Santina Green-Winged Macaw - Opening Parrot Pin Feathers

Pin feathers are the straw like pins that birds grow to protect new feathers as they are growing in. Once matured, these pin feathers need to be opened to let the new feather out. In the wild, parrots get help from their mate or other flock members. At home they will require help from their owner to scratch open the pin feathers for them. This video shows how I open pin feathers for Santina, a 14 year old rescue green winged macaw. Check out the article for more tips for opening pin feathers for parrots of different sizes:

[Deedoof]

Santina's happy squeals made my head explode into candy.

[thewingedcroc]

I have no experience with macaws so I didn't know they'd make such cute little noises!

[wild]

Thanks I wasn’t Sure what to do with my cockatiels pin feathers but when I did this he got so happy

[laurieeno]

I'm not a bird person but that is one sweet bird!!!

[tsoi]

Enough cuteness for today those squeals made me dead

[kaiyas]

My birds love it when I help with their pin feathers! They get tons of them too during moulting season.

[janebaron]

Please make more of these videos; I love watching preening.

[allycesar]

Just watching this made me feel itchy.

[annapg.]

I love opening them it's satisfying

[pavexa]

I finally understand how to take the sheet of the pin feather thank you!

[AyaDragonheart]

seeing you pet her with your whole hand is so cool! I have a linnie so I can get away with using just a single finger 😂

[EmR-xrfr]

Omg she is simply amazing! I got my first birds this year, yes birds lol I resued 3 green cheek conures. The pineapple names Thor is the sweetest little thing. Hes the tiniest one and he loves to cuddle under my neck and groom my hair! So cute! ^.^

I hope to one day get a blue and gold macaw, they are just amazing! And I love all your birds so much! ^.^ keep making awesome video's!

[mrsbirdlady]

Very informative video. Thank you. Have a great weekend. Von ◔◡◔ 

[ShiningStarAhsokaTanofan]

parrot wizard, I have a question. Have any of your parrots broken a blood feather before? A broken blood feather can kill a parrot from blood loss, so if one of your parrots breaks a blood feather, you have to pull it to save their life. Just a tip. By the way, the best tool for the job is either a hemostat(pronounced he-must-at) or a pair of pliers. You need to get a good grip on the shaft of the blood feather so that it won't slip loose from the hemostat or pliers, whatever you're using. You're gonna wanna wrap the parrot in a towel with its head held between your index and middle fingers(if you use the towel right, the parrot won't be able to bite your fingers and will have to bite the towel instead) and extend its wing using your thumb and index finger, that'll make it so you can pull the blood feather out. However, pulling slowly will cause more pain to the parrot and can possibly damage the blood feather even further. I suggest you have an assistant hold the wing so that the parrot can't close it, and that way you can focus on what's important-pulling the blood feather. The wound will bleed, so applying gentle pressure or using a cornstarch or bar of soap(don't know why that was included in the video I watched on how to pull a blood feather, but it was) to stop the bleeding is a good idea. Of course, you should check the wing in half an hour to see if the wound has stopped bleeding. You don't have to thank me for the advice if you don't want to, but if you want to thank me, then I won't stop you.

[FPSGamer]

He seems so calm. My Quaker parrot hates it

[janeto]

Just did that to.my green cheek parrots. They love it. They wont do each other as they fight. Great video your bird is so adorable

[flowerpetallillypetalumbre]

she loves it when u pet her i think because she looks happy

[dinorap]

My green cheek conure gets really mad at me when I try to help him out with the pin feathers on his head. Maybe he doesn't trust me yet?

How can you tell which ones are ready to be pinched? He's got a bunch on his face but he growls at me when I try to get a better look at them...

[bsilver]

Yummy lil pins!!! Wish i had a beak just so that I could have a go" at those pins for him! Lol b

[YamadaDesigns]

Woah those pin feathers look like small paint brushes!