upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Ana bell is a 3 year old female.lives by herself in our house.she isn't clipped fly's about the room she lives in.she eats pellets,seeds.some people food she is very curious.friendly on her terms doesn't like to be handled,but will land on you and explore. we have little exp. with pets. her problem is stringey looking feathers hanging out under the back side of her wings.I'm going to try to uploda a couple of pic's. is this some thing that needs attention? any help would be more than welcome thanks. can't figure the upload pic out.

You first need to upload the photos to a photo sharing site like photobucket. Then you copy the URL of the image, and use the Img button in the full reply section. You will get the following code (without the space) [img ] [/img ] Then paste your url of the image in between the img coding [img ] your url here [/img ] it will look like this before you post. When you post, then it will show up on the thread.

Make sure you use the medium setting when uploading, we don't need huge images.

How many stringy feathers are there? Can you quantity somewhat if you can't post a picture. TIA!

3 on each side hanging down behind and under the wings. still trying on the pic's

If you just post the http code, we can follow the link to see the image.

I got the code from the PM that you sent, you just had extra stuff in there so it wasn't working. If you copied the image code, you would have just had to paste it here to make it work.

Blues, here is the image, I'm looking at it too.



Here is the close up.

She is beautiful! Please, Don't take her outside without the security of being inside a cage. There are so many things that could spook her and cause her to fly off. Even clipped, a bird can and will fly if scared.


I can see what you are talking about, the feathers, what I can see of them just look older and tattered. Has she had a good bath that would cause her to need to groom her wings more to see if that puts them back together the way they should be? I honestly haven't seen any feathers on my birds go stringy like this, it really is strange. Is that her normal cage she is sitting on or just one for outdoors? If it is the type of cage I'm thinking, it may be a bit small and she could be shredding some feathers on the cage bars, but since it is just a few feathers, that would be kind of odd.

Hopefully some other users have some ideas. She seems to be healthy looking, what is her weight?

Lol Christie, I thought the same but the bird is actually in front of a window (if you look carefully you can make out the reflection of the blue cage in the window )

She is indeed one gorgeous whiteface pied, what a cutie
Shame about those feathers, never seen anything like it myself

A window!!! Wow, how can I get my glass that clean???

I'm releived to know that not having my contacts in missed the window. I agree though, strange on the feathers.

thanks all she never goes outside and only eats and sleeps in the cage she is outside the cage most of her awake hours she isn't very tame she will land on me when I'm eating something she is very curious about anything going on. I haven't been able to get her to take a bath. I mist her 4 to 5 times a week in the am hours unless it's real cold.she used to groom her feathers with her beak but I haven't seen do it in a couple of weeks.that's one of the reasons I thought something was up. she really likes white string cheese after the feather started to show we quite giving it to her. it was one of the few things she would hand feed. we bought her at a swap meet untamed about 6mo old. not knowing anything about birds. thanks again for the feed back.

Years ago I saw pix online of "fancy" canaries bred for showing, competition, with such a profusion of stringy feathers that they were hardly able to move. I was horrified to read that, though they seldom lived longer than a year, they were inbred over and over for their unusual feathers. Tonight I looked for those pix, but haven't found them. The poor birds really looked nothing like your beautiful bird, but she has just a hint of those unusual feathers. I've seen a few -- far fewer than on your girl -- on one of my male 'tiels. Just one or two strands on him, but all his life and he's about 14 now

Since you describe your girl as seeming to be energetic and healthy, my guess (nothing more) is that those bizarre feathers are a genetic abnormality. I would ignore them IF SHE SEEMS HEALTHY OTHERWISE! If ever you have a worry about her health, an avian vet is a far better resource than a chat board. If you need help finding a good avian vet, just tell us what town or city you're in and we can help.

Since she's your only bird, I'll be so bold as to say that -- were she mine -- I'd clean her poop off those cage bars each day and use my scissors to cut that piece of dirty rawhide off her toy. Poop and food debris are easy enough to get rid of daily. No reason to let it accumulate IMO. It can grow bacteria.

My best to you and her!

Yeah Bluesbirds I have heard of that in budgies too, they are called Feather Dusters
If you google that you will find quite a few sites, sad, they never live long

hmmm..those are pretty scroggy looking feathers. I've never seen feathers like that. Button's feathers are awful looking too.
Have you ever taken your bird to the vet just for a check up? It might just be an old molt feather that hasn't let go yet.

I live in Ventura CA a 93004 zip so far the only avian vet I've found is in the la area. She has never been to a vet A visit is in order. I don't know how much she weighs. she refuses to be handled,she does sit on my shoulder and walk on my chest when I'm in my chair. she also likes to slap people with her wing while flying by.Her cage was cleaned today i didn't like the sight of the toy either. Thanks for all the input and help with the pic's from everybody.

In the vet's exam room with the door securely closed, take your bird out of her travel crate and handle her as much as possible. You'll be the only familiar thing there, so she might be willing to be handled in ways that will surprise you! Set her crate on the exam table and bend over so she can see your face while you reassure her repeatedly that she's okay. Then open her door, still talking reassuringly and slowly offer your hand. If she flies out, offer her your hand to step up from wherever she lands, as often as she lands. At home, you might tempt her by holding a small spray of millet in your hand. Just gradually get her more used to being around your hand.

I don't find an avian vet by searching by zip or city. Sorry. I don't know what other cities Ventura is near, but you can use this site to try a few alternatives: http://www.aav.org/search/ If that doesn't work, call any dog/cat vet near you and ask for a referral to an avian vet. Once you get the name of one, call there and ask what others are in the area. Then do some research to decide which you'll take your bird to. Maybe we can help you make that selection.

Anytime one of my birds poops on a toy more than once, I place the toy elsewhere. Easy enough!

Again, my best to you and her

I want to thank everybody for there help I replaced her toy,Cleaned her cage. I found an avain vet in town were going next week for a check up.i am really amazed by the helpful people here. i am going to keep reading posts and hints listed. to learn more about our bird. thanks again Jim