Ajax's overpreening is getting worse!HELP

[Ajax4289]

Ajax was doing great for about a month of not over preening himself more. Then one day while sitting on the perch next to me(while I was playing computer) I noticed him preening but pulling the feathers like he did with his neck.Man he could work fast! Ever since then I kept a sharp eye to make sure he wasn't picking at it again whenever I had him out on his perch. Then later he tried to start on the other side of his chest but I caught him and started to engage him and let him chew on my water straw(even though I wasn't done with it yet!lol)

Tonight I brought Ajax out of his cage as was horrified! He has completly over preened his chest. It looks aweful! I can not think of anything that has changed to cause his over preening to get worse?!

 

I do notice that if he has a wonky feather he will preen preen preen it. Maybe he's like me, and once you start biting on your nails you can't stop then you bite your nail so low it hurts!

 

So is it something I am doing? Are some grey's just nervous over preeners? Is there something I can buy to keep him from over preening while I'm not watching...I've seen little jackets that you can put on your bird that keep them from picking.

[chezron]

I am so sorry this is happening to you guys. I have found that regular trips outside for sun exposure has stopped this behavior from progressing for my grey. Also, I feed a cooked chicken drumstick bone to Brutus once a week for needed nutrition. These two actions I believe helped him not to continue mangling his feathers. He hasn't done it since I added these changes. I am sure there are other solutions that will be offered, but this worked for Brutus. Any suggestions of applying Aloe is just addressing the symptoms and not the cause.

[Ajax4289]

I wish I could do that now. It's cold and windy where I live and lately no sunshine! But come summer time we'll take some walks!

I would really buy one of those special bird lights but all the ones I found are $200+

[Greywings]

I had an Avian Vet tell me that when a Grey plucks his chest he may be letting us know that there may be an underlying heart condition so that may be one thing to investigate if he does not stop. Frequent spray misting or bathing can help as when we run the heaters in our homes the air becomes very dry and they can get quite itchy.

[animalINSPIRED]

I wish I could do that now. It's cold and windy where I live and lately no sunshine! But come summer time we'll take some walks!

I would really buy one of those special bird lights but all the ones I found are $200+

 

You can buy an avian sun light bulb for around $30 and put it in any normal lamp. I use them in the winter when my girls can't be out in the sun.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/234401/product.web

 

Aloe will address the problem if the cause is itchy skin. It certainly won't hurt to increase misting Ajax... other than that I would suggest an vet visit if you haven't done so yet. If health problems are ruled out, you may give avicalm and featheriffic a try. It helped Averi when she was over preening while recovering from a skin infection.

[pikachu]

Ajax - I just noticed that you live in StL. Can I help you get in touch with a bird behaviorist? She is awesome.

[Mama CJ]

I've been reading a bit that hemp seeds added to their diet helps some birds that pluck or over preen. I have not tired it yet but will be getting some hemp seeds in about 2 weeks to try. If they don't eat it, then it will get added to the chop and bird bread like everything else they won't eat, haha

[thenabrd]

we use a humidifier this time of year, increase spray baths, make sure there's plenty of paper to shred, toys to attack, wood to destroy, use hemp seed (i leave a food bowl of them in kallie's cage and she likes them, athena gets them mixed in her food), have regular vet checks which have to this point shown no problems physically. (kallie has one this tues). i've tried aloe juice to spray them with, but i think kallie likes the flavor of it as she plucked a bit more after i used it than when i used just water. their cages are in our living room, so they're involved in our lives and i'm currently off work on long term disability, so they're not "alone". for all of this, we still deal with plucking/over preening. we've used haldol (sp) with athena in the past and it worked well for a time. i may have to try this with kallie depending on tue's vet visit results.

 

i'm not trying to be a bummer about this, just letting you know the steps we've taken and still take. i have to keep a "sense of humor" about this or the girls would pick up on the stress this causes me. i look at the girls and think athena prefers to run around in her grey down underwear sometimes (the little nudist) and kallie doesn't like turtlenecks and likes to show her belly button (possibly a fashion statement, she's 3 1/2, so maybe it's puberty). i know, its weird, and might sound a bit defeatist, but i haven't found any other way to keep my stress about this issue away from the girls.

 

regardless of their state of "dress" or "undress", we love them!!