Feather Plucking

[frogstar]

Hi Guys

 

Greetings for a very hot and sunny Cape Town, South Africa..

 

ok, I know this is a very common problem and hard to diagnose but any help will be appreciated.

 

I have two wonderful african greys one male "Chilli" (6yrs) and one female "JP" (5yrs). We have had them both from 6 weeks old. JP has plucked her chest feathers for a while now, but worst in the last year. Chilli only recently (also in the last year) started plucking.

 

More about our birds:

 

- They both on pelleted diet with lots of greens and fruit etc.

 

- They are out their cages the entire day. They are in a room of their own with large glass sliding doors so they can see the world our small garden:).

 

- We have taken them to a bird specialist who reckons they have paint chips in their stomachs that apparently the gizard holds onto and they actually have sore stomachs as a result. In fact JP has a small piece of metal in her stomach according to x-rays. We have these powder coated cages that is apparently the cause of the paint chips. I'm not sure about this diagnosis but im no vet. The xrays were expensive so not sure if the vet is pulling a fast one, who knows.

 

- They do not like each other at all so are housed in seperate cages. Additionally will they ever get to like each other, we dont want to breed with them just want them to sit together. Our vet says nature will take its course and they will bond at some point.

 

I think it is possibly one of the following (if not the paint chips)

- Jealosy towards each other for our attention

- Not enough attention (dunno how much more i can give as i work from home and they get tons of attention)

 

We havent been able to figure out any changes that may have cause the behaviour.

 

Thanks in advance

Edited January 1, 2011 by frogstar

[Dave007]

Well, I don't know how vets in your country deal with certain problems but I can tell you the vets here would consider paint chips and metal in the stomach extremely serious problems. It would be the first on their list as far as what to do concerning that situation and we can't tell you if your vet was pulling a fast one on you. We have no solutions here about that problem nor would we wanna guess at it. It's an extremely unusual situation.

 

As far as not liking each other, that's very common even with the same species living together. Parrots will either like, dislike or not care at all about the other parrot. As far as bonding, if you've had these birds since they were babies more than likely they've already made up their minds about each other because they're now adults. Because they've been togeter since babies doesn't mean they'll like eachother. Will that attitude change? That can't be known. The vet is completely wrong when he says that being together will eventually make them bond especially since they're adults.

 

***** Jealosy towards each other for our attention

- Not enough attention (dunno how much more i can give as i work from home and they get tons of attention)*****

 

You've ruled out jealousy and insuffient attention since you're home all the time and are connected to both. It could be the personality of each bird.

They shouldn't be in the same cage even if everything was great. Greys have to have their own space. Each cage is their individual home.

 

As far as the plucking, that could be the weather ( too dry--little humidity), nervousness but many times, parrots don't get enough bathing and that should be done frequently--at least 1x or 2x a week even if they don't like it. The birds should be soaked down to the skin and they should be allowed to dry off by themselves which may take a few hours. The longer they're wet, the better.. That makes the skin less itchy and less dry. It could be from incomplete molting. Possibly, the plucking will ease up but the bathing is extremely important. You may wanna check with a vet concerning the plucking but you should think about seeing another one if possible.

 

Their food is fine.

Edited January 1, 2011 by Dave007

[frogstar]

HI Dave

 

Thanks. The vet gave us a treatment plan for the chips but it seems that it isnt working. I will be taking them back for another checkup this week and we can take it from there. I think you may have a point about the bathing. I dont think they get bathed nearly enough. I did read about this and started to bathe them every 3rd day about a week ago so will see how that progresses. We live on the coast so we have fairly high humidity.

 

Thanks for your advice, will keep you posted

[judygram]

Dave has given you some excellent advice and I can't add much except to maybe think about looking for another avain vet for if there are paint chips in their bodies then that is serious business, get a second opinion.

If these two birds do not get along now I doubt they ever will, they are adult birds and know what they like and do not like and it seems to me by now they know their own minds.

Please do keep us posted on how your greys are doing and what the checkup shows.

[frogstar]

thanks guys. Well Avian vets are in very short supply here in Cape Town. Have an appointment with the same vet today will grill him a bit as to what to do about the paint chips.