feather picking

Hi I am adopting an african grey congo 3 years old who has been hanging out with a macaw and bonded with him and so the lady that I am getting him fromaata the sanctury took him and put him into his own cage and he plucked himself real bad, and so I will be getting him after easter and I am worried about this so much ,the lady thinks he just needed the nuturing from something and he was getting that from the macaw and she thinks he will be fine when I get him if I give him lots of attention and love. also how LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR HIS FEATHERS TO GROW BACK ??? this is the first time he has ever done this. should I not get him? Please help I am scared !! If your wondering why a macaw the sanctury is mostly for macaws they took in a few greys cause there was no where for them to go and they are adopting the greys to new homes. The macaw live there until they pass away. It is their home now.:red:

Feather plucking is very hard to stop, once they start, they may never stop. Sometimes it's health issues. It is really up to you to decide if you want to adopt him and give him all the love. I have a few pluckers that I have been trying to make them stop with different methods, so far none have worked but after all the craziness around here have calm down I'm going to try something else someone suggested on here....With remodeling inside and outside of the house during summer time keeps me very occupied....

I can't imagine why someone would put a Grey (who uses dust for its feathers) with a Macaw (who uses oil) together...

A lot of birds in captivity pluck their feathers, and it's very difficult if not impossible to stop it... They can still be excellent pets, however, since it doesn't affect their personality... It's just a habit...

Don't make your decision on his plucking behaviour, if he's otherwise a nice bird.

my sene is feather chewer, so she looks tatty an down right raggety dec to may, she is about to start her molt, she chews when she is in season over xmas

she is currently taking a nap on my lap, other times when i am on pc she will be currently trying to kill the already chewed up mouse, or prevent my fingers from typing

his feathers can grow back as soon as he molts, if this is his 1st time. they may not if he continues

but it can be very hard to watch them chew new feathers, it was very hard for me last nov when i realised, she had started chewing again, i tried all kinda routines, foods, toys, monitored interaction with an iron fist incase they upset the nut, and this was on top of her flying attacks, biting (she is down to 1 family member a month now . )
when she started again, i kinda left her to it, and the good news is, she is a lot less tattered, from this time last year!!!

could you cope with a self harming bird for the next 30 odd plus years

avicalm is meant to be excellent for feather pluckers,

Yes, if you like the bird take it anyway. A lot of birds have this habit, unfortunately, but it doesn't affect it's ability to be a nice companion. A lot of rescues and sanctuaries encourage the birds to make a birdie friend, so the fact that it was with a macaw isn't that surprising. Macaws as a general rule seem to enjoy having other species around as well as other macaws. I've seen quite a few even befriend tiny birds.

Read everything you can on plucking and take it to the vet so illness and diet can be ruled out as a cause. Because if it is an illness, something can probably be done to stop it. If it's a habit, it may stop in a new home or it may not.

But, there is no reason why it wouldn't be a nice and loving companion for you, and just think, some people wouldn't take it because of it's looks so a loving home is even more important for this poor soul.

My Grey is blind. I didn't know when I adopted her, but even if I had, that wouldn't have stopped me. My horses are both half blind, too. And one of my dogs went deaf. And one horse was completely blind. We have all managed together just fine

It can be very very very very very very (insert a lot more very's) hard to get a plucking bird to stop.

The very first thing you're going to want to due is rule out any and all health problems.

Then do your research and see what your reading ocmes up with. It may be a new enviroment will help settle him in and he just needs time. Your bird's feathers CAN grow back. If my 10 year old nearly fully plucked Grey can still grow feathers, yours can ..

It's painful watching them pluck themselves, I hate it.. I've just settled with having a 'nudist' for a bird and hope that eventually her habit will stop now that she's with me (I just adopted her a month ago.) She does hers out of stress, so I try to make her life as stress-free as I can.

Get your new bird lots of fun toys, rearrange them, lots of attention and hopefully it'll settle in and stop. Hopefully. ^^

That is the part that would bother me, watching them doing it to themselves. And worrying about what is stressing her :-(

My Grey plucked her belly when her previous owners had to start traveling a lot. She is growing new ones here, but until she's done molting I don't know if she will get them all back, or if she will pull them out again. One day when Rowdy stressed her by screaming over and over for a couple of hours, she did pull some back out.

A feather picking bird is a challenge because the risk is that the behavior can actually worsen and progress to self-mutilation, meaning that the bird can actually peck and damage its own skin and flesh, leaving open wounds.

