New baby galah - bald spots???? Plucking or still growing??

Hi,

I just received my galah cockatoo on Sept. 3rd, 2012. I see little fuzz of hair every day not a lot but enough for me to notice. My baby girl is only 4 months old and her name is Lola. The fuzziest that I see on her could it be because she is still growing or is my little girl plucking? I've given her a bath this morning and still came home to a bit of fuzz in the cage but she has shredding toys, forgaging toys, musical toys, ropes, wood toys, perches and of course her food and drinks. She is getting pretty bird pellets and human food. I've only fed her what I get out of the book "sharing your table with your birds". My concern is that if it was plucking she was probably doing it before she got here because she was in a cage with no toys but is it normal for a baby to start so young? She is only in her cage while I'm at work and to sleep otherwise she is always with us even when we travel on the road. However she does seem to always be preening. I've decided I'm going to give her a shower every morning before I leave because i dont know if she ever had one before, by her reaction I think not.

When I had first got her, I had the vet come and check her out. She is completely healthy all blood work came back negative. What concerns me is that I think this is when she may have started plucking if she is because I think she was completely stressed. This vet advised me to trim her wings just for training purposes and then I can allow it to grow after because I'm aware that it's best to keep them flighted so I agreed. She asked to trim her nails and I told her just a little but not completely because I didnt want her to be off-balanced however she trimmed her nails so low that she hit the nerve on one of them and had to put the powder on it. I found the experience to be stressful and afterward poor Lola was having difficulty standing on wooden perches and stayed on her rope perches. I could feel it when I was holding her because her grip wasn't steady.

Anyhow I'm wondering if I'm overreacting... I haven't seen any feathers at all just fuzzballs but when I spread her wings I see bald spots in hidden places.... Does it just have to grow in still because she is still young or do I have a deeper issue here? PLEASE any insight would help.

At 4 months old she should have all her feathers. Her first molt will not be for several months. If there is a lot of down showing something is not right. She may be plucking but I recommend you get another full check up and have bloodwork done for some diseases too, such as beak and feather.

You don't have to clip a bird in order to train them....

And although it's not unheard of, it is rare for a young parrot under a year old to pluck, unless for health reasons.

She was tested for all the major diseases including beak and feather.

I did bloodwork and everything else that was required for a first checkup cost me 360.00 for everything... Is it possible that the bloodwork is wrong? That seems odd. I can't see any bald spots by looking at her and she has no feathers around her cage but I do find little fuzzies around but when I pet her I still find pin feathers and I see the little fuzzies near her skin.

However today we were doing a flying exercise and I see a little fuzz fall out... So could it just be that maybe she is behind in growth? Because I know for a fact she wasn't preening or anything before the flying exercise and the fuzz just fell out...

http://www.parrotforums.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=1473

this is Lola taken today Sept. 17th, 2012.... I think she looks beautiful but if you look closely on her wing it looks like she has short feathers there... It was like that when I got her and I'm not sure if that is her plucking or just badly injured maybe another bird had got to her at the breeders.... I have no idea... Any thoughts?

Honestly, she looks fine! (to me) Perhaps a bit ruffled, but fine! Feathers naturally fall out like hair does to be replaced with new growth. Four months does seem a bit young but it doesn't sound as if she's going through a molt yet, so I'm sure that when she goes go through her first one, she'll look fabulous afterwards!

Thanks MonicaMc, I do think I was over-reacting now as I've looked at different pictures of what a plucked feather looks like and none resemble what Im talking about. It's not a feather it's just a fuzz ball lol. And you can't see any skin when she spreads her wings only when I stretch it out.

Cassy it's very normal for her to drop her baby down feathers at her age. She will go through a little molt at around 6 months where she will replace feathers around her face & head.

Welcome to Galahs. Chewbaca can leave a pile of fluffies and dander after preening, which she does a lot. She sheds easily ten times as much as Greybeard, and still is fully feathered, except for the trimmed flight feathers. It's amazing how fast one of those can grow out after the trimmed one is pulled.

OMG you guys made me want to cry! Thank you so much Pedro and Portaperch!!

You dont understand how I was so worried, thinking I'm doing something wrong or she wasn't happy but I couldnt find anything and then I said it cant be plucking because I dont see any feathers just fluff lol. OMG you two have made my day! I feel so relieved! Because I was like I just took her to the vet could she have gotten sick in that time... But all bloodwork for diseases were negative and she seems happy... I thought it was down feathers but wasnt sure! I feel like an overprotective mother!

Portaperch, you trimmed the wings... What about them stating that she can get fatty tumors? Currently Lola is trimmed but I do flying exercises with her everyday which she seems to love but I was debating within myself if it was the right thing to do.

Wow! Thank you guys so much! I feel like jumping for joy! Right now I'm making us greek style shrimp served over ratattouille garnished with micro green salad with lemon vinaigrette. I hope she likes it!!

Cassycass, fat tumors usually are a problem with Galahs only fed a seed diet. Although your baby is allowed 10 sunflower seeds a day. Usually used as a training treat but other raw nuts would be a better choice.

If you feed your Galah a well balanced low fat diet, with heaps of sprouts, veg & fruit, pellets & a few raw nuts.

Good luck they are fun. I was the 3rd owner of a Galah & he was 70 years old when he passed away last year.

oh wow... Pedro, thank you so much!

I'm feeling better as she is definitely not on a seed diet however she hasn't touched any fruits. Any ideas on what else I can do to get her to eat fruits? She usually eats whatever I give her but not when it comes to fruits. Which I'm not too worried about as they have sugar content but it would be nice for her to eat my apple salad hahaha

Flight is still great for them. It helps to burn fat, keep them in shape (especially good for hens in case they ever lay eggs), great for them mentally, etc.

It's better to feed fruits than table sugar or syrup. Between the two, fruits are *far* healthier! Although you really don't want to feed more than 10-15% of the diet as fruits. Berries and exotic fruits are great! But apples, bananas and oranges are ok too. You might try dried fruits with no added preservatives (if you can find any) such as dried apples, bananas, coconut, raisins, papaya, pineapple... fresh is best, but some dried fruit as a treat isn't that bad.

One pound of dried apples has more sugar in it than one pound of fresh apples.

If you take two pounds of apples, leave one pound fresh and dry the other pound, then they have the same amount of sugar in them. The difference? Water content and perhaps nutrients.

How much can a fully flight feathered large bird fly inside a house, or especially in a cage?

Ours get lots of climbing exercise that they wouldn't get if they were flying. Sure, it's a trade-off.

Galah's are not fruit eaters they actually eat seeds in the wild.

Cassy here is a great link that will give you some ideas of what you can feed your baby.

The Australian Galah - Article 008

Wing clipping is a personal choice & we each do it for our oun reasons. Just because a parrot isn't flighted there are a heap of other ways to enrich their captive life. I agree PortaPerch climbing is a great way to exercise & i have never had a parrot with mental issues because of a wing clip.

Some ideas of enrichment for your Galah.

Parrot Enrichment

Thank you Monica, Portaperch and Pedro! You've been great!

Pedro I will check out those links. You can do all the research in the world but it's a whole new ball game when you actually have the bird in your home. It's just like a baby!

I'm enjoying every minute of it!!