Picking and Overpreening.

[Trinkapuppy]

OK, I've talked y'all's ears off about Eshe. But I do have another question already.

I have not worked with a parrot that picks actively. I have had one or that arrived picked, but ceased to do so once they got here.

Eshe, on the other hand, continues to pick a little bit. She has a small area right over her keel bone that she's cut most of the feathers in half on, and she seems to be picking the down feathers out from between her other feathers.

She also has picked a couple of tail feathers out, and when she preens the three that are left, she is HARD on them. She doesn't seem to spend an inordinate amount of time preening there--like she does on her chest--but when she does preen it, she CHEWS her way up the feather, and then YANKS it out of her mouth hard enough that she often wobbles on her perch from the force when it pops out.

Most of her flight primaries also appear chewed up, but I haven't seen her chewing them, and I suspect she's chewing where she was clipped, as the previous owner apparently clipped her when her WINGS WERE CLOSED!!! AGH! and the clip is very uneven. I suspect that she's chewed them to even them out and stop them from poking her.

 

She does have stress bars EVERYWHERE and I'm not sure if part of the reason some of the feathers are split is just because they are weak, or if she's actually sheering them in half....

 

Her diet and eating habits are appalling (granted, not as bad as it COULD be, but bad nonetheless), and the vet figures that between that and being rehomed 4 times in two years, she has a right to have some stress bars. He also cautioned me not to be dissapointed if we see some--but hopefully a lot fewer--in her next moult.

 

Anyway. I'm rambling. Who, me? Nah! Never!

 

So, what do I do when I notice her working on these picked areas? is it best to go and interrupt her when I notice her working on her chest? Should I stop her working on her tail? I'm hoping this is stress related, and that she'll stop once she settles in more, but in the meantime, any recommendations on how to deal with her

[Dave007]

You may have many birds--those birds have particular traits but now, we're talking about a grey. Plus it's a bird that has lived in different environments and in any one of those environments, plucking/chewing/pulling could have developed. It also has traits and is known to do many things that other parrots don't do. One major thing is plucking/chewing. You really don't know whether your bird is a chronic plucker or acute plucker. What she does could be ingrained or just a new thing. Time will tell which it is. Bad clips can cause plucking and chewing. Sometimes diet can be a small cause for doing that. I've seen loads of greys that were chronic pluckers who were eating a proper and varied diet and they still pluck and chew and pull. Some birds who calm down from stress situations may stop. Others won't. You can stop interupt her but if she wants to pluck, she will and sometimes interupting her will cause her to do it more intensely. Some will say that spraying a bird with aloe juice may help but it doesn't help with chronic pluckers. OR, her skin may be extremely dry which will cause intense plucking at the skin area. OR, it could be the humidity or lack of that may cause plucking. OR, it could be that the bird is around other birds. OR, it could be from a new environment that the bird is in. No one can tell you whether it will stop. Only time will tell before you know how to classify the bird as far as what the type will be.

If you want a product to keep around the house for all your birds this is it but if you're intent upon using home remedies, you may not have any luck.

 

Type in

AVITEC.COM

On the left, look for PLUCKING/SCREAMING---click on it

Third picture from left ( spray and jar in picture) click on it

there's 3 choices

1---premixed bottle

2--small jar, powder in it (8 oz)

3--large jar, powder in it (16 oz)

-------

Get either 8 oz or 16 oz jar with powder in it. Stay away from premixed bottle

1 rounded teaspoon powder to 8 oz room temp water in a sprayer. Heavily soak your bird down once a day. If any remains in the sprayer, use it on any other birds sitting around. Discard what remains at the end of the day.

[Trinkapuppy]

Yeah, lack of species specific experience is why I'm here pestering everyone. A month of knowledgeable experience is worth more than all the books I can read, and internet I can find. Since I don't have it--I lean on ppl who do.

 

I will pick that product up if she doesn't improve soon.

 

I guess another concern is...her skin, where I can see it, does appear to be dry and flaky--more so than my other birds. I have google'd for images of the skin between the feathers on greys, but I can't get close up enough, and I don't have enough experience to know if it's normal for her skin to be dryer and more flaky.

She is TERRIFIED of the squirt bottle (she runs to the back of the cage if I even pick it up, so I'm assuming that she's been squirted for noise at some point past). I tried all three spray bath bottles I have--they all look dramatically different--they all scare her.

I walked her into the bathroom when the shower was running (she seems to really like slow tours around the house once every few hours) and she started growling and got some pretty aggressive body language going, so we backed out quickly.

I would try putting a kitty litter pan (never used for kitty's) of water in the bottom of her cage like I do for the 'keets and 'tiels but she's still pretty leery of new objects being in her cage.

I may try rigging up my reptile mister for her for a few hours--that's what Jynx used before he was comfortable in the shower. But if that freaks her out....

What do I do?

Just force a shower on her? If the picking is b/c she's itchy, then it might help. If it's b/c she's stressed, it'll do the opposite...... I am going to the store right now to buy a humidifier to keep near her cage. The old one is...old...and triggers my allergies, which means it has some mold, so time for a new one!

 

Thank you for the product suggestion--if she keeps this up for long, I'll definitely pick it up and figure out how to try it! LOL

[Dave007]

Yeah, lack of species specific experience is why I'm here pestering everyone. A month of knowledgeable experience is worth more than all the books I can read, and internet I can find. Since I don't have it--I lean on ppl who do.

 

I will pick that product up if she doesn't improve soon.

 

I guess another concern is...her skin, where I can see it, does appear to be dry and flaky--more so than my other birds. I have google'd for images of the skin between the feathers on greys, but I can't get close up enough, and I don't have enough experience to know if it's normal for her skin to be dryer and more flaky.

She is TERRIFIED of the squirt bottle (she runs to the back of the cage if I even pick it up, so I'm assuming that she's been squirted for noise at some point past). I tried all three spray bath bottles I have--they all look dramatically different--they all scare her.

I walked her into the bathroom when the shower was running (she seems to really like slow tours around the house once every few hours) and she started growling and got some pretty aggressive body language going, so we backed out quickly.

I would try putting a kitty litter pan (never used for kitty's) of water in the bottom of her cage like I do for the 'keets and 'tiels but she's still pretty leery of new objects being in her cage.

I may try rigging up my reptile mister for her for a few hours--that's what Jynx used before he was comfortable in the shower. But if that freaks her out....

What do I do?

Just force a shower on her? If the picking is b/c she's itchy, then it might help. If it's b/c she's stressed, it'll do the opposite...... I am going to the store right now to buy a humidifier to keep near her cage. The old one is...old...and triggers my allergies, which means it has some mold, so time for a new one!

 

Thank you for the product suggestion--if she keeps this up for long, I'll definitely pick it up and figure out how to try it! LOL

 

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

 

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

[Trinkapuppy]

Thank you! I'll try that, and see how she responds. =0 ) I might have the parrot guy across the street come over and squirt her down so that she doesn't associate me with it for the time being.....