How to know if your bird is plucking

Hi!

I just wanted to ask this because yesterday I found a feather and today he was playing with another one.

I’ve never seen mambo plucking his feathers, just the other day because he broke one plying in his cage so he removed it bit by bit..
So should I concert for 2 feathers?
I’ve got other birds and I have always found feathers and they have never plucked. So maybe they were just annoying him??
Thanks!


Jose

By the way if you read the diary of mambo you will understand, but he have hit the window before, maybe it’s because of that??

That on feather is pretty scraggly.. I wouldn't cut out the possibility of plucking completely yet, but 2 feathers isn't much to worry about and lots of birds are molting around now. So just keep an eye on your bird, keep an eye out for pinfeathers and the like to make sure it is just molting.

Owlet said:

That on feather is pretty scraggly.. I wouldn't cut out the possibility of plucking completely yet, but 2 feathers isn't much to worry about and lots of birds are molting around now. So just keep an eye on your bird, keep an eye out for pinfeathers and the like to make sure it is just molting.

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He’s been playing with it so that’s why it is like that, I didn’t take the feather until I saw him playing with it.


Jose

Unless you wish to collect the larger feathers, there is no reason to take it way from them. Playing with a feather does not inspire, nor define plucking.

As stated above, this time of year Parrots commonly are molting. Especially after this last Summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. A healthy Amazon after a Summer like this last one and in preparation for the coming mating season will be replacing a larger than normal number of presentation and body feathers. This to provide a healthy, ready, appearance. Also, to assure that they have a strong base of downy and body feathers to keep them warm in advance of the cooler days ahead.

Plucking is a very specific loss of feathers in a very specific area of the body and /or flight surfaces. Normally, there will be an over-interest by the Parrot in that specific area to a point that the feathers in that area will look ratty and /or thin. This caused by that high level of attention, which commonly results in a loss of (on the body) downy and body feathers resulting in a thin to bare area. On the flight surfaces, there will be multiple flight feathers missing or barbered next to each other. Remember that Parrots molt flight feathers in a very specific pattern to assure that they are always able to fly.

Hope that this helps!

SailBoat said:

Unless you wish to collect the larger feathers, there is no reason to take it way from them. Playing with a feather does not inspire, nor define plucking.

As stated above, this time of year Parrots commonly are molting. Especially after this last Summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. A healthy Amazon after a Summer like this last one and in preparation for the coming mating season will be replacing a larger than normal number of presentation and body feathers. This to provide a healthy, ready, appearance. Also, to assure that they have a strong base of downy and body feathers to keep them warm in advance of the cooler days ahead.

Plucking is a very specific loss of feathers in a very specific area of the body and /or flight surfaces. Normally, there will be an over-interest by the Parrot in that specific area to a point that the feathers in that area will look ratty and /or thin. This caused by that high level of attention, which commonly results in a loss of (on the body) downy and body feathers resulting in a thin to bare area. On the flight surfaces, there will be multiple flight feathers missing or barbered next to each other. Remember that Parrots molt flight feathers in a very specific pattern to assure that they are always able to fly.

Hope that this helps!

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I guess he is jolting then.. i hope so! I will keep you informed as soon as I know.. thanks to what you told me he just got one of the feathers I had taken away, and he loves playing with it lol


Jose

yes it's that time of year.
My Bingo has been loosing a lot of feathers the last week or 2.
Sometimes he plays with them, sometimes he uses them to scratch himself.
Amazons are not generally known for plucking. It can happen but it's rare.

I love the picture of you both inspecting the evidence! Lol my plucker doesn't play with featheres after she plucks them, my non pluckers will play with she'd feathers sometimes. Like Sailboat said she plucks one spot for her it's around her neck only, but she over preens too and foot chews

Okayy that reliefs me! It was just 2 feathers so I didn’t think he was plucking but anyway...

Yeah the pic was coolhahah he stole me the feather after taking it lol


Jose

With feather plucking, there are asymmetrical spots where feathers are missing and often you can see the skin or down tufts....Molts happen in an orderly fashion (most of the time). Many birds over-barber feathers before plucking but not always. A few feathers isn't much. Also, a bird pulling a bent or broken feather isn't plucking.

