A long time plucker

I recently got a 22 year male scarlet macaw. He has been living in an outdoor aviary and been a breeder bird all his adult life. I was told that he started plucking, when he lost his mate.

I spoke to the previous owner yesterday and found out, that it was not his most recent loss of mate, but 10 years ago he started plucking.

I have now had him for 2½ weeks and he has been SO sweet. He really is clingy and he even wants to sleep under the blanket with me. I have now started to see a pattern in his plucking.

Even if he is with me 24 hours a day, he may pluck if I am not awake. If I am awake and he is with me, he doesn't pluck.

The other day, when I had visitors he went voluntarily in his cage (it is never closed, but it's where his food and water is). After a while we noticed he was licking his bare chest as a form og self comfort.

"Fortunately" he is barbing and not plucking. It seems the folicles are not damaged and small down are starting to grow again.

I am thinking about sowing him a collar a bit like a poncho to make it a bit harder for him to get at his feathers, but I am a bit unsure if it's a good idea. I mean I am dealing with a long time addict and I am not sure what a cold turkey will do to his mental health.

I might need to add he has only barbed less than 1 feather a day, but it still frustrates me and if there is anything I can do to improve his life, I will.

I took in a plucking Macaw .The only time I saw a change in her is when we put a new lighting system.She is my best talker with her big personality.She seems happy ,I'm careful with her diet.I don't stress thinking I can change it anymore.I accept it's something she is going to do.

Long time Plucker's represent a confusing mix of reasons why and different methods of helping them. The want: bring them health and comfort, then distraction and always lots of Love. Someplace in this mix maybe the correct combination to reduce the Plucking. If not, long term Loving Acceptance of who they are is always the correct tool.

Regarding distraction, the soft, sewn collars are a help as they provide another option for their attention. Please try it.

SailBoat said:

Long time Plucker's represent a confusing mix of reasons why and different methods of helping them. The want: bring them health and comfort, then distraction and always lots of Love. Someplace in this mix maybe the correct combination to reduce the Plucking. If not, long term Loving Acceptance of who they are is always the correct tool.

Regarding distraction, the soft, sewn collars are a help as they provide another option for their attention. Please try it.

Click to expand...

I could sew one with fringes to start with, where he does have another option, but can still lick/bite the feathers for a while and then later change it to a more solid cloth collar?

I should probably mention, that he plucked the first 2 days, then not one feather for little more than a week. I have started getting him used to pellets, but due to him getting a diarrhea I was advised by the vet to go back to a seed diet until the stool normalized again. It has been since he got diarrhea he has started plucking again and have plucked about 1 feather a day.

SilleIN said:

SailBoat said:

Long time Plucker's represent a confusing mix of reasons why and different methods of helping them. The want: bring them health and comfort, then distraction and always lots of Love. Someplace in this mix maybe the correct combination to reduce the Plucking. If not, long term Loving Acceptance of who they are is always the correct tool.

Regarding distraction, the soft, sewn collars are a help as they provide another option for their attention. Please try it.

Click to expand...

I could sew one with fringes to start with, where he does have another option, but can still lick/bite the feathers for a while and then later change it to a more solid cloth collar?

Click to expand...

The fringes have merit! The goal of a soft collar is to act as a distraction, something else to attend to other then the feathers. The fringes should be long enough to limit eating and heavy enough to be noticed.

I dislike the harder /solid types of collars since it tends to only build-up the want to pluck. Where the soft cloth allow them something to distract them and with lots of hope and time wean them a way from their feathers.

SilleIN said:

I should probably mention, that he plucked the first 2 days, then not one feather for little more than a week. I have started getting him used to pellets, but due to him getting a diarrhea I was advised by the vet to go back to a seed diet until the stool normalized again. It has been since he got diarrhea he has started plucking again and have plucked about 1 feather a day.

Click to expand...

Once normalized, consider adding a few pellets at a time. Over time, slowly switch to more and more pellets.

Our Amazons commonly come to us on all sun flower seed diet. We first switch them to a wide cross-section of seeds, grains, nuts, and freeze dried fruits and veggies and add Pellets to it over time. Once our Amazons stop eating just the sun flower seed, we reduce their amounts to a point that he gets no sun flower seed at all.

I believe in and provide a wide cross-section of seeds, grains and nuts common to what our Amazon would have found in its natural range. We add Pellets as an enrichment to the diet. We feed a fresh natural 'chop' first thing in the morning that varies during the year. After that is all over the place, we provide and maintain the dry mix all day long.

I have noticed that with an all or nearly all Pellet diet, Parrots tend to either dunk them in water or drink lots of water to off set the dryness of the Pellets. As a result, it is 'possible' for them to drink more!

