No camera talk, but it is something I wanted to ask others about. Coco, our African Grey has started picking her feathers the last 2-3 days. She’s doing this with such intensity that she’s actually making herself bleed a little bit. I know African Grey’s are notorious feather pickers, but Coco has never done this before now. Nothing that we know of has changed in her diet. She was heavily molting, but that’s calmed down now.
So I’m running though what may be causing this.
- Boredom – Since we ended her treatment she does get a little less attention. I still try and take her out of her cage to be petted daily.
- Allergic Reaction – We started to give her nuts (we weaned her off of these during her treatment), but now have stopped again.
- Mites? – I don’t even know what mites are or how she might get them.
- Something related to her previous illness – She’s shaking her head a little more than normal. Her personality seems really good. Still talks a bunch. However, she did see to get tired much earlier than normal tonight.
So besides a trip to the vet, which I will do, anyone else have any hypothesis or ideas? Do these products like Pluck No More actually work?
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by texdr
5 comments
texdr - Yes, we always have foraging toys for her and we also rotate them. Her favorites are the paper balls. We hide her treats in there (Harrison’s Power Treats). We also have this tiki hut thing that is a favorite of hers.
We feed her two foods, Harrison’s Pepper Lifetime Coarse and Adult Lifetime Coarse. For vegetables we feed her Pomegranate, Apple, Snap Peas, Carrots, Grapes.
We don’t feed her any nuts.
Don’t know if it makes a difference but she did have aspergillosis. We just stopped her treatment about 1 month ago after 11 months of treatment. All her tests came back negative so that’s why she stopped her treatment.October 7, 2009 – 8:22 pm
Vicki - Anytime a bird plucks it is their way of letting their human know that things are not right in their world. I always recommend that the bird does take a trip to the vet to rule out a bacterial or yeast infection.
Once it is ruled out that an infection is not the cause, I would then look at the possibility of boredom. Do you provide foraging toys? Foraging toys do not need to be an expensive contraption purchase from a pet store, but instead something as simple as an empty clean plastic frosting container that has whole poked in it and converted into a foraging toy.
Diet is also a key factor. What do you feed her? If a bird is lacking Vitamin A (which cannot be supplemented except through proper diet) they are unable to fight off bacteria infections.
I have worked with success in turning birds around from feather picking. You can read my blog at http://www.nationwideparrotplaceorganization.org/digest/blogs/3/Congo-African-Grey.html if you are a member of the site.
Here is also a link for some foraging ideas: http://www.parrotenrichment.com/images/PEAB_V1.pdf
Best of luck – please keep me posted.
Vicki Pierce
National Director
Parrot Place
http://www.theparrotplace.netOctober 7, 2009 – 6:52 am
texdr - Petting may not have been the correct word. Here’s somewhat of our daily ritual. I open the cage door and allow Coco to come out of the cage on her own. She then normally flies to my knee. Typically after that she tilts her head down and I’ll say “Scratch?” If she keeps her head down then I scratch her head. If she raises her beak towards me I don’t scratch just yet (I figure that’s her sign for saying don’t scratch right now). After a couple of minutes of scratching her head I’ll typically stick my finger out and say “Step Up” at which point she steps on my finger. I then bring her into my chest and she just relaxes her legs (Leecy and I call it the “baby bird” stance). I then scratch her head, the sides of her mouth (she likes to stick her tongue to my finger when I do this), and her chest. Often she will then tilt her head back which means to me that I should lightly scratch her throat. With that, she will start getting droopy eyes likes she’s in heaven. Her laying on my stomach lasts about 20 minutes. If she starts to stand up I just let her. If she stands up, she will often go to my shoulder. If she’s feeling playful, she’ll jump back down to my knee and we start the process all over again. If she isn’t feeling as playful, when she’s on my shoulder, she’ll decide to fly into the kitchen, land on top of the refrigerator, then without fail say “Watch your toes.”
All the above occurs in the living room. If I bring her into the bedroom, the ritual is a little different. In there she likes to sit on my shoulder or my knee, we’ll do all the above, then often her face will flush a little, then she’ll regurgitate some food for me.
Oh, she does not like to have her wings scratched (on top or below).
So her petting is not typically a quick thing or just patting her on the head (actually if I tried to pet her on her head like a dog she’d probably try and nip me).October 6, 2009 – 9:40 pm
BirdChannel - Here is a great article about feather picking: http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-behavior-and-training/bird-behavior-issues/bird-behavior-issues-feather-picking/complexity-frustration-feather-picking.aspx
Also, how are you petting her? Down the backside and under the wings? Or just a simple skritch?October 6, 2009 – 4:03 pm
Elizabeth - Trying to take her out daily for a petting is not enough. I have seen how she is attached to you. She needs more “L” time.October 6, 2009 – 10:46 am