Storm_2007 Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Early last month I went on vacation for a week and some change. I had a good friend whom storm knew come in and take care of her. He stayed in my place so someone was always with her. I would call her on the phone most days and talk to her. She was cute, whenever my friend got on the phone Storm would come over and monopolize the phone thinking i was on and she would try to talk to me. When I came back it was as if i had never left. Their were no issues on my return. Now where the problem starts. I had to go to the hospital for a sleep study. I originally had planned for my daughter to sleep over, but turned out my appointment was from 10 pm to 6 am. So i figured that shouldnt be a problem. After all i regularly leave her alone durning the day to go hiking etc. I do work at home. So I left her alone for the night. When i came back I found four flight feathers [their was blood on the tips] and 2 tail feathers plucked. None of the small feathers though. She is fully flighted. Well all of the feathers hadnt quite grown back yet. She is about a year and a half. Was clipped by the breeder but i have let them grow out. Should I be concerned? She does have some issues with her landing now, should i clip her to protect her? I know the real proof will be if she continues plucking, looks like i cant leave her alone at night. I'm worried it will escalate to day times when i leave. any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimaysmommy Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Aw poor Storm!!! Do you use a seperate night cage when she goes to sleep? Does she usually have a cover over the cage (whether it be a night cage or not)? If so was she left in the cage covered up? The reason I ask is our Chimay is very accustomed to his night time routine, and insists on going into his night cage right around 9 every night. We'd gone out of town last weekend, and like you, my mom had stayed at our place to watch him. She left around noon Saturday, and unfortunately we arrived later than expected. We got home at about 11:00pm to find Chimay looking a little overwhelmed in his big daytime cage. I opened the door and he just had this wild look on his face like he just couldn't understand what was going on. If Storm has a nightly routine that she's very accustomed to, especially if she has a seperate sleeping cage, it may stress her out to deviate from that. As far as the clipping goes, unfortunately I'm not sure what to suggest. Our Chimay is already clipped and his flights are growing back. I'd like to think that it is possible for her to adapt to the feathers missing, but I'm sure someone else here with more experience in plucking and how it effects flight can comment. Keep us posted!<br><br>Post edited by: chimaysmommy, at: 2009/08/04 22:30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm_2007 Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 No i have never used a sleeping cage nor have i ever covered her. She goes to be when she wants for the most part. I train her to my schedule and that has worked out well for both of us. I'm with you on the clipping. Only reason i would consider it would be for her safety. She does seem to be getting better at it as she goes on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimaysmommy Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Hmmm...that is strange. Aside from you not being home it doesn't sound like anything had changed around in her environment that would stress her into plucking. If there doesn't seem to be any kind of environmental or emotional reason for the plucking, you might want to consider a quick checkup at the vet. Greys can begin to pluck if they're not feeling well and hiding an illness. I do recall reading a post here where a grey had plucked in response to an inner ear infection. How is she doing today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 It sounds more like She was frightened by something or possibly just knowing she was home alone and flapped around inside her cage to me and damaged all the feathers you mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimaysmommy Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Oh!!! I hadn't thought of that Dan...good call! When he said "plucked" I hadn't even considered damage from flapping around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm_2007 Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 That does sound more likely. She has never plucked before. Good thougt dan. I always sleep in the other room and she is alone. I have never heard her thrash about. but your hypotesis is the best so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casper Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I agree with Dan as well. This has happened a few times with my greys, Ive heard them flapping and the result has been the loss of flights or tail feathers. I ended up using night lights for the birds now. It seems to settle them down a little. Hopefully this will be a one of incident and wont happen again for you. I hope she is ok now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Yeap, I believe Dan has hit the nail on the head. If Storm hasn't been plucking it makes sense that something frightened him and he damaged his feathers in his fright. Hooray to our own Professor McQ to the rescue!!:silly: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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