KatB Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Good morning,Forum Folks -- I was googling for some info about my grey and ran across an article proposing a new (to me) theory about why parrots pluck. The author, Donna Sleight, suggests birds living in close proximity to birds from another continent (Africa vs Amazon, for example) could be plucking out of terror from being forced to exist so close to an alien species. I only have the one bird -- who keeps me quite busy -- but I wondered what some of you flock-keepers think about this. She bases her theory on a survey, but something about it comes across as flawed logic to me. What do you think? http://www.realmacaw.com/pages/pluck.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Hiya Kat, That's an interesting read, but I personally believe plucking can have many different reasons (at least why a parrot gets started with plucking) and then once they get started, it becomes kind of a neurotic habit (again in some cases I believe). I've noticed Bella gets the "itchies" which I believe can be caused by several things: Since we run the heat right now, I wanted to condition her skin with Aloe. She started itching like crazy after that treatment, so a couple of days later I really gave her a good shower soaking and got all the aloe off her skin and she was fine again. Since I wasn't sure that was the cause of the itchies, I gave it another try while we were having a terrible cold snap and the air was really dry. Same thing happened. She got the itchies and I had to really give her a good soaking to get the stuff back off her. So, for Bella, I've stuck to just a good regular, deep skin shower. I've also noticed that when she does get a good deal of dander, if I supplement her diet with walnuts and flax seed shavings her skin condition improves tremendously and the itchies go away. As we all know, there are several bacteria that can cause plucking, and then of course stress factors. I also believe it is dependent on the personalities. Just from reading the posts here, the personalities of our grey babies seem to be SO vastly different. As for greys who get stressed by other species - from what I understand from the little bit of research material available on greys in the wild, greys developed their intelligence through a need to co-exist with other animals who sought food on the forest ground. So.. I think while greys may have a preference for other greys, they will work it out with other species. Bella and my conure Jiggy have certainly developed a peaceful co-existance. They do get into the occasional tiff, but they posture more then anything else. Bella in fact will defend Jiggy when my partner plays with Jiggy. Bella also defends my dogs! Cheers! Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatB Posted March 2, 2008 Author Share Posted March 2, 2008 Bella The Protector :laugh: I imagine that's a comical sight. Yes, I thought that article was stretching the data a bit, just wanted to see what others thought about it. I know lots of our members have birds from different continents and I don't think many of them have plucking issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Oh, it's a riot Kat! Trust me! Michael, my partner likes to play with Jiggy - he play "attacks" him with a paper towel, or one of his toys (Jiggy loves it) and Bella is sitting on my shoulder, she puffs herself up like a ballon, glares at him and pins her eyes as if they were darts and growls fiercely!! So, Michael reasures her, gives her a treat and Jiggy tries to continue playing. Then when Michael pets Doc, my grehound male too closely to his face, Bella does the same thing - she really has this sense of confidance about herself!<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/03/02 16:00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronda477 Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 I honestly don't think that at all especially if the bird was gotten from a baby. There are actually birds that think they are dogs cause that is the only other animal in the house lol. I think if the bird was gotten from the wild, than yes maybe this theory is true. But just a breeder baby no I don't think that is very true at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 My thoughts as well Ronda. Now if they were coming in from the wild, I would imagine different immunities would exist in each bird in response to different diseases. But I'm not sure if that would be true for bred birds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 That article brings up some good points but I have to agree with Ronda and Terri, that would only apply to birds coming from the wild not breeder birds. Thanks Kat for sharing that link with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siobha9 Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 Surely as far as a bird is concerned humans are and "alien species" in which case all our birds would be naked! Siobhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 LOL - Good point Siobha. :-) I agree, to disagree with that article also. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatB Posted March 3, 2008 Author Share Posted March 3, 2008 And so we're reminded -- don't believe everything you read on the Internet :whistle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siobha9 Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 True, but it is always interesting to see new theories, no matter how far fetched they seem. And maybe just maybe there is something in it, along with all the other millions of reasons why domestic parrots pluck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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