The following are some examples of feathers that have been plucked, chewed, pulled out, or otherwise damaged. The photos are thumbnails; to see them better, just double click on them.
This
is a tail feather that molted, and the shaft was subsequently chewed off.
These
African Grey contour feathers were severed part way down the shaft; the feather
on the right is in two pieces.
These
are feathers that have been pulled in various stages of development; the
feathers on the left are pin feathers, whereas the feathers on the right are
considered blood feathers as they are the upper tail coverts from an African
Grey.
The
feathers to the right are what's left of a primary feather that was clipped; the
bird then chewed the shaft almost to the skin. The other feather is a
secondary that has been severed about half way down the shaft.
The
feathers to the left are deformed; they were exposed to aloe juice, aloe gel, a
product called GentaVed, which contains Gentamicin and Betamethasone, as well as
a lot of water from soaking the bird to alleviate skin discomfort. As
these feathers came in, the tips of the feathers came out of the shaft; on some
of them, you can see a long thread which is the unformed shaft.
And,
the feathers to the right were also exposed to an excessive amount of aloe juice,
aloe gel, and GentaVed. If you look very closely, you will see the white
debris on the shaft of the upper right feather; this is an example of
hyperkeratosis.
MYSTERY FEATHERS
