jjcool Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 i have had my african grey for about 7 months now ever since ive had him hes been a feather plucker, i have bought him new toys etc and try and give him fruit and veg on regular basis however he still seems to pluck. i have attached a couple of pics, to see what you guys think about his feather condition? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 Ohboy jjcool - It is sad to see such feather plucking activity. There are several topics on this forum regarding regarding feather plucking, possible causes and items that can help, such as Red Palm Oil and misting with 100% Aloe Juice. Here are some links to this topic: http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/57890-an-insight-into-plucking.html#58060 http://www.greyforums.net/forums/the-welcome-room/55688-plucking.html#56876 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jj_qpr11 Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 hi, my grey is 5 years old and she is a plucker too. I have in the last couple of days obtained some red palm oil , and aloe vera juice. Its not easy getting her to eat the red palm, i find it best to soak a bit onto some bread. she wont touch her normal food with red palm on it. she HATES being sprayed with the aloe too, i have done it for 2 days now, once each day. i hope she will eventually get used to it. I will try and get pics up of her progress. One thing i do not get about the aloe, is how can it calm the skin under the feathers? it just seems to cover the outer feathers, and I really doubt it gets through all that to the skin does it?, Unless you drench the poor bird in it? All in all she is still a very friendly and happy bird, just perhaps not as pretty as she could be, but I love her all the same! Good luck with your little one. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane08 Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 Oh bless, poor little man. There is a good article on the world parrot trust website where an expert tackles the question about plucking. http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/C5/ Just scroll down, it's the 2nd to last article. It might give you some ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madisimmons Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 Bless his little heart, he is so adorable even without all his feathers. Good luck, let me know if you find what works. I'm having feather issues myself and just adopted her a 5 days ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjcool Posted May 15, 2008 Author Share Posted May 15, 2008 thanks guys for the help, i will indeed read them links ive also noticed hes bitting his wing feathers ( the ones by his tail which are left )seems hes been taking bites out of them too, as they are damaged hes still a happy little chap, but i think i might take him to a avain vet to get him checked over. any ideas best places to get red palm oil and aloe vera juice in uk? how does red palm oil and aloe vera juice help ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tycos_mom Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 apparently they pluck because they are itchy and aloe helps to sooth the itch thus stopping the plucking I would definatly take her to the vet just to rule out any deficency in her diet that could also be causeing him to pluck this should have been done Imediatly before the plucking becomes a habit. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugarbeth Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 How much out-of-cage time does he get? How often does he bathe? I ask because in the video in your previous thread, he looks like a very lonely, understimulated bird. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/75404-my-caf-constant-squeeling-when-im-not-by-cage.html#75404 Breaks my heart. I really hope I'm wrong and that he has a better life than what you've shown so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave007 Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 jjcool I'll try to help you in whatever way I can. I'll try to cover possibilities and the condition of the bird as I see it. This post might be long and not in the order that it should be. I'll try to combine the facts about products mentioned here and their proper use. First of all, looking at the pictures tells me that it must be a young bird according to it's eyes or maybe the photos aren't good and they're deceiving concerning age.. I don't know how many full grown feathers that the bird originally had. Your post was very short and it didn't say much. According to the pictures, your bird is plucking but I don't see any bald ( visible skin there) spots. The bird looks just like what a baby bird would look like when it's the approx age of an 8 or 9 week old chick. Normally, a bird who is a very bad plucker will pull the feathers and follicles out straight down to the skin. All of those fussy feathers are coming from follicles which the final feathers will come from. You bird is in a very special situation. What might be wrong may be it's personality and amount of nervousness . What I'm mean is that the bird could be a hyper bird as opposed to a laid back bird. Neighter is unusual. Greys have a habit of picking at themselves when things are just not right. They are self aggressive. Besides fluids and internal suppliments, a bird that's a plucker should have items around it in which they can