Feather plucking

[Shoulderin]

About three days ago my 9 month old CAG started plucking her downy feathers. She seems to dig around in her feathers, then pulls one and makes a small squawking noise. I would not say there are a ton of feathers around her cage and she does not look any different, but it is a new behavior. She will do it in front of me and when alone. I gave her a bath and sprayed Aloe on her hoping that would help. she is not stressed and there are no changes in the house. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

[ranaz]

I am not an expert on this, but I look forward to the replies of more expert members. I guess now, since the behavior is new, its easier to work on it and stop it. Does your grey have toys to play with, normally this would keep her busy for a while. Maybe she is plucking out of boredum? And are you sure she is plucking? Did she remove a feather completely? Or is it a broken feather that she had to remove?

[Malikah]

There are a lot of other factors besides boredom:

How often are you bathing her?

Do you spray her with aloe juice?

Does she seem excessively itchy?

Do you see lots of new feathers trying to come in?

Any changes in her eating or activity levels?

What is her diet?

Do you have an avian sun light?

She's at that age where she would like to be able to make some decisions about her life. Do you let her?

 

I wish you the best of luck, there are a lot of us here who would like to stop this behavior in our fids. As Ranaz said, the odds are in your favor catching it as it just started. Of course, it could just be normal molting too.

[Shoulderin]

I take her into the shower daily but she hates water so I let her sit on thenshower rod. I spray her with aloe at least 2-3 days per week against her wishes. She is pulling only the soft downy feathers and I don't see any new feathers except on her tail..she has a lot of broken feathers as she is always trying to fly and has hard landings. She eats parrot seed mix, pellets, and lots of veggies and some fruit. She is a very affectionate bird and wants to be held and petted all the time. She is free all day and has two white winged parakeets for company. Other family members are home but she has no interest in them. I give her one hour in the morning and she is with me all evening until bedtime. she get 6-7 hours of attention daily. No new stresses or changes in the house and she seems her usual happy self! She is kept near a French door so gets plenty if sunlight...what is an avian light? Do I need one? Thanks!

[Morana]

If you don't have an old window throuhg which she gets sunlight than she is probably not getting what she needs because new generation windows have coating that blocks the part of the spectrum she would need. Avian lighting has special ratio between Uva and UVB that a Grey would need. Other thing, if your birdie hates water it is posiible that her skin iches anyway because for skin to be healthy your bird needs to be soaked to the skin during the bathing which she is surely not if she doesn't like bathing. My Zak tightens his feathers so much when he doesn't want to bathe that he is minimally wet after even an hour of showering. So you probably get wet only the upper feathers. She shouldn't be pressured into bathing because this is a form of stress and she learns that bathing results in discomfort. Same rule for spraying with aloe.

[Shoulderin]

Is there any way to gently help her enjoy water? When i spray her she doesnt look stressed, just irritated, but when i bring her in the shower she squawks and tries to escape. I did put a bath in her cage for awhile but she never used it.

[Dave007]

Is there any way to gently help her enjoy water? When i spray her she doesnt look stressed, just irritated, but when i bring her in the shower she squawks and tries to escape. I did put a bath in her cage for awhile but she never used it.

 

She's simply telling you that she doesn't like the shower so don't do it anymore. Many greys don't like getting wet no matter what method is used but they do need to be bathed. Many greys like the way they feel after getting soaked. Gotta take the bull by the horn. There are many methods to use. These important methods are for getting an important job done.

 

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

 

 

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

[Shoulderin]

The two posts are really helpful. I will try both methods and see how she reacts! I can handle her anger if it's for a good cause butni don't want her to be frightened or traumatized!!

[Morana]

IMO you shouldn't have to handle anger.. I mean, if it makes her angry, do not do it because she asociates this experience directly to you. I know how imortant is for a bird to bathe but if my Zak doesn't wan't to bath at the moment I planed, I wait and offer it an hour/day later.. Now we are trying to feel ok when going into shower cabin and closing its door. To be more precise, we are trying not to freek out when we close shower door (not that it is absolutely necesary, but it would make things a looooooot easier) and we'll work our way to shower/mist in it which he is also very scared off for now. You wouldn't believe, but I mist Zak in my livingroom because he seems much more comfortable there, but it is a huge mess so I need to encourage him to like showering/misting away from my living room. My point is, I'm bending "rules" a bit because it is necessary for him to bathe and because I do not want him to asociate stress and anger with me because of it, but I won't give up on having "normal" shower or misting in the shower. I'll just be very patient with him..;-)