shannonzee Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 My 2year old female has begun chewing her neck feathers - just in the front. I say chewing, because she is leaving them attached, just chewing them to the skin. I have visited the vet, all seems to be fine. We've tried many foraging toys, which she LOVES, but the chewing is still happening. We've even tried (god help me for admitting this), a collar, but she figured out how to take that off, and it's become a game. She's not losing weight, she's eating as normal, her droppings are great. She's starting to look funny, as there are many bare spots on her neck. This started about a month ago - the latest we've tried is a spray from Harrison's to soothe her neck, thinking that the chewing was a short phase, and she was only continuing because they were irritating her as they grew back (feathers). Has anyone experienced this? We haven't had any big changes in the house this year, except for 1 more bird, and she was here months before the chewing started!! If anything, she's getting a little more attention, just so she doesn't feel left out. Her trick training is succeeding, she's learning more songs, speaking better, etc... If anyone has any suggestions - I'm willing to try just about anything! One thought I had was that it's been a long cold winter (had snow today-ha ha ha), and she's lacking vitamin D (she was outside just about every day in the summer)? HELP! Post edited by: shannonzee, at: 2009/04/26 01:04<br><br>Post edited by: shannonzee, at: 2009/04/26 01:06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shannonzee Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Here's a pic of what my gal looks like (eek! My baby!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave007 Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Go to Walmart. Buy 100% Aloe Vera Juice. 1 gallon jug--approx $9 Use full strength. Use a mister.Soak that area plus surrounding areas including the upper breast. The skin will be less irritated and become softer. Repeat every day for at least a week.. It's not toxic. If swallowed there's no problem. Also pick up 100% Aloe Vera Gel--$5. Use the gel for extremely irritated raw areas. It also isn't toxic and the skin will quickly absorb it. From the photo, your bird's problem looks very minor and putting any type of covering on it such as a collar will only irritate and scratch the bare areas. PS--pharmacies also carry these items but they're more expensive.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/26 01:44 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugarbeth Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Was it an avian vet? What exactly did they do to test out your bird's health? I remember reading somewhere (I can't remember where) someone's grey was plucking their neck and there was some sort of crop infection. What's the humidity like in your house? You may want to invest in a whole-house humidifier for the cold winters. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shannonzee Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Thank you both for the advice. Yes sugarbeth - it was an avian vet - I'm crazy, I have 4 birds She did blood work & took a stool sample from her. Everything came back normal... My husband is very much like a bird (ha ha ha ha) he hates the dry winters, so the humidity in our house is 'bird-friendly'(?) - feels like a rain forest some days...just kidding - it doesn't get that bad I am going to try the Aloe Vera solution - perhaps that's what it is... the "bare" areas are much more obvious these days - the picture I had put up was within the first week. If anyone else has a suggestion, like I said, I'm willing to try anything!! Aloe Vera, here we come! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raposa Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Shannonzee, my bird chewed (either over preened or broke off) a huge number of feathers a while back, and we are still working on getting her new, healthy feathers to grow back in. The vet told me it could be up to a full year before they all grow back in, as long as she is not continuing to do it (which she does not appear to be). So I can pass along to you what my vet suggested. First, I reinforce Dave's suggestions about the aloe juice and gel. My vet told me to make sure my bird bathes daily until the feathers grow out, and I alternate between sharing showers with her and spraying her down with aloe juice and water. Second, my vet said to make sure she was getting enough exercise, and flying is the only exercise he considers "good." So he told me to take Jenna through the house, making a game of it, getting her to flap her wings. She would have none of that, so we have not been able to follow through on that, but she DOES do a lot of wing flapping and climbing on her swings after she showers, so we're hoping that is sufficient. Third, the vet said to make sure the bird has plenty to do while I am at work during the day. My mom lives with me and spends time with her on and off during the day so she is not completely alone. I move her toys around frequently, hide treats and toys in various places in the cage, invent foraging opportunities (it is amazing what you can do with a cardboard tube from toilet paper, some shredded paper, and some bird safe string (like paulie rope) or with an unbleached coffee filter. The last thing he said to do was to make sure she was getting red palm oil regularly, so she gets it added to her fresh food every day. I also put a humidifier in the room (although I have stolen it from her for the last week, since I've been sick Hehehe)but it doesn't sound like you need to do that in your house! I don't know if any of those suggestions are helpful to you, but I thought I would pass them along. Good luck, and let us know how she does! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shannonzee Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 Thank you - that is reassuring that I'm not the only "bad parent" out there! ha ha ha It is stressful to me, but we have started with the aloe gel (I was unable to locate the juice here). We started it 2 nights ago, and the first night, she despised me for putting it on her, but tonight, she actually stayed put while we were doing it - I'm guessing that's making her feel better. I will take your suggestion on the flying game - she loves to flap-flap-flap on her playstand (sending feathers everywhere), so I bet she will love that. As for keeping her busy - since this started, she's never had so much to do in her cage! She definately is used to it She lets me know when I've forgotten to add treats to her toys to look for. I know she's playing, as everything's getting destroyed, and every day, there''s new challenges to make her work harder. Perhaps this is a hormonal thing, or a bad habit. At least, this is what I'm hoping for. I would be devastated if the vet missed something. I would be even more devastated if I caused this somehow... Thank you for your advice! As I said, we're willing to try anything! I'll let you know how the aloe is going... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shannonzee Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 It's official ~ Belle had absolutely NOTHING wrong with her. She had simply become 'scared' of her favorite swing perch that she'd had for over 6 months in her cage! I noticed this about two weeks after my last post. She used to swing, scream, hang, and attack this particular perch. Couldn't get her off of it some days. Then, I noticed that when she would wander to the other end of her cage (perch was in the middle), she would very cautiously go around the perch and then proceed to do what she was doing. I coaxed her to opposite ends of the cage about four times to make sure I saw what I saw. And yes, I guess, at some point, the perch & her had a disagreement, and apparently, the perch won! Once I took it out, it was almost an instant sigh of relief from her! The feather chewing stopped almost completely within 2 days, and although she still occasionally chews one or two feathers, everything is pretty much back to normal! (I think the residual feather chewing is a result of the habit she had formed). Thank you to everyone that gave some pointers, I was extremely happy that no one judged me! I hope that my admission of the 'bad toy' will help someone else in the future who may have the mysterious feather chewing story on their hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 Karma to you for figuring it out about the swing. I am happy to hear it was something so easy to remedy. That does not surprise me at all since Whisper has a lot of toy phobias too. She might have been fine with it in the beginning perhaps one day it bumped her the wrong way and she fell or something so after that was afraid if it. Nobody thought you were a bad parront. You were obviously trying to get to the bottom of it and took her to the vet and had her checked out which is what a good parront would do. You were a greyt parront for noticing she was afraid of the swing.<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/06/13 00:51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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