I'm worried about my CAG....

[Guest fishwater_pa]

Charlie, my 19 month old female Congo African Grey, has started snipping feathers off of her left wing and tail this last week and a half. Today alone she snipped four feathers off of her tail--she's only got about four or five tail feathers left now. She also basically gave herself a sever wing clip on her right wing. For the last several weeks, she been exhibiting some sexual behavior too:

regurgitating for me, sometimes she will stand there with her wings drooping and quivering while making a panting noise. She's become a lot more cuddly too and loves to rub her upper body all over my hand when I am petting her head. We did play a game where she'd hang upside-down from the top of her cage and wait for me to rub her tummy, but I've stopped playing that with her since the feather snipping started.

 

Nothing much has changed in Charlie's life--her diet is the same as it always has been, her cage hasn't been moved, her toys have been rotated as usual. The only thing different is that our home life has gotten calmer in the last week and my husband & I are arguing less because of steps he's taken to help himself. She is eating, playing, sleeping, & pooping normally. She's been getting the same amount of attention from me and more positive attention from my husband this last week

 

Since this has begun, I've stepped up her bathing so that I am misting her down each day and giving her a good soaking every other day. We live in Minnesota and so it the air here is very dry this time of year. Her cage is right next to my computer, where I spend a lot of time, and so I can see her snipping and it is very hard not to react to it. She's such a beautiful bird!

 

I didn't take her to the vet last week because it was extremely cold here all last week--I'm talking highs of 10 degrees below zero during the day and 25 below zero at night--and I didn't want to take Charlie out in the extreme cold. However, now that's started snipping feathers off of her tail, no matter what the weather I'm calling my avian vet tomorrow to take her in. She was in for a check-up back in

April and got a clean bill of health.

 

I'm worried about her. Assuming there is no medical problem causing this, could her feather snipping be due to hormones? What else can I do, besides continuing to mist her down each day, that might help stop her from doing this? I love her so much and I want to take the very best care of her that I can.

[Guest fishwater_pa]

Goldenfeast mixed with Scenic pellets, veggies, fruits, some Beak

Appetite, occasional bird-safe human food.

[Guest fishwater_pa]

Charlie just finished up a heavy molt in the fall and I've seen her snipping the feathers off of her wing and tail. I have a vet appointment for her Thursday after I get off work.

[Guest fishwater_pa]

I do hope you're right. So far today, I've seen no feather chewing.

I misted her down and put some new toys in cage too. She said something new tonight too, "Go girl!" I tell my dogs to "go, go, go" when they are in my way and she picked that up a couple of days and now tonight she came up with "Go girl" herself. She's such a hoot.