Feather Picking / Jekyll & Hyde CAG

[raehamilton]

Thank you Judy. I am going to buy some Aloe Vera and spray her daily. I will keep you posted.

[birdmom]

I of the three other greys who pluck, Buddi, Fawkes and RaeHamilton's Angie...they are all females! Does anyone have a male CAG that plucks? I am just wondering.... about gender and plucking?<br><br>Post edited by: birdmom, at: 2007/12/16 23:24

[chapala]

Males do pluck also, but I don't know if there are more female than male pluckers, percentagewise.

Reta

[DebT]

I'll take a good look at this forum and see if there's a way to take a poll -- I think most forums have that capability. We can then ask people who have birds that pick/pluck if their birds are male of female.

 

I remember hearing once that females will pluck feathers or down to line a nest to make it softer for the chicks. Maybe it's more of an instinct for them to pluck. Don't know.

[Nychsa]

While I'm certainly no parrot expert, what you describe certainly does sound hormonal! Sounds like me during certain times! I think if it were me, I would be looking to a vet for a second opinion.

[DebT]

Thanks Nychsa, I've been to my vet twice about this. He's a well respected parrot authority in this area, Dr. LaBonde, and he seemed to just write off her as being a "picker" and said that greys are prone to that. I've been told by a couple of people that she's no where near sexual maturity, although I can't help but think since it happens in the spring and fall that there's some sort of pattern there.

[raehamilton]

I just wanted to add that Angie is only 10 months old so there is no way this could be hormonal.

[Tunjee]

My CAG is a picker. I've tried, sprays, vets, aloe, bathing, you name it. The only thing I havent tried is the collar. I've heard that the collar will keep them from picking but when you take it off they go right back to picking. I think it's alot like biting your fingernails. It's also a way to deal with stress. Mostly it's seperation anxiety stress. Anyway over the years I've just come to accept it and love my bird all the same with or without feathers but there will always be a part of me that wants to curve this behavior. Keep trying, maybe with enough minds working together we can figure this thing out.

[danmcq]

Hi Tunjee,

 

How long have you had your Grey? It's sounds like you have done just about everything to change the plucking behaviour.

 

Hope fully there is something still that could be done to avert putting a collar on the poor guy. :-)

[LisaM]

Have you added Red Palm Oil to the diet?

 

The poster of this thread is no longer a part of this forum, but it did appear for a time that it may have been helping:

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/47821-feather-plucking-and-red-palm-oil.html

 

Also, the following is from a customer review on Amazon after buying some there:

 

I bought this oil because I have a parrot with a feather plucking problem. I've been adding about half a teaspoonful daily to her soft food for about 3 months and the results are terrific. She's almost back to full feather and has not plucked a single pinfeather since we began adding it.

 

This is a logical solution. Palm nuts are a part of most parrot's natural diet. It only makes sense that red palm oil contains nutrients that are otherwise missing in a caged bird's diet.

 

Your mileage may vary since feather plucking is a complex mystery, but in my case it's been a miracle cure for our cantankerous eclectus.

 

You mentioned sprays and you mentioned aloe...did that mean you've done the aloe juice spray? If so, I'm curious as to the frequency?

 

Unfortunately (well, fortunately I guess), I don't have any personal experience with feather plucking. We may be taking in a parrotlet who plucks his chest bare though so I'm trying to learn everything I can as well about it!

[raehamilton]

I tried spraying Angie with Aloe Vera and she started making so much noises. She was MAD. She attacked the sprayer and bit it. She did not like it. She had never bitten anyone and she started biting all of us. I tried spraying her again while in the shower and she didn't seem to mind it. The problem is that the Aloe is now being diluted by the water from the shower. I'd rather Angie continue to pluck than for her to become a biter. I will try it again but if she bites I won't do it any more. Did any of you have this experience? If I mentioned this before I am sorry. My memory is not that great.

[LisaM]

Rae - Don't worry about your memory...i'm sure I post the same things over and over sometimes.

 

Mine absolutely hate being sprayed with a sprayer and will try to attack it also (they haven't gone to the point of biting us though thankfully).

 

So what I do is right at the end of their shower when they're soaking wet (or as wet as I can get them), I give them a "final rinse" with spraying the aloe. I do it from a distance of out of their beak reach. They don't seem to mind it though after their shower. I know it is now diluted a bit from the water that is on their feathers and skin, but I figured if it's the last thing I put on them it might sink in a bit.

 

I agree with you on the biting...I wouldn't want to have that turn into habit either!

[DebT]

I've been adding red palm oil to my greys' diet since December. At first they didn't like it so I had to mix it into their wet food, but now I plop about 1/2 tsp on top of their food and its the first thing they eat. They actually won't start eating at all until I add the palm oil now -- they love it! I've been buying a 16 oz jar for about $15 at Whole Foods.

 

A note about the aloe baths: I was told by my local bird shop that the aloe juice is actually drying to the skin! I got a recipe from them for another spray and am waiting for the ingredients to arrive since I couldn't locate them locally. It involves mixing calendula extract and chickweek extract with water. They are both known in herbal medicine to help with skin irritations, so I'll give it a try. If anyone is interested, the actual recipe is 1 TB Hylands Calendula spray and 1 tsp chickweek extract to 2 cups water.

 

Both of my birds HATE HATE HATE being sprayed. I see the latest Good Bird magazine has an article on teaching your bird to bathe. I'll have to see what they recommend.

 

My picker has let some of her check feathers grow out, but has been chewing on her legs. I can't wait to get the new spray together and see if that helps at all.

[LisaM]

Have you noticed any difference in your greys since adding the red palm oil?

 

Interesting about the aloe juice comment from your bird shop. Mine both recommend them to customers. I'm doing a little (and very unscientific) study right now! I just went and sprayed my right hand with aloe juice and used plain water on my left (both of them were showing signs of dryness). Aside from the smell of the aloe juice, which I really don't care for, they both felt the same when wet. They are now dry. The tiny lines on my right hand don't show as much as on my left hand but I'll see what they look like in an hour or so.

 

I have a hard time thinking that it is drying, but anything is possible!

[DebT]

Lisa, I'd be interested in the end results of your aloe test. I was tempted to do the same but just didn't get around to it.

 

I haven't had any major changes in my birds since I started feeding them red palm oil. My congo does have some new feathers coming in on her chest, but she is an occasional picker and so I can't tell if this improvement is permanent or not. She tends to pick when I am away from her for longer than normal periods of time, so I think its more due to separation issues. She is getting a new tail feather in, and the color is fresh and bright compared to her older feathers but she's also had the old feathers for at least a year and a half. I probably won't be able to determine whether any of the changes I've made (red palm oil, spray baths, taking her to the shop for bird sitting rather than at home with a house sitter, putting her in her cage when I leave the house for more than an hour, using 2 humidifiers in our sun room and putting AviCalm in her food) for several more months.

[LisaM]

True, and then if you do see changes you'll have no idea to what to attribute them exactly! But hey, as long as you see changes for the positive you'll know you're doing something right!

 

So after the elapsed time, the hand with the aloe juice might be a little less dry, but that may be because I want it to be :-). I didn't expect silky-smooth though either, just didn't want it to be drier than the water alone, which it's definitely not. So I guess my study is "inconclusive" (as so many are).

 

I'd be interested in what information they're looking at though so if you find out ever, let us know!

 

For now, I'm going to continue to use it after their showers.

 

Let us know how your calendula and chickweed mixture works!