[PrincessButtercup]

After weeks & weeks of trying to tempt Kai in an actual bath for birds, she has her routine of bathing in her water dish in her window perch. 🥳 What makes her feather tips so jagged?

 

[ginziputzi]

My Kiwi is a water dish bather too. She used to live splashing about in a shallow saucer but once she discovered her water dish for bathing, it was game over. Haha!

i don’t know what you mean about the feathers being jagged. Do you mean fluffed up? That’s what I am seeing in the photo. They fluff up when they’re excited to have a bath and to shake the water off their feathers. I suppose they might be trying to get the water deeper into their feathers too. That’s normal though. Kiwi looks just like that - the a soaked little bird when she is done.

 

[ozzie3860]

I see what you are talking about on a bit of raggedness on some feathers. It may be a bit of over preening. But it looks like it is within norms and I have seen mine guys get a bit like that when heading into a bigger molt.

 

[PrincessButtercup]

The water dish baths are so entertaining, just watching her try to stay balanced. 😂 Your little Kiwi is the cutest! I was referring to the unevenness of the feather tips, Ozzie to the rescue👍, Kai does love to preen, she was very itchy/scratchy for her first never-ending molt, and over-preening is a new concept. Happy to hear she's "normal" by feisty parrotlet standards!

 

[Milatheparrotlet]

For some reason the water dish is an all time favourite😂.
Unless Kai looked different before, I think her feathers look fine. I love her colours!

I once had a parrotlet with extremely jagged feathers on her back and tail. Since she looked like this from a young age, the vet thought it was genetic (perhaps similar to people that have thin hair?). It didn't seem to cause any problems. As long as you're sure her diet is varied I wouldn't worry too much!