Feather Plucking Female Amazon

[Motogordo]

Jan.18,2014

Only one of my birds seems to pluck her feathers at least once a year. It is mostly in the summer, if I remember correctly. Spanky is about 13 years old and collects all her feathers at the bottom of the cage as if she was making a nest. It must be maturity. She also makes baby cackling noise as if she is in heat. LOL. The wonders of my fine feathered friends. All the feathers are the little gray chest feathers. No big feathers.

 

[henpecked]

is she plucking feathers from her "belly" area?? Many amazon hens will pluck an area know as a "brood patch" in preparation for incubating eggs. This allows the hen to warm eggs faster after she's been off of them to to feed or whatever. In a 13 yr old hen this would not be uncommon although it would be more common in offspring of wild caught and parent raised babies. I wouldn't encourage nesting behaviors, cut back on high fat foods,more green veggies,higher humidity,more daylight hours, etc. Hope that helps answer some of your questions.

 

[Motogordo]

Here is Spanky last year

 

[henpecked]

I'm confused,, is the DYH Spanky male or female? And this only happens once a year during the summer?? How long have you had Spanky? Is he in love with one of your hens?