Does your parrot pick it's feathers?
By catherIN
@catherIN (430)
United States
January 23, 2007 11:34am CST
I have 2 African Greys. They are happy loving, talkative birds. They are healthy and eat well.But,one picks her feathers.Her feathers start to look nice and then she starts picking them.She will get to looking real rough all across her chest, mainly.It looks bad.Then she stops for awhile.Yes, I spray down both birds, which she loves.
This is not just normal molting,either. The vet says she's as healthy as can be.
Does your parrot do this? My other one does not.
3 people like this
4 responses
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
23 Jan 07
It is not normal for bird to just pull their feathers out. However, African Greys are known to have the highest rate of feather plucking.
She may be under stress. If that is the case you need to find out what has made her so unhappy. Is she well adjusted otherwise, socializes okay? Was she bought before the other bird and just not happy with sharing her cage? What about breeding, could she be sexually frustrated?
Repeated mutilation can cause permanent damage to the follicle and causing her to stay bald.
If you are not taking them to an Avian vet, I suggest you do so. You should get a full blood workup done on her to ensure she is in fact 100% healthy.
You stated that you mist them, how often? Try doing it every day. It will help the birds dry skin.
1 person likes this
@catherIN (430)
• United States
24 Jan 07
She really is well adjusted and happy. She has always gone through periods of doing it. She has her own cage, toys, food and water dishes.She seems very happy and content.I don't think she's jelous of the other one. I got her 2nd. My first bird is the one that gets a little jealous at times and he doesn't pluck feathers. He just lets me know verbally.
She did have a full blood workup.The vet said she is perfectly healthy and could not explain why she goes through periods of doing this.
I spray them daily. As I said she loves getting sprayed.
Thank you for replying.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
25 Jan 07
Something I just read today that may help you. Try getting her a shredding toy, it is suppose to keep birds from plucking their feathers.
1 person likes this
@catherIN (430)
• United States
25 Jan 07
I'll look into that.I'm not sure what a shredding toy is,though.
But, since you mention it, my other bird, the one that doesn't pull his feathers, manages to shred alot of things.This one really doesn't seem to get into the things that could be shredded. Maybe there is something to this.
Thanks!
@AmberNormandin (883)
• United States
1 Feb 07
my cousin had a parrot that would pick its feathers out. she told me that the vet said it was "molting". She said it would get to looking really scraggly and awful but then the feathers would grow back really pretty. I really dont know much about birds, thats just what she told me. :)
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@adams03605 (436)
• United States
28 Jan 07
I have an Amazon parrot now (we adopted) so I had to ask many questions when I first brought it home. One of the things that I was told right off, was about feather plucking. Alot of the bigger birds do it out of boredom.
One thing that was suggested to me right off was buying several different sorts of toys for the birds. Don't put them all in the cage at the same time however. I change at least 1 toy in the cage once a week. This makes the bird think they have a *new* toy.
They also told me that sometimes the plucking is just them trying to clean their beaks and stuff. So be sure to have some of the rope toys as well. These seem to be the favorite with my parrot. He gets mad when he looks in his mirror, but he sure does love to 'cuddle' with his rope! LOL
@kareng (80243)
• United States
26 Jan 07
I have heard that this is common in some Greys. Some have given coconut cream with good results. It can be found in some supermarkets in a can. I don't know the exact name but it runs about $5 a can. There is a nutrient in this that they don't get from other foods.
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