Only intelligent answers please. Not anything like, "Omg y would you do that it's so mean!!!" Please only answer if you know what you're talking about.
Note: I haven't done this and don't plan on doing so, it's just out of curiosity.
Anonymous
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Honestly, yes, it does hurt. Feathers have blood vessels and nerves connected to them during most of the course of a feathers "lifecycle". Plucking out one feather could cause your bird to bleed excessively. If you feel a feather needs to be pulled (such as in the case of a broken feather somewhere) only have your avian veterinarian do it.
Good luck.
Anonymous
Well since you already know it is mean that you no the answer.
My parrot would probably bite the persons finger clean off if they tried that. Some feathers do not grow back either!
Next time you are at the supermarket, look at the chickens there, sometimes you can still see a feather or two on it. You can get a idea of how the feathers grow on birds this way.
No it is not like our hair, doesn't any of these people have birds? Ever plucked a dead bird?
Anonymous
ABSOLUTELY!!!! A LOT!
The ONLY time a feather should be pulled out is if it's a broken blood feather (meaning a feather that's still developing and has living, bleeding tissue inside it). If a broken feather is bleeding and won't stop it should be pulled out, but only by someone who knows what they're doing.
If you don't want your bird to fly away, the wing feathers can be trimmed, but again only by someone who knows what they're doing (like a professional groomer or vet). You can screw up a bird big time if you don't know how to do it right.
UrbanHopeful
It depends on which feathers. Contrary to beliefs I have read here no it does not hurt depending on which feathers they are. If it hurt the way some people are describing the birds would not pluck themselves the way many of them do. Do not pluck out blood feathers unless they have broken off and it is a must. Do not pluck out newly growing feathers.
captn_carrot
The feathers are connected to the cartilage of his body. That's why it doesn't usually bleed when they lose a feather(s).
But I would say, with the skin around the cartilage, it probably hurts as much as getting an ear ring or someone pulling several of your hairs out at once. No blood, but does hurt.