# Indiana FanTail featherscaping



## JenniRiverasMom (Jun 6, 2019)

Hello, I am new to Indian Fantails. I was gifted a little gimpy 2 yr old that shakes like mad. I’ve only had her 2 days now. She was originally in a flock of 11 and was not paired up as her husband was a jerk (previous owners words) and so he had to rehome him. Little gimpy was also being picked on by the others. I had just lost my classic frill (she passed away) and my new friend reached out and said he had this IFT that he thought would make a good house pidge. Well it’s only been 2 days... not a lot of progress, you can tell she wasn’t handled a bunch but she is tame if that makes sense. She finally got annoyed and pecked and grunted loudly at me. To me that’s progress I guess. Ok so I’m finally getting to my question... I hear there is a way to trim the side tail feathers so that the longer winged weathers don’t drag the fan down. Can anyone tell me how to do that? How many feathers do I cut and how far down? Or is that cruel? I have no clue. She’s not for show, just my new house pidge pet. Thanks in advance.


----------



## Pertalote (Aug 14, 2016)

Hi. I raised Indians for show for many years. 
As far as feather trimming, you cannot hurt the bird by cutting feathers, as long as you do not cut the part that has blood in it. If you cut that, it is possible that the bird could bleed out. So be really careful and conservative in your trimming.

In case of bleeding, you can use Kwikstop, or if you don't have any, use flour to pack the wound and stop the bleeding.

That said, sometimes it's better to leave well enough alone. Isn't she pretty as she is? Some birds won't hold their tail upright no matter what you do. Also, if you are trying to make friends, this sort of messing about will not help your cause. 
It would be great to see a pic of your new friend


----------



## JenniRiverasMom (Jun 6, 2019)

This is my little chonk semi passed out. Yea we gave up on feather trimming. As far as being friends, ha well we are great about 10% of the time. We have wonderful moments together. The rest of the time he wants nothing to do with me and behaves like a crotchety cock. 🏼 It’s fine. I take my lashings and live for the good times like any domestic abuse relationship. 

Ps. Not sure if I mentioned it, but Al has a bad leg from a band being left on too tight when he was young (before I got him). So he is a squatty ,gimpy, some times face planting umpa lumpa.


----------



## Pertalote (Aug 14, 2016)

She's very pretty.


----------

