broken feathers

[di2008]

My Monty is 2 1/2 years old and is flighted. He has approx 8-10 hours a day out of his cage.The length of his flight path through the lounge, dining room & conservatory is 51ft with the lounge & dining room both being 12ft wide and the conservatory 21ft wide. I think you'll agree he has lots of room, But needless to say whilst flying one day last wk he clipped his wing on a door frame. This dint bother him but he has broken his feathers right across his wing. I can only guess that this is now annoying him as he wont leave them alone and has started to shred them. I am guessing that he wont give up until he has chewed all the broken ones off, but I am a little concerend as he has shredded all his chest feathers too now . is there anything i can do to help? I dont want this to turn him into plucker. He has regular baths ( in his water bowl lol) and apart from looking like a scraggy (adorable) rat then he's fine with no behaviour change.

Any advise would be gratefully received, shall I intervine or let things run their course?

 

thanks Di & Monty

[judygram]

Di, has there been anything else that has changed or happened about the same time that may have triggered him to pluck his feathers? Sometimes they do break a feather or feathers when flying into something but they usually will pull it out or take care of it themselves if it annoys them but I wouldn't think he would continue to pluck his chest because of some broken wing feathers.

You say he bathes in his water bowl, that may not be enough to get him wet thoroughly, would he accept going into the shower with you or allowing you to bathe him in the sink with several inches of water? It is important they get thoroughly wet when bathing to get to the skin and then be allowed to air dry, this help with dry skin which is sometimes the cause of plucking.

Please read these links to threads concerning bathing our greys:

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189753-Bathing-possible-method-1

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189752-Bathing-possible-method-2

[di2008]

Hi Judygram

thanks for the reply. There hasn't been any thing else that has changed as far as i know. He was sitting looking out of front window at the time and flew off and clipped his wing on the door frame. he usually sits there on his perch, and dosn't get spooked to easy so can't really say this may be a cause. as regards to bathing we do mist him with the bottle but having read your threads think we might be doing it from to far away. I will get closer and try to get him as wet as possible. He does go into the ensuite when we shower and sits on the shower door but wont let us take him inside .he is as chatty as normal and he has pulled all of the broken feather off now, i will just have to monitor what he does with the rest of his feathers. when you feel his chest it's all prickly so i can tell that he has chewed the feathers there, but he hasn't actually pulled any out... he isn't bald...kust very scraggly lol .

I will continue with the spraying and keep an eye one him thanks again

di

 

 

Di, has there been anything else that has changed or happened about the same time that may have triggered him to pluck his feathers? Sometimes they do break a feather or feathers when flying into something but they usually will pull it out or take care of it themselves if it annoys them but I wouldn't think he would continue to pluck his chest because of some broken wing feathers.

 

You say he bathes in his water bowl, that may not be enough to get him wet thoroughly, would he accept going into the shower with you or allowing you to bathe him in the sink with several inches of water? It is important they get thoroughly wet when bathing to get to the skin and then be allowed to air dry, this help with dry skin which is sometimes the cause of plucking.

 

Please read these links to threads concerning bathing our greys:

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189753-Bathing-possible-method-1

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189752-Bathing-possible-method-2