Plucking Due to Health Problems?

Hey guys. It just dawned on me that for the past few months, Trixie's only been plucking very specific parts of her body. She's been plucking a half inch spot of the right side of her throat/chest, a 1cm area of her right shoulder, and a tiny area on her lower back. I've found her on a few occasions with a very tiny smear of blood on her feathers.

Furthermore, when she mutilates, she screams angrily as if someone's bullying her, then lashes out at whoever's nearby, as if they were the ones hurting her. She's let the rest of her feathers grow in. Does this sound like typical plucker behaviour? I'm thinking of having her more closely examined, but I was wondering what you guys thought in the meantime. Thanks .

I've been told by my CAV a parrot will pick areas that have internal pain or difficulty.

This type of plucking can have a medical source and what Scott is saying has strong merit. It is well worth a visit to your Avian Vet to define further.

I am with Scott, my CAVs tell me the same thimg: localised plucking -> pain underneath or referred pain from a deeper organ.

Huh, okay guys, thanks. When I first got her, she was quite naked¥~. She's a senior and a chronic egg layer as well, but so far she's only laid one egg since I got her this spring. Or was it summer when I adopted her flock? Anyways, she reminds me a lot of Samantha. She's a happy girl and is very sweet. I'll be bringing her to the vet this Thursday.

We are four years into a detailed findings for limiting plucking. Our Double Yellow-Headed Amazon is a plucker with a medical foundation for it. His source is from a series of surgeries of the rum, caused by Heavy Wing Clipping of a Flighted Adult Amazon to the status of a dropped rock.

Having failed to find a long term topical, we are working with reducing the surface skin damage caused by the bill structure that inflames skin. At present, we have been able to define a shape of the bill structure that greatly reduces damage to the skin surface, but does not so alter the bill shape as to limit the Parrots ability to eat or worst cause bill pain via the nerve mass.

Still a year away from perfecting the shape and repeatability methods to maintain the shape. So, too early to jump up and down, but it looks good.

We have gotten to this point based around your method of paying close attention to where and when as a means of understanding the why and how to reduce the need.


Great Thread and method of targeting!!!

Okay, so I think part of the problem is that she appears to have some ingrown feathers. I'm gonna have the vet remove them when I take Poppy in to get her beak shaped. I think another reason for her plucking is because of the swelling in her lower abdomen. She developed this swelling several months back, and the vet isn't sure what it is (we did x-rays and poked at the lump). I think it's probably some sort of benign tumour. Poop has been getting stuck to her bum because of it, but it hasn't gotten any larger and we've been cleaning her bum.

What do you mean "in-grown" feathers? They don't really become "in-grown" like hair does; if the actual follicles on his skin look swollen, red, or inflamed, that's an infection of some kind, and skin infections like that are a very common cause of plucking...However, usually it's not actually an external skin infection at all, even though it looks like it...One of the most common medical causes of plucking, especially if you're seeing what look like infected follicles or an external skin infection, is a Systemic Fungal/Yeast infection...I've seen probably 20+ birds who were plucked come in to the Rescue and the cause was immediately diagnosed as a systemic Yeast infection, they were treated with a prescription Anti-Fungal (and also sometimes an anti-anxiety drug at the same time), and the plucking has stopped completely...They sometimes will give an anti-anxiety drug to the too for short-term use because once birds start plucking, regardless of the reason, they become "addicted" to doing it. When they pluck it releases endorphin, it feels good to them, and because of this they continue to pluck once the systemic Yeast infection is cleared-up...but you need to discuss this with your Certified Avian Vet...

Make sure that your Vet looks at her feathers/skin/follicles, and they do a Swab/Culture of her skin...They should be able to look at it under a microscope in the office and tell if there is a yeast infection causing the plucking and the infection, usually there is a ton of yeast on the surface of their skin...I hope it's that simple...But they don't at all need to "pluck" or "pull" the feathers that look to have infected follicles like you mentioned wanting them to do, as that won't at all solve the issue. Like I said, they aren't "in-grown", feathers don't work that way. They are simply infected and will continue to be infected whether the feather is pulled-out or not, she must be medicated to clear that up...And hopefully that will stop her plucking...i've seen parrots who have plucked for years due to a systemic Yeast infection that has gone undiagnosed. So it's imperative to get your CAV to take a swab of her skin and look at it...

Also, how old is she? You called her a "senior", but she's still laying eggs, which can be an issue that's actually greater than the follicle infection is...I don't know what your idea of a "senior" Budgie is, but a "senior" Budgie to me is in their mid-teens.

Sorry, just read your post now. She went to the vet earlier today and we plucked a bunch of ingrown feathers. And by ingrown, I mean they're all curled up underneath her skin (they've been like that for several months), unable to poke through. They were just about ready to turn into feather cysts/were feather cysts. These feathers definitely weren't going to come out on their own. Some of them had multiple feathers coiled up together under her skin. Some of them had to be cut open with a scalpel to even grab them with the tweezers. Some of the cysts(?) left small holes in her skin after all the ingrown feathers were removed.

The follicles aren't red or inflamed, or anything like that. The feathers Trixie's been plucking are deformed (her previous guardian said she'd been plucking for years, which undoubtedly damaged her follicles). The only "swollen" follicles are the ones that have feathers coiled up under the skin, pushing the skin up. I don't think it's necessarily a yeast infection, but I will ask Dr. Morris to swab her when I bring her in again next week.

I don't know how old Trixie is...oh, just checked my message log with her old guardian, and she hatched December 2013. Holy fudge, she's a freaking baby! Fudge, only Noah and Rosie are younger than her! Geez, she does NOT look good for her age! Geez, Rumi and Lara are at least seven, Ju's at least nine, Poppy's at least four, Alex is probably around nine... I guess when the Kijiji ad said that a pair of budgies, one "senior" were in need of rehoming, it was referring to Cloudy (Cloudy died a few weeks after I adopted him and the rest of his flock). Holy fudge, I'll have to tell Dr. Morris that she's only a baby. I thought she was way older with how mature and nurturing she is, and how freaking old she acts. Geez, might have to get her some anti-anxiety meds or something. I'll try her with dried food-grade lavender first.