Mine plays with the big ones. Right now, it looks like somebody plucked a chicken in my house! There are feathers everywhere. I wish molting season would end soon. I am tired of vacuuming!

texsize said:

yes it's that time of year.
My Bingo has been loosing a lot of feathers the last week or 2.
Sometimes he plays with them, sometimes he uses them to scratch himself.
Amazons are not generally known for plucking. It can happen but it's rare.

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I agree with Wes here. I have found a few "big" feathers on the floor of Amys' house,even one or two in her water bowl,however,I haven't seen any "underfluffies" ( body down feathers) yet,but I'm sure they are on their way!




Jim

I'll chime-in with the same response, that it is definitely the "molting season", and this year does seem particularly bad for everyone's birds. If you take an overall-look at the forum right now, it is just riddled with posts about molting/pin-feathers/dry skin and the like right now. So if your bird, or birds are losing feathers right now, even in huge amounts including their down feathers, it's most-likely just them molting, which can go on for quite a while, months even.

As Noodles mentioned, when a bird is actually exhibiting any type of Feather-Destructive Behavior, whether it be Plucking, Barbering, etc., they don't do it in a symmetrical way, or in any "pattern" at all. They typically just find a specific area, or multiple areas, that they start messing with and then they keep working on those. When they molt, typically they lose feathers bilaterally, and in-turn they develop the pin-feathers bilaterally...

****A mistake a lot of bird owners make is focusing on how often they are seeing their bird "messing with their feathers", or "picking at their feathers", etc., when 99%
of the time they are driving themselves insane worrying about the fact that their birds are simply preening themselves normally. All birds spend a good amount of time every day preening themselves. That's just what birds do. A feather gets out of place and they preen themselves. They get feathers wet in their water dish and they preen themselves. They fly across the room and they fix their feathers. And so on and so forth. So you'll drive yourself insane if you focus on how often you see your bird preening themselves and mistake it for Feather-Destructive Behavior...

****Instead of watching for how often your bird is preening itself, what you need to pay attention to is the condition of their feathers in-general, specifically at the ends of their feathers. Usually, and I'll repeat usually, birds who are starting to actually display a chronic Feather-Destructive Behavior don't just start ripping their feathers out in large numbers all of a sudden, it's unfortunately (and fortunately) not that straight-forward; unfortunately because it's not that easy to identify as a problem, but fortunately because if you are able to catch the very beginnings of a Feather-Destructive Behavior, then you have a much better chance of nipping it in the butt before it turns-into full-blown plucking...

So, the best way to monitor your bird in-regards to whether or not they are developing a feather destructive behavior is to take a good look at their feathers at the same time each day; the best time being first thing in the morning, as they tend to really go to work on themselves before they are out of their cages and doing things with you during the day. Take a look at the very ends of their feathers for Barbering, which is the act of your bird literally "chewing" their feathers, usually the ends. Usually it starts with the tips of their tail-feathers, the tips of the feathers on their shoulders and at the top-back of their wings near their shoulders, and the tips of the feathers on their legs. If you take a good look at your bird and it's obvious that your bird's feathers in those areas are all "chewed" at the ends, so that the ends look very "choppy" and uneven, and they continually stay that way, even after a molt when brand-new feathers have grown-in and then again the ends are very quickly chewed-up and uneven, then it's very likely that your bird is "Barbering" itself. "Barbering" is a Feather-Destructive Behavior in and of itself, and some birds never progress into full-blown "Plucking" from Barbering, they simply remain chronic Barberers. However, most birds who do become full-blown Pluckers" do start-out by Barbering themselves, OR they display both behaviors at the same time; some will always Barber certain feathers and Pluck certain feathers in other areas. But if you find a few feathers laying in the bottom of your bird's cage or on the floor in one spot and you're worried that this might be the start of your bird Plucking, take a good look to see if there are any signs of your bird chewing/Barbering any of the ends of the feathers in those areas, if not then it's likely that your bird is simply molting, or just preening themselves and they pulled-out a few feathers that were annoying them in some way.

Anita1250 said:

Mine plays with the big ones. Right now, it looks like somebody plucked a chicken in my house! There are feathers everywhere. I wish molting season would end soon. I am tired of vacuuming!

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I liken it to living inside a cotton gin.

Yes- I was petting Noodles the other day and 2 came out...plus, there were 3 on her cage bottom (I freaked out a little, as she was an over-preener when I first got her)...Nevertheless, she still looks pretty good and most of the feathers I found were crest feathers (which are not her typical over-preening target). I think the weather change etc is mess with birds (at least in the USA).