Probably a stupid question. But....

[JoeFree]

Joey is a hard core plucker. as you can see in his pics. I have learned about many of the different reasons why a bird will do this, and it is my opinion that Joey has probably experienced them all. So here we are. I know its going to take time to try and get him out of it, and I'm cool with that. What I was wandering was, is there a chance he may do this for the rest of his life. As I watch him, it seems that this plucking has turned into a very deeply planted behavior. I've read about all the different things we can try to get him out of it, and as time goes by, I hope these things work. But I'm worried. And I was wondering about that stuff I see at the pet store. "Pluck-no-More" or something like that. I haven't read anything about it on here, so I assume it's bulls$#t. Anyway, I know I've probably read as much info on plucking that I can. But I like hearing from you guys personally. So...Any reply would be nice. Thanks

 

 

[Dave007]

Hi

It's good that you're trying to find the reality here.

 

Joey looks like an adult bird. The older the grey is and the longer and steadier he's been plucking make the odds of it being permanent higher.

Plucking can begin for a multitude of reasons and the most common thing that keeps a grey plucking other than medical reasons is how intense and nervous and high wire he normally is. The longer it continues, the more it becomes classified as a chronic condition. There's many greys that have that same chronic plucking problem. It can go into remission and it can come back just as fast. And if it does go into remission, it'll take a long time before the bird looks great again.

 

1--being caged all the time in the past

2--being in a small cage all the time

3--not giving a bird many different things to excersise the bird's mind

4--not being abundance weaned

5--coming from a poor breeding pair who are overbred

6--lack of certain vitamins

7--having no companionship all day long while being stuck in a cage.

8--having owner mistreat or neglect the grey.

9--constantly being in a very uncontrolled environment all the time.

10--having a bad diet

 

I'm not accusing you of these things. I just mention them because these are just a few reasons why greys become pluckers/chewers. Unfortunately, greys have the bad habit of going after themselves when these things are going on. The other thing here is that the CAG species are very nervous birds.

 

The Pluck No More is a herbal concoction and it has a very bad success rate when serious chronic plucking is happening.

 

I can see that he has a lot of undercoat feathers on the breast but not on the upper breast/neck area.

You should go to a pharmacist and purchase a bottle of 100% pure Aloe Vera Gel and rub some on that totally bare area of the upper breast/neck area. Also put it on any other very bald areas he has. It will sink in and will soothe the skin and hopefully, more undercoat feathers will come back. I assume that you've done all the different bathing suggestions plus using aloe juice on Joey.

 

Actually, I personally don't think he looks extremely drastic but he does look like he's been a busy little boy. I've seen a lot worse.

 

If you haven't yet, give some history about the bird like it's age, how many owners has he had, did he pluck before you got him, how long have you had him etc.

 

We can answer any questions you have about this. I just thought I'd answer this particular one that you wanted to know about before I hit the sack.

 

Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/03/07 09:14

 

Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/03/07 09:21<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/03/07 09:25

[lovethatgrey]

I think giving regular showers may help a bit.