My bird is pulling out downy feathers....need advice

[sydney peaches]

Hello! I'm a new parrot owner of a 2.5 year female African Grey Congo. She is the sweetest thing. I noticed the last two days, she's been pulling out random downy feathers from various locations around her body. She pulled about 25 -30 out during an evening. She doesn't seem agitated. I changed up her toys and give her showers 2-3 times a week. She has vitamins in her diet and I mix about 4 different things in her food. She's very socialized so I'm very worried she's starting to pluck.

 

Is this molting, plucking, or just random behavior? Any suggestions on how I can help her? Should I be worried?

 

Thx,

Maria

[Malikah]

I'm no expert, but do you have an avian sun light? Also I would suggest some red palm oil. She might just be molting, but it might not.

[sydney peaches]

Thanks for replying! I just moved Sydney by a large window so she can get more sun and look outside. Do I just spray red palm oil on her or mix it with some water? How often do you use it? Thanks again.

[Grazrgr8]

I wouldn't spray it on her. It's very oily stuff. However, you can mix a bit with her food. I use Palm Oil when I make birdie bread

[Greywings]

Window glass does filter out some of the Suns rays your bird needs the full spectrum-unfiltered.

[Morana]

Others already gave some pretty good advice:-)

You can mix red palm with eggs, or if you are giving your bird any type of mash. Sunlight is very important and if you don't have really old windows, the glass on the windows are blocking the necessary part of the light so you might wanna think about taking your bird outside (in the cage or with harness if you have experience with it) or getting her a full spectrum lighting. Also, have you had your girl checked out at the avian vet?

[sydney peaches]

I haven't taken her to vet yet. Today she plucked another 40 or so downy feathers. I take her out daily for sun. She likes to go out and about. The feather pulling is starting to stress me out. Any ideas why she is just pulling those feathers out? It's not her developed feathers. When birds pluck due to stress does it start with the downy feathers?

[MarcusCAG]

In your one post you mentioned vitamins in Sydney's diet. I want to say I read somewhere that added vitamins to a parrot's diet can agitate their internal systems. Maybe she's getting an excess of something she doesn't need that's stressing her out? It's just a thought. Perhaps someone else is more knowledgeable about everything though and can give a better reply, I'm just sorry she's freaking you out so much right now with her feather-pulling.

[sydney peaches]

Thanks Marcus for the info. I agree with you. I added a different vitamin several days back. It's a powder. Perhaps I did add too much. It didn't say how much to add so I did what I thought was a little bit. I'm going to dilute it down a bit.

[hammco]

timmy constantly pulls out downy type feathers as he grooms himself, all day long (10 a day or so)...i wouldnt worry too much unless you see a bald spot or he acts VERY different. im no vet but maybe he just has a few itchy ones he needed to get rid of!

[Morana]

But 70 feathers in two days seems a lot! Did something else changed in your birdies environment recently? How long ago did you started with the vitamins? Why did you started with the vitamins in the first place? How is her nutrition? Maybe it would be wise to stop with the vitamins for a week and see what changes in her behavior.