Parrot Care 101 - Feather Plucking 5 (Picking Barbering)

[dekto1995]

We JUST had an avian open near us, the other ones were an hour away and I couldn't do that to my bird, she was abused and them "Rescued" By a hoarder who became ill. Now, she has many behavior problems [Screaming, attacking people other than me] We deal with thoughs two, but feather plucking is where I need help

[jjjme84]

My parents had an african grey for almost 40 years till 3 years ago. He wasn't allowed out due to being too destructive or ever handled (hey, we like our fingers too much) but he was OK. Perhaps once a year at the most there was a very minor plucking but nothing major. In fact on occasion he'd pluck a tail feather just to chew and 'play' with it for a week or two, but never removed so many he had no tail left!

[Parrotcare101]

@jjjme84 birds need lots of outside of cage time. Birds are destructive because they need to play and shapen their beaks. Toys are VERY important.

[kpcy2k]

Had the same problem , Sad when they start doing that i felt so helpless. i put mine on piriton. Its an Allergy tablet. dont now if you have it over there its Chlorphenamine . I crashed one tablet 4mg of chlorphenamine then added 3ml of water and gave ny bird 0.1 ml daily. i also sprayed him in olive oil. Avian Vet precribed this method to me and it worked. Still need to find out what coursed it. i did the same as you moved his cage around a bit and fruit hanging of skewers in and arond his cage

[Parrotcare101]

Our vet suggested Lupron - anti depressant. I just can't do it. I try to do everything naturally. I try to shower them every day with plain filtered water. My theory, if they don't have olive oil spray or drugs in the wild, they shouldn't have it at home. What's really helped a lot are foraging toys. We like the skewers too. These birds get bored and need to work for their food like they do in the wild. Take a look at my foraging videos. It's fun for them and they get a nice treat!!!

[kpcy2k]

yea i agree it was scary for as also using the human form drug. hated using the olive oil also but we treid every thing and it was last resor, he did get calmer on the piraton though and what ever botherered him or scared him he seems to have forgotten about and he back to his normall self chasing the wife up the stairs lol and throwing his bowl of water over me as i watch tv, hey do it all day if it stops him chewing his feathures eh lol will be watching your site for updates, All the best xx

[luvpnkflyd]

That's so sad to see Einstein like that. Hopefully you can get this under control.

[Parrotcare101]

Thanks. Vet and I seem to think it's behavioral. We need to get her foraging more. It should be a daily thing.

[luvpnkflyd]

That's so good to know that it's not anything more serious. Give the pluck no more a try...I swear by it anymore. Noah's plucking was behavioral too. A lot had to do with cage placement also. I tried moving furniture around last week and he let me know fast that he didn't like it, so he has a couple "fluffy" spots now, but hasn't touched them since. Try new toys too. These are his favorites:

[luvpnkflyd]

for some reason it won't let me post a picture, but you can get them from Drs. Foster and Smith. It looks like a large piece of fruit with wood pieces, bells, and whiffle balls hanging from it. It keeps Noah busy for hours and takes his mind off plucking.

[Parrotcare101]

Einstein is fussy with toys. Spoiled. You never know what she'll like, but she likes smaller bird toys.