perform very aggressive acts and not just run of the mill bird toys that just look good. It would be a good idea to buy cowbells and put one in the cage and one on the playstand. If you can get 2 different sizes, do that. Both will have different sound pitches. Have some hanging pieces of hard wood that the bird can actually grab and chew. It doesn't have to be pet shop wood which is flimsy and soft and overpriced. Bells and other heavy duty toys allow a bird to become very violent with them. Some people watching this get frightened and remove those items. Get the item that looks like hanging mulicolored rope and let it simply hang in one straight line up and down. Birds will grab that and chew and shred it for long periods of time. Get leather items and hang them around so the bird can intensely chew on it. In the photos, your bird has wing feathers that don't seem to be touched. If they were they would V cuts at the ends. Also, a plucker will also pull those feathers out and sometimes that includes the tail feathers. Palm Oil and aloe juice -------------------------- Palm oil doesn't cure any feather plucking problems that a bird might have. It's internal and makes future feathers stronger and also those feathers have more vitamins in the base blood supply. Palm oil also helps birds get the proper nutrients that a bird would naturally get from the sun and many people aren't aware of that. Palm oil helps those birds that don't get the same things from the sun because of filters built into the glass. Someone mentioned aloe juice and was concerned that the bird would get too soaked by it. Actually, when a bird is sprayed with that the skin and all the feathers that aren't waterproof get soaked, the better it is for the bird. Ideally, a bird who is soaked with it should stay dripping wet for about 2 hrs and if it's more than that the bird benefits. No drying of any should be done. The skin is soaked and becomes very soft and some itching is lessened. In your bird's situation, that should be done 7 days a week. The areas that are plucked and exposed right now aren't yet waterproof so you should have no problems soaking the bird's skin. The under areas of the wings should be heavily soaked. The upper and lower breast area plus the areas at the base of the tail should be soaked. The whole circumference of the neck area should be soaked. After all of this soaking, rarely will a bird start to pluck or pull at the feathers. In your particular situation, aloe juice should not be diluted. Feeding palm oil-----many greys and other parrots don't like palm oil. There's no easy quick way for a bird to take it in if he/she doesn't like it. Laying palm oil on an item like a piece of bread won't work if the bird doesn't like it. If that be the case, you would take a small handful of whatever pellets you're feeding and drip a 1/4 to 1/2 amount of the oil on all of those pellets. Even out tthat so many pellets get hit. Put those pellets away for about 15 minutes. The pellets will absorb the oil. If the bird flips the pellets, try, try again over and over. The bird will eventually accept the pellets If you are simply using a parrot mix food, that oil can be dripped onto the seed with no worries about the seed going bad. There's no way that the bird can avoid taking the oil in. You simply stir the seed mix and oil together. I always make sure that my birs have some on their seed besides the pellets You should have some aloe vera gel around to combat any bald spots that occur. One of the most common areas are the legs. That also lessens itching and also make the skin soft and supple. Also understand that it might take 8 mts to a year for you to have success. Many times, things seem to be going good and you wake up and see that the bird has started again. The treatment should be continued. The reason that a repeat may happen is because of the direction that the follicle grows out of the skin. Follicles don't come straight out of the body and point straight out. When they appear, they are laying against the skin and the end of the follicle material pinches the exposed skin so the bird pulls them out. Follicles that have no feathers growing out can irritate a bird's skin but plucking lessens as soon as feathers start to come through which might take a few instances of plucking before that happens. The whole success process happens when the feathers push the follicles away from the skin. Good luck.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2008/05/15 22:25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyboop Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 THINGS TO CONSIDER ALONG WITH WHAT ALL THE OTHERS ARE SAYING fULL SPECTRUM LIGHTING , DAYTIME ONLY .... STIMULATION , ENRICHMENT,EXERCISE,AND ACTIVITY...... FRESH AIR NATURAL OR AN AIR CLEANER..... CLEAN CAGE , BOWLS , FRESH WATER...... No AIR POLLUUTANTS, , CLEANERS , CANDLES, PESTICIDES, PAINT PRODUCTS,OR SMOKING...... varied nutritious diet with adequate vitamin A VEGGIES AND CALCIUM FOODS NO FAT SUGAR OR SALT ...... MAKE SURE THE CAGE DOESNT HAVE HARMFUL PAINT OR FINISH ON IT ...... 