One of the things my vet explained to me with Charlotte is they don't always pluck during the time or activities that cause them anxiety. Often times they wait until they are alone and it's quiet and then they pluck to self sooth. He likened it to cutting in humans. A person who's cutting isn't going to whip a knife out in front of others when he or she is feeling the stressor. They will wait until they have privacy. He advised me to watch for other cues that Charlotte is feeling stressed and do what I can to reduce those moments in order to help the night time plucking.

I will confess something only to help...I have a habit very much like feather plucking. It's not obvious to others and doesn't cause any health problems, but it's embarrassing and so I try to conceal it. I've tried for many years to stop it, and sometimes I do stop for years only to start up again in a stressful situation. I have noticed that it is somewhat automatic, a habit .. If I am watching a movie, or TV, I might start doing it. But if I am occupied doing something with my hands, I don't. I think it is the same way with birds. The plucking is a habit, something that is comforting to the bird, an outlet for a stress that the bird might not even be aware of. That's why a bird that's chewing a toy doesn't pluck, because if the beak is busy doing something else, it can't pluck. That's why we have trouble with Gus, he barbers his feathers when he's being petted because it starts him preening. If he's shredding paper or bopping his toys he doesn't barber. I hope that if he stays distracted for long enough, the habit will weaken. It may be the same with your baby ... He learned the habit over a long time, for whatever reason, maybe it just soothed him when he was alone or gave an outlet for stress. Oh, I hope your baby is the same way, and will begin to let go of this habit now that he has you, and has so much to do.

Kentuckienne said:

I will confess something only to help...I have a habit very much like feather plucking. It's not obvious to others and doesn't cause any health problems, but it's embarrassing and so I try to conceal it. I've tried for many years to stop it, and sometimes I do stop for years only to start up again in a stressful situation. I have noticed that it is somewhat automatic, a habit .. If I am watching a movie, or TV, I might start doing it. But if I am occupied doing something with my hands, I don't. I think it is the same way with birds. The plucking is a habit, something that is comforting to the bird, an outlet for a stress that the bird might not even be aware of. That's why a bird that's chewing a toy doesn't pluck, because if the beak is busy doing something else, it can't pluck. That's why we have trouble with Gus, he barbers his feathers when he's being petted because it starts him preening. If he's shredding paper or bopping his toys he doesn't barber. I hope that if he stays distracted for long enough, the habit will weaken. It may be the same with your baby ... He learned the habit over a long time, for whatever reason, maybe it just soothed him when he was alone or gave an outlet for stress. Oh, I hope your baby is the same way, and will begin to let go of this habit now that he has you, and has so much to do.

Click to expand...

Me too. It looked so good to start with as he had stopped for little over a week. He is now interested in toys and is active.

Come to think of it, his diarrhea started when the new baby arrived There could be a link as Trudi really likes to fly to Tinos cage and sit on it. I always take her away, but maybe he feels he doesn't get his "safe place" to himself. Maybe I should find a solution, where Trudi can't fly to his cage.

SailBoat said:

SilleIN said:

I should probably mention, that he plucked the first 2 days, then not one feather for little more than a week. I have started getting him used to pellets, but due to him getting a diarrhea I was advised by the vet to go back to a seed diet until the stool normalized again. It has been since he got diarrhea he has started plucking again and have plucked about 1 feather a day.

Click to expand...

Once normalized, consider adding a few pellets at a time. Over time, slowly switch to more and more pellets.

Our Amazons commonly come to us on all sun flower seed diet. We first switch them to a wide cross-section of seeds, grains, nuts, and freeze dried fruits and veggies and add Pellets to it over time. Once our Amazons stop eating just the sun flower seed, we reduce their amounts to a point that he gets no sun flower seed at all.

I believe in and provide a wide cross-section of seeds, grains and nuts common to what our Amazon would have found in its natural range. We add Pellets as an enrichment to the diet. We feed a fresh natural 'chop' first thing in the morning that varies during the year. After that is all over the place, we provide and maintain the dry mix all day long.

I have noticed that with an all or nearly all Pellet diet, Parrots tend to either dunk them in water or drink lots of water to off set the dryness of the Pellets. As a result, it is 'possible' for them to drink more!

Click to expand...

The poop is quite normal again and I added a few pellets to his food bowl last night. I had only added about 30% pellets to his regular diet, but he is also getting fruit (being withheld for a week now) which could have set his stomach off.

At the same time I got a new macaw baby, who really wants to get close to him (still trying to have them seperated for a little while eventhough they have all been to the vet for a check up) so that could also be the stressor.

At any rate I will sew a collar with cloth fringes to see if that can replace his barbering.

I have today made 3 different collars/jackets.

