Plucking!! How do i get her to stop??

[afenismom]

Hi. I have an 8 month old grey named Afeni and she started plucking her chest feathers out this past saturday night. We took her to the vet monday morning and had her tested, all the tests came back negative. She's very healthy and VERY spoiled. Has anyone else had this problem??

We're worried we wont find out what the problem is before she plucks out more of her feathers.

Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.

 

THANKS!!

[dblhelix]

Afenismom - Hello and welcome.

 

I am glad to hear you went to the vet first to eliminate most of the standard "health" issues that can result in plucking. Unfortunately there are many reasons a bird may pluck and sometimes it is difficult to determine the cause in any individual case. If you can provide more information about the circumstances that would help. How long have you had her? Are her wings clipped? If so, did she properly fledge prior to clipping? Has she fallen and injured herself at all? How many feathers are plucked and is the skin actually bare in the area? Are you familiar with birds and sure this is not just normal down feather shedding? Has she been molting (8 months is young but..)? Has there recently been any changes to the environment like new cage, cage location etc? Has there been any significant changes to whatever routine she was used to, like your daily schedule, the amount of time in/out of cage etc? Can you post a picture?

 

Analyzing some of these things are part of identifying the most likely cause and then deciding the best action to mitigate the plucking. One thing for sure, try not to make too big a deal out of this. Though it can be shocking and create distress for you, if the bird somehow gets attention out of it (like you fretting etc) that may actually serve to reinforce the behavior. Its tough, and you are doing the right things, but to the best of your ability try not to pay too much attention to the plucking.

 

Another note completely, its really tough to read your post due to the purple text chosen. I would just stick with standard text color B)

 

Provide answers to some of my questions above and perhaps some contributing cause(s) will become apparent. Hang in there, you can probably do a lot to help deal with this and others on this forum will have additional info. I reposted your message below to make it easier to read:

 

All the best

 

 

Hi. I have an 8 month old grey named Afeni and she started plucking her chest feathers out this past saturday night. We took her to the vet monday morning and had her tested, all the tests came back negative. She's very healthy and VERY spoiled. Has anyone else had this problem??

We're worried we wont find out what the problem is before she plucks out more of her feathers.

Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.

 

THANKS!!<br><br>Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2007/05/23 01:08

[afenismom]

We've had her since december. Her cage has been in the same spot since we first brought her home.

We started adding a little bit of roudybush to her food and thought maybe that was why so we stopped the very next day but she tried to pluck a few feathers out again last night.

Her wings have also been clipped since before we brought her home, not too much though, she can still fly.

She plucked a small area on the left side of her upper chest. That small area is now bald. I've attached a picture but that was about an hour after she started, she isn't bald yet in that picture.

She's our first bird. So we aren't completely familiar with everything but try to read as much as we can.

We also own a Solomon Island Eclectus which we just got last month. We thought maybe she could be jealous? But we keep them in seperate rooms and seperate cages, and still give Afeni as much attention as before.

We talked to the breeder who we got her from and he also told us not to pay too much attention to it, but it's hard. Especially when we actually see her do it.

 

I really appreciate your reply and would appreciate any other information.

[judygram]

Dblhelix gave you a lot of good information. Since it is not health related it could be jealousy since you introduced another bird into the flock. But most important is not reacting to the plucking. Another thing is maybe her skin is dry and that is irratating her. Just a suggestion.

[dblhelix]

I can see how that is distressing for you. Poor baby, I hope we can get her to stop. From what you've indicated, jealousy is a high probability given the timing of the new birds arrival and plucking start. However it still could be something else. I have to say from what you provided so far the jealousy seems like a likely thing, particularly since you indiate she is "VERY spoiled". If she was THE center of attention and now she's not that can be a significant change for them to go through.

 

If plucking now brings your attention back to her, she may be inclined to keep doing it. These situations can be tough. Since the medical relation has more or less been ruled out we can assume its a mental/emotional thing. Remember they have the mental capacity of a 4 yr old human with the emotional capacity of a 2 yr old! Your best bet may be to focus on balance, get her to accept the new addition (bird) and really really try not to pay attention to the plucking. Its a tough call and there may be no true "right or wrong" way to deal with this.

 

Judygram mentioned dry skin which certainly can be an irritant they pluck for. Does she bathe regularly and get moisture on her skin? Some have found a mist sprayer with some aloe can help reduce plucking by decreasing irritation. However, be careful because if its not a skin thing and you start a special misting ritual around the whole thing the could reinforce the plucking...I hope others can post some additional thoughts from experience.

 

Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2007/05/23 03:36<br><br>Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2007/05/23 03:37

[ZoesDad]

Hi afenismom,

I had a thought based on all the info posted. Your bird is 8 months old and has been living with you for 5 months. I'm assuming that you got her from a breeder and that she was raised with other birds. I think that at her age, she'd still remember the environment in which she spent her early life. Now, add to the mix the fact that, in nature, CAGs are probably not socially independednt flock members until about 1 year of age and the fact that you have another bird that your CAG can probably hear but never see and I think you may have the potential for a frustrated and confused bird.

