md2020

Junior sometimes likes the wood toys. I always rotate toys. He does love to eat doors and furniture. I do on not leave him unsupervised anymore although he will usually not eat any furniture if i leave him on his cage open. He hangs out the cage. It seems like he will get into the occasional toy for a little while. I will try the strips. I do put a cardboard box on the top of his cage and he likes to tear that up. He has looked a bit better I think since covid we were home more. The TV is a great idea. It would be weird design given his position in the living room when you first walk in to our house, but maybe put it on the side. I used to keep a radio on. Do you keep the buckets in the cage? In my mind boredom likely is a culprit of the picking, as well as hormonal/jealosy reasons. Do you put buckets in his cage?

Thank you for the feedback on foraging. Yes, I have tried some foraging toys. I have one in there now. I always try to rotate the toys around. However the paper on the food is a good idea, and maybe I will see if there are more foraging toys on amazon or the like. It is unavoidable in my schedule that there will long periods of time where he is alone in his cage. the toys seem to keep him busy for minutes or an hour, but the periods of time are much longer than that sometimes. Ironically, sometimes he plucks less when I am gone for a couple of days. I bought a senegal parrot in part hoping that at least the calls of another bird in a cage across the room will keep him company a little. But one way or the other I am committed to that bird. He's been with me about 15 years now since he was a baby.

He looks relatively good now, and thank you for complimenting my little buddy Junior. That is his better side. He seems to have a baseline level of feather picking. Sometimes he will pick more, sometimes less. He has no real bear spots but he picks at his wings to the point he cannot fly for years now. Right now he has some red tail feathers, but sometimes those are gone. I do think it might be behavioral or hormonal. He loves to get petted, but I only give him head scratches for years now in case too much touch incites feather picking behavior. A bird vet treated him with Lupron, an anti testosterone drug. This seemed to help a little but it was variable. Thank you for any advice.

Sorry it has been a while for some reason I did not see replies and I thank you for them. He has been plucking since he was about 2 years old. He has done better on pluck no more. I do the best I can with him but he is alone most of the day. I am a busy doctor and it is difficult. He reads emails with me in the morning, and I spend time with him when I come home. My housekeeper and wife give him a little attention, but I am not sure if that is enough. I am not sure why he plucks but he has been worked up by multiple avian specialists over the years and it is likely behavioral. Maybe he gets bored, I don't know. I bring home toys and treats, and so forth. I posted a question just now about possibly getting another bird, perhaps a senegal parrot in part to keep him company. We travel sometimes also. I have the housekeeper come at least once daily. He does not do well boarding, even with very friendly bird vet techs. The time he started plucking seemed to coincide roughly to when I got a caique (which I re-homed a few years ago). He seemed to bond with her for a few months, but then did not want to have anything to do with her. This is a recent picture of him. EF76BF13-5A6F-442E-9770-940873C66947.heic

Junior is my 14 year old CAG I have had since he was a baby. He is a very sweet bird, and is very bonded to me. He likes my wife, and will tolerate other people also. I am a busy physician and and always trying to keep him busy, and spend as much time with him as I can. He is a plucker. I hope that over time I can get some tips to keep Junior engaged and help him to less feather picking. Thank you

thanks. he has a cage indoors next to a window through which sun does shine. perhaps i will try to have him outside for a little while as you suggest. i will need to get a smaller cage and get him used to it first

I have a 3 yo CAG whose name is junior. He has been plucking for the past 8 months. I took him to an avian vet who is published in plucking problems, and she diagnosed inflammatory skin disorder. The plucking seemed to get better with atarax. He is on daily supplements from the vet. I had him on haloperidol for a period of time. He gets pelleted food and fresh vegies or fruit every day. He gets human food at dinner. He gets attention in morning and evening, though I am at work during the day. I have a caique which is 2 years old that he gets along with but has a separate cage. He is very bonded to me. He still plucks, and I am convinced the behavior is at least in part behavioral. He gets a bath twice per week. Any ideas on what else I should try? Should I get a second opinion? I dont like to get him poked too much. thanks

thank you that is very helpful

Im not sure if my 14 mo CAG is molting or loosing feathers for some other reason. He is definitely loosing feathers, mostly down. He has a little bald spot on his neck. The neck generally is not as full as it was. He seems to have pin feathers underneath on his head when I look. I do not see him actually plucking, though he preens. His behavior is otherwise not changed. He did escape a couple of weeks ago and spent about 24 hours outside before i found him. He still seems to like to get pet and rubbed, if anything more so.

my cag is 14 mo now and he is very sweet with me, but generally not anyone else. my girlfriend is very patient with him and tries to talk to him and such, but he likes to bite her and fairly hard. What is the best way to approach this problem?

thank you everyone for your kind words. i actually did do quite a bit of research before i bought my CAG. i was hoping the bird would come up differently because i hand fed him myself from an early age. To some degree it has worked because he does not bite me and he likes to spend time with me. He has been a friendly again the past couple of weeks. he must have been going through a phase. i realize i have inflammed some people, and perhaps i wrote the last post at a time i was a bit frustrated with my pet. however the responses i received were little short of violent so i will take myself off this website

My CAG is 7mo now. He likes to hang out w me and at times he likes to be pet. I'm kinda a touchy feely guy and i hand raised him myself to try to ensure he would bond and he has but he does not like to be touched all the time. Thinking about getting another bird that will, sorry to say. Perhaps get a caique and if junior doesnt shape up he may need to find a new home. sorry

My grey is actually very affectionate now. He is almost fully weaned, and he seems very attached to me. He steps up and steps down already. He is very comfortable in the house, and doesn't seem scared of much. He likes my girlfriend OK. I am thinking about another bird now because my work days are long-10-12 hours away from home 5 days a week. He seems OK for the time being-he kinda gets excited when I get home. Over time, I fear he may get quite bored. At this point my reason is for considering another bird is not for me but for him. The whole 2 cage thing would defeat the purpose. He grew up with a caique and the breeder says they will get along cuz of this. Any thoughts?

Thanks all for the responses and it sounds like the baby is pretty normal and may become more outgoing with age. I am aware of the notion of not selling unweaned birds. It is probably not good widespread practice. However, I read three books on handraising birds, I studied bird anatomy, I fed him under supervision of the breeder multiple times, and I take him back to the breeder now and again. Not conventional, but my hope is that he will be more likely to be touchable as an adult.

I brought home my 8 wk CAG, now 9 1/2 weeks. He is weaning, but I still hand feed him 2-3x per day. Due to vacation, etc he has been spending a few days w me and a few w breeder. He eats well and is growing. He likes to be pet and held, but other than that he is not very playful or active. He chews on things, but likes to sleep for a while after meals. He gets scared easily, particularly when out of his cage but is comforted by being held. Does this sound like normal behavior?Again I keep comparing to his cage mate the caique who was very active and curious.