>
>I also have a question...  Our cockatoo doesn't spend a long time preening
>himself like our other birds do (He's preening right now just to prove me
>wrong), and he doesn't seem to be very good at it.  He turned 1 year old
>this Christmas, so we were thinking that maybe birds don't get good preening
>habits until they get older.  Does anyone know if this is true?
>
>Also, is he probably going to get a better sense of balance and stop
>breaking tail and wing feathers as he gets older?  Whenever new feathers
>grow in that are longer than the ones he has, he breaks them immediately!
We have a 1 1/2 year old Goffin's Cockatoo (Cloey). During her first year she
 
didn't preen much. She broke tail feathers all the time. (Balance was a 
problem for her; most of the time she only had 2 or 3 tail feathers). Now at 
approaching 2 years, she's very pretty. She keeps her feathers in really good
 
shape and balance is no longer a problem, she's quite the gymnast now. 
Showering or spraying often encourages preening.
We also have a 14 week old African Grey Timneh (Merlin)who keeps his feathers
 
in beautiful shape already. He falls off his perch, but seems to come through
 
it looking really good. Merlin has lots of red freckles on his legs, belly 
d
chest. His Dad had a couple of red feathers on his chest. Somebody please 
ll
me these won't go away with his first molt. He's really very beautiful.
Wendy Evenden Loney
>
>.... Birds don't fly.  They beat the air into submission.
>___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
>
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