Hi Everyone,

Question-My conure has a lot of pin feathers in places he can't reach them. I watched the vet preen him and it seemed so simple. However, when I do it........I ummmmmm tend to pull out feathers too.
So besides frequent misting what can I do to make it easier?
I do have a strap to restrain him with.
Is there any tricks to doing this?
Am I doing it wrong?

Please help.

Well, what I do is just sorta rub them between my thumbnail and forefinger until the shaft sorta flakes off. He will definitely let me know (nip to the hand) if I get hold of one that's not ready to be preened off yet, and I've never had to restrain him to do this...he loves it and will shut his eyes and get all puffy for me. By the time I'm done, my shirt always looks like I've gotta bad case of dandruff....lol.

He gets really upset with some of them. He's so persnickety though. Spoiled rotten.

Clyde doesn't like me to preen his head so I have to wait until he's busy preening himself and I can get sneaky and get one or two pins before he notices what I'm up to and nips me. You look for the pins that are completely white and sticking up and just sort of pinch them and rub just a little and they ought to come right off -- just the sheath, no feather should come with it. If he'll let you, you could try just scritching his head a bit and see if you can loosen a couple that way, too. Clyde doesn't like scritching much, either, unless he's really sleepy.

From your thread title, it sounds like you're trying to remove the pin feathers. If that's true, that's not what you need to do. All feathers start out as pin feathers.

Am I reading that wrong?

Yah, I was reading it the same way as Buddy. The pins are feathers just with a casing, so all you need to do is *gently* squeeze the pin and let the sheath (casing) break off and the feather is underneath... if they are white they are ready to be preened if they are still dark they aren't ready and still contain blood. For you to actually pull the feather out you would have to have a really good grip on the pin and he would have to pull away really fast... if he doesn't let you preen him then just continue with the misting and let him be... I really don't know what you mean by "I have a strap to restrain him with" (that concerns me! )

Good luck!

Take your fingers and squeeze the hard pin feather btw your fingers and the shaft pops thus the shaft is gone...do this gently but they dont like it anyway! LOL

No I am just trying to remove the keratin part-not the feathers.
Thanks for the advice guys.

I can't imagine restraining Truman to work on his pin feathers. He lets me do it willingly, and he nips a warning if I touch one that isn't ready. I usually work on him when he's dry as part of an evening scritch session, but one of my friend's swears it's much easier to work on them right after a bath or shower when the bird is wet.

I don't have to restrain him usually. I tried doing it while he was wet and that made it even harder. But I figured I'd give him a daily bath this week to soften/loosten them up and try again on Sunday.

Lola loves this. I "scratch her head" gently - and rub the feathers gently between the thumb and forefinger. She will hold her head to the side - fluff up - close her eyes - and she goes into a "trance" She just loves it. And then sometimes I finish and she gets mad because I stop and will nip at me to try to get me to do it again. She'll hold her head to the side and beg. LOL

I wish Tsuke would do that. Grumpy little turd. And I can't imagine the vet wanting to take the time to go through his feathers and do it.

Next question then is: Do I wait until the shaft is sticking out from the rest of the feathers or actually go through his feathers and find the pins and remove the keratin?

Thanks Buddy---that is what I perceived also....

No I am not trying to remove feathers. Just the keratin. I accidentally removed a couple of feathers in the process though.