Is My Grey Plucking her tail feathers?

[Suzette]

This Morning was like every other, I opened her cage let Veah (short for Ne'Vaeh) out she quickly started talking and whistling, I gave her kisses. I walked into the kitchen to warm up some food and when I returned I was in shock to see 4 of her tail feathers on the floor. I have had Veah 3 years now and she is approx 5 years old. She has no history of plucking at all! We recently got a new bird last month. And she has seemed quite fond of him and like to sit on his cage with him. Though he seems a bit afraid of her (U. Cockatoo). She has been eating and acting normal. I checked the tips of the feathers and only one of the 4 had a speck of blood, I have never seen more them 1 feather on her whole body ever fall off at the same time. So now I am confused since only 1 had blood. She is on a pellet diet, and eats fresh fruits and veggies, she has many toys and I change them frequently, just bought her stackable cups which she did figure out she can stack them. She's allowed out of her cage all day long. I am home all day and spend plenty of time with her. She's on my lap as we speak, trying to pull out buttons from my keyboard. I am quite worried here.

Thank you for any advice.

[Dave007]

The reason you saw some blood is because those feathers and also flight feathers have a blood supply in them. Usually, you saw 1 or 2 on the cage floor but all of a sudden, overnight you saw many more at one time. Eventually, a person is goona have that situation happen. It also happens with flight feathers. It's simply coincedence. As long as your bird isn't constantly chewing them and breaking them off, they should grow back. It may happen again in the future. Maybe 1 , maybe 2, back to 1, maybe 3, back to 2 etc etc. If they fell off all at one time, they were all dead and ready to fall out. The same thing will happen with flight feathers. Again, just a coincence.

[Suzette]

It Just shocked me because they were not on the cage floor she was sitting on the door to her cage and then boom in less then 5 minutes there were 4 red feathers on the floor. I had just walked over to the kitchen which is next to the living room where her cage is, warmed up some food and got her water and when I returned I saw 4 bright red feathers on the floor, so It all had happened in those 5 minutes. It really just freaked me out. I have not seen her touch her tail feathers since, just normal everyday grooming. I was thinking of giving her a bath today, and letting her sit at the window to enjoy this sunny COLD day in PA. Thanks so much for your feed back!

[Dave007]

Yes, what you're saying is exactly how greys can lose those feathers instantly. They can lose them in different amounts but yes, I can understand why you were disturbed. There's nothing unusual ( health wise) that's going on and it may not be the last time you see such a thing happening. It's simply the blood suppy in the feathers drying up and the dead feather falling out. Just you saying that she hasn't touched that area since is a very good sign that it was simply nature taking over. And yes, it's been very frigid in PA for the last week. It's so cold that it can't snow except down in Philly. Not to worry, the feathers are coming back.

[chezron]

Do you ever hear thrashing in her cage while it is covered? If so, she may be having seizures caused by low calcium levels. If the weather allows- one of those 65 degree Pennsylvania days- take her outside in a travel cage. Regular sunlight, 15 minutes most days, cured my bird by allowing him to make Vitamin D which is necessary to keep calcium levels up. No more seizures, broken feathers, or picked feathers since Brutus started getting regular sunlight, and the vet says his calcium levels are now optimal.

 

Artificial full-spectrum lights can also be used, but the real thing is best. You must actually take the bird outside as windows prohibit the correct wavelengths from reaching the bird.

[judygram]

Dave is right on the money with his answer and the reason you saw so many at one time was as she was preening they were ready to molt out anyways so they fell out by her actions but I can see how you would be alarmed since you hadn't seen that many at one time but not to worry, bet she has new ones already.

[Mama CJ]

I woke up this morning to find 7 small red tail feathers in the bottom of the cage, no blood in any of them. Millie has been in a great mood, talking and playing more and more every day and eats great. My concern was we just got another CAG a few days ago. She doesn't seem nervous, scared or upset about it. They have their own cages and they've have no contact with each other so one is not plucking the other. I have noticed the last 2 weeks all the small feathers in and around her cage so I thought she may be starting to molt. She is 11 but I'm not familiar on what to expect when an older grey molts. Does this seem normal or unusual?

[Dave007]

Sometimes red tail feathers fall out 1 or 2 or 3 at a time. Even more can fall out. The red feather is dying and they fall out and get replaced by others. The amount that fell off was just a coincedence. The next time it may be another amount. The bird isn't molting. Those feathers as well as wing feathers fall out all year long at no particular time. That's not molting. All the other things you're seeing is molting and it's not painful. There's no difference concerning a younger or older bird. They all molt once or twice a year. If you're not seeing loads and loads of white fluffy feathers areound, expect to see that.----that's also normal.

[Mama CJ]

Thanks, Dave. We have also seen many more of the little white feathers the last 2 weeks. We call them "Millie fluff". I was just a little shocked to see so many tail feathers since she had only lost one since September (I saved it).

[Mama CJ]

Millie has lost about 20 tail feathers in the last 2 days. The feathers don't look chewed or plucked. The tips are clear, no blood and they don't look damaged. Does this still seem normal? I mainly find them in the morning and evening. I'm still seeing "fluffy" feathers too. She's eating, playing and being active as usual.