Feather loss

[Stevie]

Hi folks.

Not been on here for a while,i need some advice off you lovely bird folk.W adopted jess our african grey about 5 months ago,she is 10 and wonderful,im her husband ,no doubt about it,lol.What i need to know is why jess is suddenly shedding her feathers,large ones now and then,and lots of smaller ones.Just over the past few weeks though.Ive tried to put it down to the season,heating on and then cold at night,trying to get her to eat other things,a 10 year old?well i keep trying,she hates veg,and at the moment the only fruit she will eat is pomegranate,i sprinkle on a powder to make up for the lack of calcium ,i also use a proper uv light on her to help. A 10 year old grey will be stuck in there ways,but we persevere,lol.Could any of you wonderful people shed any light on this for me?.Apart from the feathers she is in fantastic shape,started to talk now,she loves her cuddles,still no hope of her taking to my wife,or any one else for that matter,she tolerates our amazon jasper,they dont fight any more,so jess in herself is fabulous.Thank you for taking your time out to read this,and will look forward to your reply.

Many many thanks.

steve,jess

Edited December 15, 2011 by Stevie

[Talon]

Hi Stevie, Sounds to me like she is molting. If you don't see her plucking, I wouldn't worry much about it. If she likes baths, you could most her in aloe juice and water, but I wouldn't if she is like my birds and hates it. You should see things settle down soon, if not, then a vet visit would be good.

[Luvparrots]

I believe it is probably molting too. My two greys are dropping downy feathers like crazy right now. I could supply the down for some pillows if anyone is interested!!!!! LOL!!!

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Steve... please dont take offense to this. Jess is your new baby. You are NOT her husband... you are her dad. Your wife is her mom. You are both her new parents, need to figure out, how to demonstrate this fact! Nancy

[Barbara2]

Our little Senegal molts at this time every year. We give him extra "shredding" toys so he doesn't try to help his body remove the feathers and we do spray him with water and aloe vera juice. But it is very normal!

[DawL]

Just wanted to say that I am pretty sure the whole "I am her husband" comment was meant to be a joke, and I don't think it was meant to reflect the relationship between him and his bird. I think it was meant to be funny, and to refer to his AG being a one person bird (a lot of them are). I didn't read anything in the OP that reflected the relationship between himself, and Jess, aside from the statement of her being a one person bird. I also didn't read anything about him not being able to maintain a parental relationship with Jess in the OP.

 

Could be I have not seen other posts from Steve, I am just going by this post itself. I can't assume there is ANY relationship issues, or behavioral issues on the part of the parront, or parrot.

 

Steve- It sounds like she is molting to me as well. A lot of birds molt late fall, early winter. I wouldn't worry about it unless you catch her plucking, or you come home and she has a bald spot. Just give lots of love, and lots of kisses! Sounds like she is doing wonderfully.