The first one is made with teddy bear fabric and a sturdy nylon rim closed with a velcro. He soon found out to take that one off, so no good. Off to the drawing board.

Then I found an old sweatshirt and I cut the end off the sleeve off and made a small jacket and put fringes on the front to keep him occupied. This went ok until he found out to open the velcro on the lower back. Again off to the drawing board.

Then I made a collar of the other sleeve, where I just cut the fringes off the fabric and let it flap around him. This he was not able to take off. HOWEVER after he has had a collar on most of the day, I noticed he have not eaten at all during the day I then took the collar off and he immediately attacked the food bowl. He has been so stressed about the collar, that that is not a solution for him.

I really hope he does not "shave" off a bunch of feathers tonight as a result of my experiments.

I am not sure I am completely done with the collar idea, but I need to do it better and more gradual than just put it on him.

He is used to get a jacket on, when we go outside and he now doesn't mind it too much as he knows when he gets the jacket on, we go outside or even go flight training, which he enjoys.

Good news!

Destino has now been diarrhea free for about 3 days and not a single feather has been bitten off since

Fingers, toes, and feathers crossed here!

1 week anniversary for non-plucking

I have also found a way to get Tino to flight train, where he will actually move his wings. Think I need to add some history here;

Tinos left wing has had an injury at some stage. The wing can't extend fully and all my efforts to get him to voluntarily flap his wings have all been in vain. Eventhough he might never fly again I still bring him to the indoor riding arena, when I train the other 2 macaws (my B&G couldn't fly when I got him, but through dedicated work, he now flies very well)

One day as I was going to the arena, there was a head wind. Tino started to lean towards the wind, but as I got behind the arena, the wind disappeared and Tino took a forward tumble. Fortunately I always have them in a secure harness, which has a large loadbearing area on both front and back, so Tino never hit the ground, but was stopped about 20 inches off the ground. Before I could get him up again, he started to flap his wings as if he was flying

I am now trying to make different designs of harnesses, that will be easily put on AND have a soft cloth base to support the entire front of the bird, so I can run with him, while he is flapping his wings. It looks a bit like when you hold a dog over water and they start paddling, just with a bird and flight

Any thoughts and/or recommandations would be greatly appreciated Anything I should be careful about?

PS: I have been told by several plucker specialists, that they rarely see a flighted plucker, so I am hoping flight could help heal Tinos plucking.

No additional ideas here, just congratulations and a lot of admiration for you. Both.

What a great idea. I always assumed Gus would never fly, but maybe he could also flap in a harness. If I can get him to wear a harness. I thought of getting a perch in a swing, for him to hold on to while I run with him, but even that is risky as he doesn't have a lot of strength in his feet yet. I will be watching to see what you come up with! Best of luck to you both.

I have "come up with" this design





It's basically just a kitten harness and I have sewn a pad for the chest out of an old sleeping pad for camping/hiking with just some cloth outside and a strap to keep the pad in place.

I have only used it once, but it seems to be kept in place and as I am not putting a harness over his head, it's not too bad to put on

Kentuckienne; if you can try to put a kitten harness on Gus, this should also be ok. I have bought this harness on aliexpress.com for $1. If you are not comfortable with sewing a pad, I can sew you one. I will obviously need to send it to the US, so don't know what that costs, but I will do it, if it can help Gus

You are so sweet to offer that! I can sew well enough to make one using your excellent photos and descriptions. The first step will be teaching Gus to wear a kitten harness, and that may be quite a step.

Kentuckienne said:

You are so sweet to offer that! I can sew well enough to make one using your excellent photos and descriptions. The first step will be teaching Gus to wear a kitten harness, and that may be quite a step.

Click to expand...

A little tip to get him to accept it is to get Mr K to pin it to his clothes for a few days. This way Gus gets to see it and see that it is not dangerous. I usually pin right below my right shoulder with a safety pin as they usually sit on my right arm, so the new object is right in front of them

Update on Tino.

I found an absess in one of the feather folicles on one of his flight feathers on his left wing. I was about to call the vet whether to pull the feather out to get to the absess, but Tino pulled the feather out himself. I have therefore been able to clean and disinfect the folicle. This is about a week ago.

Tino has not been preening his tail feathers, so I have been removing the sheaths for him, when they were ready.

For the past week I noticed, that there doesn't seem to be any sheath ready for preening. I today saw, that he is now preening his tail himself

I really hope that the absess and the inability to preen himself all over is the cause for his plucking and that this is the stop to it.

Only time will tell. It seems now, that I am on top of all his physical issues (except for the "broken" wing). A lot of folicles has growth in them still, but there might be some dead areas.

Is there any thing I can give him to improve feather growth? I know selenium for humans are good for hair growth. Does birds have something like that?