skin left... will preening most of it do? or is it absolute necessity to get it from the base?

[@silverbushb448]

Preening "most of it" is fine. The remaining sheath will crumble off on its own, just give it a bit extra time. It's better to just do "most of it" than to get overly aggressive in your preening efforts, especially since any remaining sheath will crumble and resolve themselves eventually.

[@mehere8038]

@@silverbushb448 how long does it take though? In particular for a tail feather, cause I've got one that's been in it's sheath for about a month now!

[@silverbushb448]

@@mehere8038 A month and a half seems longer than expected, for sure. Are you certain it's what it seems to be? Tail feathers often look thickened near the base especially and could look like a pin feather sheath when it is not actually a pin feather sheath. At any rate, does he pick at it or otherwise seem distressed by it? If not, then all is well and I certainly wouldn't give it any concern. Only if it bothers him or if it looks diseased, OR if he starts developing multiple pin feather sheaths that all fail to properly disintegrate, would I be worried.

[@mehere8038]

​@@silverbushb448 about a month, wouldn't be a month & a half, not sure exactly how long, cause I didn't take enough notice when it first appeared. I've only had them since January, from a not good home, she's a plucker, but won't touch this one :S Is definitely a pin feather, part of the sheath broke & had a bit under a cm below the break, with some feather bits coming out that gap & then eventually, after about a week (and I think from the bath) the bit below that came off, but the rest of the sheath is still intact. I actually thought she was going to end up snapping the feather at that sheath break the way she was going, but the sheath below has come off now & so the bottom 2-3cms is normal feather, but the rest is still enclosed in the sheath. Bird is a lorikeet, so feather's probably about 10-12cms long, about 1/4 to 1/3rd is still in the sheath (hard to say how much, due to other feathers covering it most of the time. She doesn't seem distressed by it at all, she just ignores it & largely ignores the feathers directly around it while preening too. Wing on that side & tail on the other side she does normally & bald chest patch gets special attention every preening session (and pin feathers there get pulled at until she manages to pull them out :( which is partly why it's so weird that she completely ignores this one, it's well & truly ready to come out of it's sheath! Do you know what a normal timeframe is? Or is it one of those things that you/no-one really takes that much notice of, you just notice the pin feather & then notice it goes again within a reasonable time period of appearing?

[@captainrexrules7567]

So they get there own body but some other bird helps with the head?

[@banjobear3867]

Yup

[@kaitlynmarie2004]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ ❤❤❤Jinx❤❤❤ ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@FelixTsang]

It's basically haircut for birds

[@JdeVrijer]

what did you tape this with? a potato?

[@miralita7869]

Dude what's your problem?

[@VictorSilvestri]

Obviously she should have used a Zacuto RED to film a short video about preening her pet bird

[@malii_7649]

Where’d you get your attitude? The dollar store?