Feather damage and breakage (and imping) in falcons

Cause: Cage wire, knocks, transport, hunger or illness during feather growth (stress lines) · Type: husbandry / injury

Other names: Broken feather، Feather repair، Imping، Hunger lines (fret marks)

Symptoms

• Breakage of flight or tail feathers
• Weak transverse lines in the feather
• Poor performance

Diagnosis

Visual examination.

Treatment

Imping: joining a sound feather of the same size in place of the broken one with a needle/rod and adhesive; a service available at falcon hospitals.

Prevention

Smooth walls, plastic-coated mesh or vertical wooden bars, shade on the mesh, a hood during transport, good nutrition during the moult, and keeping sound shed feathers for imping later.

Season

The whole season; hunger lines form during the moult.

Treatment and doses are decided by an avian vet after an exam; Zajel does not publish doses.