moulting or plucking???

[almorrison]

hello all, im kind of hoping someone can shed some light on whats happening with my baby grey, she is 7 months old,over the last 2 weeks she lost nearly all of her beautiful red tail feathers, only 3 remain,, although underneath she has new ones growing in, also ive noticed her chewing fethers thats come out, she has what feel like a few sharp quills down her back and has lost a few wing feathers,,, she is quite nippy and miserable too. she eats well. has loads of attention and is always out of cage to interact with family, ive seen her preen but not rip out feathers, im wondering if this could be her first moult or if she could be plucking, shes looking shabby but ive not seen her rip feathers out, just play with them.

[judygram]

Sounds to me like she is going thru a molt and they can be a bit grouchy and nippy as their new feathers coming in causes them to be slightly itchy and can feel a little uncomfortable. She needs bathing or at least misting more often now to help with the opening of the new quills.

 

A lot of us members use aloe vera juice on our greys, it makes the feathers softer and helps make their skin feel better, more supple.

 

Now why don't you introduce yourself in the welcome room and tell us a little about you and your grey.

[almorrison]

thanks for that, ive never had an african grey so imjust being cautious, i was really worried about feather plucking as i know its common in greys