Unusual behaviour

[Charmain]

I'm very worried about Jimmy my grey, he is 3 years old and has always been a happy chattering bird. He loved playing hide and seek and catches. About a month ago I had to do some serious studying and could not give him the attention that I always had. I studied with both the greys (jimmy and charlie) in the dinning room so I was there but could not spend the time playing with them. Jimmy stopped talking and started to pick his feathers. I got worried and took him to the Avian, who was not sure what was wrong, and administered 2 antibiotics (injections) and a slow release antibiotic to put in the drinking water for 7 days. It has been a few weeks since then and Jimmy is still picking and not talking or wanting to play at all. He bites me if I try to scratch his head or play touches. He never used to bite, and he would lay on his back in my hand to have his tummy tickled. He does not seem to be ill. He is still eating but has become very jittery, easily frightened and hides in a corner behind his toys.

Please help, I cannot watch while Jimmy destroys himself picking his feathers, he has several bald patches already.

Charmain

[she]

Hi Charmain.I would recomend going to the vet and getting some blood work done. Plucking is usually a sign of some sort of stress but sometimes their is an underlying physical reason. If as you seem to sugest that the birds temprement is unusual for him this is more reason for a full check up.Make sure you see an avian vet and ask for blood work. This could also be because of change in his environment, have you changed anything, cage, room furniture, wall pictures. wall paper,or anything about yourself, hair nail polish, perfume.Have a good think about changes but I recomend a vet visit. Keep us informed Sheila<br><br>Post edited by: she, at: 2008/10/01 14:05

[lovemyGreys]

Im with She on this one,There is always an underlying reason for such a change in behaviour & the onset of plucking.First step is a complete wellness check with your avian vet.

If you do a search in the search box at the top of the page it will bring up previous threads on plucking/picking feathers which all will be worth a read