RE: Feather growth in a kestrel

cathal rafferty — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 10:15:41 GMT

Thanks for the replies, the bird will be back in on Friday so I'll try and post photos then

RE: Feather growth in a kestrel

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 12:16:40 GMT

Any chance of a photograph?

RE: Feather growth in a kestrel

Marie Kubiak — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 18:28:05 GMT

Can you give any more information on the injury, which feathers are affected and how they are affected?

Primaries attach onto periosteum so after bony damage they can drop out due to follicle trauma. Wing tip oedema/frostbite would be unusual in a European kestrel but can cause irreversible damage to soft tissues.

If complete feathers were simply physically removed by trauma they should regrow within weeks. If not then the follicle has likely lost germinal tissue and may never recover (though the very occasional case has some feather growth at moult time but the feathers tend to be dystrophic). The other scenario is that the feather base remains and the rachis has been broken rather than pulled out. These are best imped (moulted feathers from another bird glued into the retained feather shaft) or the remaining rachis pulled out to stimulate replacement, though traumatic removal can damage the follicle.

There are protocols involving light cycle manipulation and thyroxine administration to stimulate moult but they are rarely the best course of action. Understanding what is wrong will allow a better plan.

Marie