Could it be that she's wondering why the other bird is not interacting with her or where the other bird is or why she can't be part of the flock? As far as she knows, there could be a few other birds some distance away from her.

I'm not saying that this is the problem, but it seems odd to me that the plucking behaviour started soon after the arrival of the second bird. What would happen if you allowed both birds to live in seperate cages next to each other and you spent your time equally with both of them?

Just a suggestion.

I'm sorry to have heard of this problem and I hope your bird recovers!

[afenismom]

We actually got afeni from a pet store. (this was before we learned about the breeders in our area) Our eclectus, Phoenix, was purchased from a breeder. They actually do spend a lot of time around each other. We tried to introduce them to each other as soon as we brought Phoenix home.

We take them outside and let them walk around together, we also let them walk around the house together. But when we put them on the same pirch Afeni gets aggressive with Phoenix. It also seems like they try to communicate with each other. Afeni will whistle, them Phoenix will whistle and that'll go on for a while sometimes.

If we're home, our birds are almost always out of their cages or being played with. Our attention towards Afeni has not decreased. And Afeni's cage is in our room so she's around us a little more that Phoenix, whose cage is downstairs in the family room.

Would it be better to put their cages next to each other in the same room?

If the plucking is due to jealous, what can i do to help that?

 

Thanks to everyone who responded!!

[afenismom]

Picture of Afeni taken last night.

[ZoesDad]

Hi Afenismom,

Wow, this is a tough call to make. Is Afeni plucking because, alone in her cage, she feels isolated from her flock member Phoenix or is she plucking because she feels jealous?

Have you ever seen her pluck at any time when she wasn't alone?

I can only tell you what I would try in your situation. I would go ahead and move the birds into the same room for several reasons:

 

1) Afeni may be unhappy about being suddenly isolated from her flock mate. Remember that, in her natural environment, she eats, sleeps, and poops among other birds and that, especially at her age, she instinctively needs such contact to feel like she's part of a flock. (AGs instinctively want to live in social groups and would be stressed out if ever alone.)

 

2) At the very least, seeing the other bird may keep her entertained and less focused on self mutilation. (Idle minds can be the devil's workshop in birds too.)

 

3)Under the circumstances, this solution seems like a good place to start. If the plucking continues, you can always try moving them apart again.

 

Re. jealousy issues, to my knowledge, the only thing that you can do is spend more time with Afeni in the presence of Phoenix. If Afeni is primarily bonded to you, then maybe another family member can deal with Phoenix when the birds are together. Come to think of it, this might be another good thing to try if you choose to move the birds into the same room. Seeing her human parent ignore the rival bird may be very satisfying to Afeni. (Parrots are selfish.)

 

One more thought, if you do move the cages together, try giving Afeni a perch that is higher than any of those given to Phoenix.

 

Hopefully, the other forum members can give you some more suggestions. Please keep us updated.

[ZoesDad]

Hi again Afenismom,

Another thought--you purchased Afeni from a pet store, do you know how long she was living there, if she was hand-raised, and if there were other birds near her?

If she was not adequately handled by people at the store and spent much of her early life there, she may have learned to associate more with other birds than with humans. This would be all the more reason why you should put both birds in the same room.

Does Afeni contact call when separated from Phoenix? Does she prefer to be more with Phoenix or with "her human".

Regarding the squabble over perch real estate, I think that's just normal bird behaviour. From your description of their time together, they seem to be turning into real buddies. Could it be that Afeni is upset at, from her perspective, being inexplicably separated from her friend?

[afenismom]

ZoesDad

 

Thanks so much for your help.

I don't know too much about the breeder of which Afeni came from. The pet shop didn't give us much information, although we did ask. We had been looking for a baby African Grey and the pet shop called us the day she came in and we were there that night. We went to see her just about everyday after that until the time we got to take her home (about 3 weeks later). She was around other birds at the pet shop and was also handled by the staff there. She was spoiled from the second we met her! Her "human of choice" would be by boyfriend. She was a gift from me to him and he is her favorite person. He spends A TON of time with her, even taking her with him when he's out running errands.

Afeni first started plucking when she was alone, but we noticed her plucking a few feathers out the other night when we were in the room with her.

The vet says if she wanted to she could pluck her entire chest out in 20 minutes, so we're glad it's not that bad.

I think i am going to try to put their cages next to each other, and try the few little tricks you mentioned.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

THANKS!!

[dblhelix]

I agree with ZoesDad's suggestion and it sounds like you'll give that a try. The truth is plucking is often a complex behaviour and may require several rounds of different mitigation steps. I hope the test of moving the birds together helps.

 

Keep up posted! B)

[ZoesDad]

OK Afenismom.

 

Try to move the cages together early in the day so that Afeni gets a chance to see the other cage, and Phoenix, for a while before it gets dark.

 

I'm crossing my fingers for you all!!