just checking in

[pompous]

well its been a week since Kenworth joined us. he seems to be eating well, and is pretty active. he is quite the talker in the morning, i was very surprised at how much he says, and how clear it is..we have been letting him out for about an hour twice a day. he will step up for my wife most of the time. my only concern is the feather plucking, when he arrived he only had 2 red tail feathers, and his breast and wing feathers look more down like. he seems to preen himself alot, but there isnt a lot of feathers on the bottom of the cage, and the ones that are there are little fluufy down ones. he doesnt have many wing feathers either. how can i tell if in fact he is plucking feathers, and what can i do to prevent it.also how long would it take to regrow the feathers, cause he doesnt look very good at the moment, but he seems to be acting pretty good.. he gets a lot of attention from my wife and daughter. i have been poking around the net trying to find out as much as possible to give this guy the best possible care, any tips or comments would be greatly appreciated..

[judygram]

I would allow him a little more out of cage time, when you are at home to supervise, maybe a couple of hours more would be good.

 

Check the feathers you do find and see if the shaft has been chewed off or the whole shaft is intact, if it is intact then he is not plucking. They usually chew them off but the smaller more downey ones he might be pulling out. The downey feathers you see might be he is going thru a molt. I would just see how things go and maybe he won't pluck anymore.

 

Wonderful he is talking and is pretty active, that is always good news. Keep up the good work with him and keep us posted as to any new developments.

 

Thanks for the update.

[dblhelix]

Greetings Pompous,

 

Welcome back and dont stay away so long! Can you provide more info or remind me...how old is Kenworth? Did he have a pattern of feather plucking? Are his wings clipped? What were his previous living conditions like? Some of these things must be understood to help provide valuable suggestions for addressing the issue(s). Sounds like you are making good progress with him in any event with stepping up etc. Keep us posted.

[danmcq]

Hi Pompous, good to hear an update. :-)

 

Do you think He is Moulting? You mention he doesn't look very good.

 

That is the only question I can think of that was not covered by Judy or dblhelix.

[pompous]

kenworth is about 10, my sister raised him for the first 8 years and spent a lot of time with him, she passed away 2 years ago, and her fiance' has been taking care of him for the last 2 years. he works 10 hour days and isnt able to spen much time with him..he started plucking shortly after my sisters death.i guess he had plucked many years ago, but she got him to stop.for the last 2 years he has spen the day alone with a cockateil and the tv. now he has 2 people around most the day plus the cockateil..i believe his wings are clipped, or plucked. he doesnt have many full feathers except around his head, otherwise he is mostly covered in the down like feathers..as far as molting, how would i tell, would he lose many feathers at once or just continually over a period..

[danmcq]

Moulting is done over a period of time, I am not sure how long it lasts, but they can not lose all their feathers to quickly or they would not be able to fly.

 

Your description sounds more like he is once again plucking.

 

There are members here with experience and great things to try to stop this behaviour.

 

They will chime in here I am sure.

[judygram]

From your posts I am assuming that the plucking started after the death of your sister, and he is probably reacting to that, he misses her, and she lavished a lot of attention on him. He needs more time out of the cage and more attention to help him stop this cycle of plucking. Greys do require a certain amount of daily attention, you cannot stick them in a cage and expect all to be well with them.

 

Usually when they go thru a molt, they lose more feathers than usual but not all of them at once, like Dan stated, they have to be able to fly if they were in their natural habitat.

 

Try these suggestions and see what happens, but whatever does it will take time and patience, this will be a slow and gradual process.

 

Be sure to keep us updated as to how it goes with Kenworth.

[pompous]

thanks for the help folks, poor Kenworth has been through a lot the last couple years, but havent we all. we will keep giving him attention and letting him out more.. i need to get some perches so he can hang out in different rooms..he is quite vocal both whistling and talking..also he does this bobbing type thing when my daughter is around, looks like he is dancing, i assume this is a good sign..

[judygram]

Yes it is, he likes your daughter, and put the perches or whatever you get for him to be on when out of the cage, in the rooms where you all are, they like to be part of the flock and right in on the action, makes them feel more at home. He needs to be included in more goings on around the house. I think that will help tremendously.