8-12 HOURS UNDISTURBED IN THE DARK SLEEP AT NIGHT...... COVER CAGE OR CORNER TO PROVIDE A SECURE HIDING AREA...... SPEND QUALITY TIME IN THEIR FACE DAILY , TALKING AND INTERACTING WITH THEM ...... IS THERE STRESS IN THE HOME , ARE YOU STRESSED , IF SO SLOW DOWN YOUR ENERGY BEFORE BEING AROUND YOUR BIRD...... IS SOMEONE TEASING THE BIRD ...... WASH YOUR HANDS ALWAYS BEFORE TOUCHING YOUR BIRD ....... This IS A LIST FROM Sally Blanchard's book Companion Parrot Handbook . You can visit her website at companionparrot.com Just some things to consider.... Bettyboop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyboop Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Sorry about the caps in the previous post , I didn't have my glasses on .... BettyBoop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjcool Posted May 17, 2008 Author Share Posted May 17, 2008 sugarbeth, he spends about 4 hours out each day on tp of his cage on playstand, dave007, thanks for the advice. to be honest i not really sure how old he is, i did ask last people who had him but even they never knew so guess they naver had him from a baby, he does have a ring on his foot so would that tell me?? hes never really grew any new feathers since i have had him for past 7 months, he just keeps plucking, there is 2 small visabal skin spots on this back where hes been biting, also i would say hes kinda hypa and full of energy when he starts, its weired he dont seem to be touching his tail feathers?<br><br>Post edited by: jjcool, at: 2008/05/17 04:07 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyboop Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 One thing that caught my attention is his feet. Do the feet look OK to everyone ? They look unhydrated or under developed. What do you guys think ? Very small . BettyBoop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Mary in that last pic the feet do look kinda small but in the second pic they look normal, must have been the camera angle makes it look misleading. Jjcool if you haven't had your grey checked out by an avian vet I would do so as soon as possible to rule out any physical reason for the plucking. Dave has given you some of the best advice of any one here on this forum as he knows his greys and I will add my two cents worth. Try adding that little bit of red palm oil to some cooked oatmeal, that is how Josey gets her daily suppliment of the stuff. I know this is very frustrating to you to have a plucking bird but do not react to the plucking, just ignore it for a reaction to it by you could be reinforcing it as a habit for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 jjcool, My Bella is very active as well. I do a number of things to channel that energy, and frankly, it's a good deal of fun for me too! First she can forage everywhere in and on her cage. On top of her cage she has a playtop with straw on it and lots of goodies hidden in the straw. Her playtop also has ladders and things hanging down so she can climb around and do her gymnasitcs, which she does quite often. Inside her cage she has a block of wood she likes to climb around on and chew, she also has tons of things she can shred. At the pet store I found this simple roll of shredding material, and I just tie that at various places in her cage and she loves to climb around and shred things from all angles. Also in her cage she has foraging opportunities. I have little dixie cups that I've trimmed off a bit, put two holes in them, and then run a little rope through the holes and hang the dixie cups in various places around the cage. Then I put goodies in the cups. I make a little cover for some cups so Bella has open the cup to get the goodies. I also put little pebbles in the cups and hide goodies underneath the pebbles. And sometimes I leave one or two empty so she has to search around. Ugh - speak of the devil, she just landed on my keyboard :woohoo: Let me see if I can finish this without getting harrassed by her! :laugh: I also have rope toys in her cage with lots of knots. She loves undoing knots. She really plays a good deal all day long - lots of energy, and just like a child, I think if I didn't channel that energy somehow she could develop destructive behaviors!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dblhelix Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 Great advice in this thread. I would absolutely make it a priority to see an avian vet and rule out/address any specific health related issues. A blood work up should be performed. Dave has some of the best advice around. His length of experience is vast and willingness to share is invaluable. B) I hope you can make some steps towards improvement and think with some of these suggestions you have great odds! I am sure you love your grey as is, but hopefully some of these things will prove to be easy changes that can make a difference.<br><br>Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2008/05/18 15:50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summerc25 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Is this the same bird from your 2007 posts that was named Sparky?? If so something has happened since then to cause the bird stress or something. The other bird appeared healthy with all of it's feathers. Is the bird doing better? Can you update us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamalbirdbiz Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Molly uzed to be a plucker B4 I got her. She waz uzed 4 breeding and her wingz were clipped. When we got her we decided to let her fly where she wanted just like Marvin 2 try to help her. She haz stopped plucking, and flyz around with Marvin. She is even getting goood at dive bombing. :evil: lol Jamal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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