Lambert58 Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Willow, our female is absolutely tearing Leo up. She's ripping feathers out of his head at a break-neck pace and I don't know what to do about it. Here's Leo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave007 Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Sorry, but you'll need to put in a better picture. Too dark. Can't really see what you're talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Hmm. after opening it up after posting it was pretty clear on my monitor. But here. I took more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcusCAG Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I assume they're not housed together? So if this is done during out-of-cage time, is there a pattern of anything preceding it? Like, are they eating together and maybe she gets cranky that he's eating what she wants? Or are they grooming and it gets out of hand? These are just thoughts, I'm just sorry it's happening. He doesn't need a bald spot on such a cute head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 What happens is there's one location where they perch during the day. She's about 6 inches higher on the perch and reaches down to preen him (preen = rip the living crap out of the back of his head). He just goes all googley-eyed and couldn't be happier as she gives him a haircut lol They do share a cage, but most of the damage occurs when they're out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 They do share a cage, but most of the damage occurs when they're out. I would strongly suggest you provide them with separate cages as each needs their own to call their safety zone even if they do get along great together. But if Willow won't leave Leo's head alone then they may need to be out at separate times or be kept from getting so close to one another. Leo probably likes the massage he is getting but he is losing his feathers in the process so nip it in the bud or he will wind up bald. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdhouse Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 That was some kind of bonding behavior with my tiels. Theo would preen Sundance bald. The poor guy never had a crest the entire time they were together. AND he'd come back & beg for more. She'd do that to the babies, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave007 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 You shouldn't allow that to happen even if your grey puts up with it. That can lead to slight infections and could cause permanent baldness. Preening is one thing. Pulling out feathers is another thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) I would strongly suggest you provide them with separate cages as each needs their own to call their safety zone even if they do get along great together. But if Willow won't leave Leo's head alone then they may need to be out at separate times or be kept from getting so close to one another. Leo probably likes the massage he is getting but he is losing his feathers in the process so nip it in the bud or he will wind up bald. I spent $1400 on their cage. They do fine in it. If I separate them, there will be blood. Mine, most likely. It doesn't occur in cage. I've begun swooping in when this happens and have denied them access to that particular perch as well. He is a snuggle monster, so I think you're right in that he enjoys it. Eagles look good bald, greys, not so much. Edited January 12, 2011 by Lambert58 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 You shouldn't allow that to happen even if your grey puts up with it. That can lead to slight infections and could cause permanent baldness. Preening is one thing. Pulling out feathers is another thing. Well, it sort of goes without saying that it's not a good thing. I'm not "allowing" it in the sense that I don't just look up and see it happening and go "oh, gee... that's probably not good." I intervene. But, thanks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdnut Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I think the suggestions made were the obvious ones. If those are not acceptable, maybe it would be possible to find some bird-safe substance that won't harm either bird, but would taste objectionable to Willow, and try putting some on the back of Leo's head. I think this problem would be difficult to stop without controlling their access to each other, as it seems to be an over-zealous performance of a natural behavior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) I think the suggestions made were the obvious ones. If those are not acceptable, maybe it would be possible to find some bird-safe substance that won't harm either bird, but would taste objectionable to Willow, and try putting some on the back of Leo's head. I think this problem would be difficult to stop without controlling their access to each other, as it seems to be an over-zealous performance of a natural behavior. hot sauce! lol The two of them preen each other, like all bonded birds do, but Willow is an aggressive little monster and often holds Leo down by placing her foot on his neck. Women! And as an aside, I denied access to that location with one of my new found best friends: rubber snake! $10 on Amazon for 10 of 'em. Keeps the conures off the kitchen cabinets quite nicely Edited January 12, 2011 by Lambert58 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawnee Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 hot sauce! lol And as an aside, I denied access to that location with one of my new found best friends: rubber snake! $10 on Amazon for 10 of 'em. Keeps the conures off the kitchen cabinets quite nicely LOL nice. Cosmo absolutely hated a bright pink sandy perch I got him to trim his nails. Screamed his head off if it was anywhere near him. So I left it up on top of one of my computers for a few weeks, since I didnt want him up there. Eventually he got used to it and started climbing up there anyway....at which point he was fine with me putting the perch in his cage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywings Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Separate play times and perhaps a cage divider might be a good idea, is all I can suggest it seems to be a common sense approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 (edited) I agree with Greywings. I know your new cage is expensive. Have you consider selling it and then buying two cages for your birds if cage divider doesn't work..? This behavior shouldn't be tolerated even a title. One bird is bullyng the other. Think of the kids..you wouldn't let one pluck hair from another, would you? even if the other one is just zen and loves his bigger sister.. (for example..) Edited January 14, 2011 by Morana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 I agree with Greywings. I know your new cage is expensive. Have you consider selling it and then buying two cages for your birds if cage divider doesn't work..?This behavior shouldn't be tolerated even a title. One bird is bullyng the other. Think of the kids..you wouldn't let one pluck hair from another, would you? even if the other one is just zen and loves his bigger sister.. (for example..) I absolutely value your input. Let me give you some history on these two: I walked into a pet store in a shopping mall and found Leo. Willow was also there, along with a military mccaw. The two of them were only about 6 weeks old, way below the age that anyone should be offering them for sale. We chose Leo and took him home and ended up weaning him. We had no idea what we were getting into, and didn't know the first thing about weaning ANY bird, let alone a grey. It went well, we did awesome, in my book. Leo weaned just fine. About 2 months after we go Leo. I went back to that store and Willow was still there, sharing a 2x2 cage with that giant military mccaw. Long story even longer, we rescued her. These two have been cage mates since birth, basically. I won't separate them. They're bonded. They're both 2 years old now. Over the last week, when Willow is in a superior position to Leo, I intervene. I'm in the fortunate position to be able to do that most of the day. At night, in-cage, the two of them have their territories and don't seem to have a problem. I have to think that this might be a phase of them reaching maturity and one (Willow) being dominant over the other (Leo). We'll see how it goes. Over the last few days his pin feathers have started coming in... I'll Play policeman and take it from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 I know your new cage is expensive. Have you consider selling it And, no. I'm not selling a 5' diameter 7' tall cage. It's the bomb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 LOL nice. Cosmo absolutely hated a bright pink sandy perch I got him to trim his nails. Screamed his head off if it was anywhere near him. So I left it up on top of one of my computers for a few weeks, since I didnt want him up there. Eventually he got used to it and started climbing up there anyway....at which point he was fine with me putting the perch in his cage. We bought a pack of rubber snakes to keep the fids off the the kitchen cabinets. Worked great for 48 hours. Two weeks into it and all the flock thinks they're toys to be chewed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I still stand by my reasoning. Two children, boy and a girl may share the same room, the same tub while they are little but afterwards,.. it is bound there to be some issues. It won't stop with your birds either. At least I don't think it will. And, from what I have observed with families..someday, brother and sister who love each other wan't to have their own place to live and hang out.. Mature birds want to have their own tree/nest.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I have to agree with the others that they both need separate cages even though they were raised together, Dave will be the first to say that greys need separate cages especially when they are nearing maturity or you are gonna continue to have similar problems. Even though they are flock animals they need their separate space they can call their own, their safe zone so to speak, they can still have out of cage time together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Sorry for deviating from the topic but I can now see that in my last post says "...ove each other wan't to have their own place to live and hang out..". It says "wan't" but I didn't write that. Never the less, I wanted to correct it, a minute ago, and while in "edit post mode" it says want without apostrophe. What the heck!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 I still stand by my reasoning. Two children, boy and a girl may share the same room, the same tub while they are little but afterwards,.. it is bound there to be some issues. It won't stop with your birds either. At least I don't think it will. And, from what I have observed with families..someday, brother and sister who love each other wan't to have their own place to live and hang out.. Mature birds want to have their own tree/nest.. I completely understand. It's a valid point, for certain. I will offer this: the two of them spend 12 hours a day out of cage, and they go off and do their own thing during that time. They are bonded, however, and do come together at points throughout the day to snuggle and preen. I'll play it as I see it evolve and should it become necessary to separate them at night I'll definitely do it. My job is to be the best parront I can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I don't have nothing new to say except, don't let them preen, or to be exact, don't let Willow to pluck Leo's feathers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambert58 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 Leo is regrowing pin feathers in the affected area with no signs of a Willow attack. Thanks all for your input, and I'll keep the idea that they may need separate cages in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chezron Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Just a hypothetical---If you had two children and one was physically hurting the other, you would separate them right? You probably would, even considering that the children have been together since they were babies. I think the health and well-being of your hypothetical children is more important than what their room (their cage is the bomb) looks like! You probably can get an additional cage relatively inexpensively on Ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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