If medical causes for the feather picking have been excluded, then you will need to seriously consider whether you are up to the responsibility of providing an intensive, prolonged and sustained behavioral/foraging/enrichment program that will most likely have to continue for the rest of this bird's life. This program will not be able to be stopped just because the bird has re-feathered, even IF it ever re-feathers, because as soon as you stop this kind of behavioral/foraging/enrichment program, the feather picking is extremely likely to restart again.

How do you feel about living with a feather picked bird that might look untidy/scruffy/ugly and nude?

You mentioned that you are currently very worried and scared. This may or may not be just your initial reaction. If, after researching feather picking behavior in birds, you are still feeling this way, then you should think about not taking on this bird. You should only take on this bird if the bird's well-being is more important to you than it's appearance and behaviors. The bird will most likely be able to read your moods and attitudes, and if you are anxious and afraid around it, especially if you behave in a worried and hand-wringing way, or panic and try to do something to stop it when you see the bird pluck out a feather right in front of your eyes, then the feather picking behavior will only be re-inforced.

More human interaction with this bird might help short-term, but be VERY wary that this CANNOT be the MAIN treatment modality, because it will only result in further neediness and MORE problematic behaviors, when human interaction is withdrawn, eg, when you have to go out, or if/when you get sick or have a family emergency.

The MAIN focus of treatment should be to teach and encourage the bird to do and enjoy independent activities, eg, foraging, playing with toys, exercising (eg, flying), etc.

Frequent showers can also help reduce feather picking behaviors.

Hope this helps.

They're right. You have to search your heart and decide if you can accept this bird as it is. It may not change this plucking. i have seen birds stop it. Your environment, your attention, your care & understanding, all have to be right for this bird. Good luck. I'd take it.

Living with a feather plucker is hard for sure. I'm not going to lie and say it didn't take me a little while to get use ta my ittle nudist. And I HATE it when I see her pull them out. Actually she 'snips' them off, so they're still under the skin (see below.) And won't grow till she molts again.

Gracie says, I'm too sexy for my feathers.

If you take on this bird, never ever expect the plucking to stop. It may go away once he is settled in but never expect it to. Go ahead and except that he may be this way for life (and more than likely will). Ideally it would be nice if he could be rejoined with the Macaw, that may stop it completely. However, no matter if you provide the perfect environment and do everything right, he may still pluck. There is no cure once they start, you can only try to redirect the behavior. Look at it this way, he is an addict. Addicts are addicts for LIFE, they will have stretches and runs of remissions but there will ALWAYS be relapses. He may get settled in and not pick for months (or years), then you come home one day to a pile of feathers on the floor for no apparent reason. You cant give any mind to it when he does it, pretend that it doesn't happen. If you give any attention to the fact that he plucks, it will make it much worse. Look at the situation like this: he has a problem within himself that makes him pluck, there is truly NOTHING you can do to fix it. Love him for him and forget the feathers. Its hard to live with a plucker/shredder as you will always have to feeling of 'if I did more he would stop', not true. You must remove your own emotions and detach yourself from the plucking behavior.

If you cant except that the bird will pluck for the rest of his life, no matter how hard you try to get him to stop, then don't get the bird. You have to except this behavior. I'm not trying to tell you to not get him but if the thought of him plucking for the rest of his life is something that you cant stand, then I would suggest getting a different bird.

Rome is a shredder, she is also one of the coolest birds I have ever met. In the beginning I foolishly thought I could stop it. I was hard on me to come home and see a pile of feathers, it bothered me because I felt that I was doing something wrong (sound familiar? This is how spouses feel when they live with an addict). It took a bit to move past that. I provide her with the best situation possible for her to live in and have excepted that this is who she is. Sometimes she goes a month or two and then decides to shred for no apparent reason. It just is who she is and forever will be.

On a related note... what of a bird that doesn't "pluck" much, but preens and grooms to the point that it looks ragged, not much tail left, etc. Easier or harder to overcome?

Beemer said:

On a related note... what of a bird that doesn't "pluck" much, but preens and grooms to the point that it looks ragged, not much tail left, etc. Easier or harder to overcome?

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It could be a nervous habit. I would provide a lot of preening type toys. A big cotton ball of knots is great for birds that like to preen. It can preen the cotton strands and untie the knots as well for additional mental stimulation. I have one for my conure because she loves to preen hair. She likes cuddling with it, too, and even takes a nap on top of it sometimes. I get them from an ebay seller called "abirdtoy". She calls them block mops. If she doesn't have any on ebay she will make them for you if you message her. I'm going to have her make some for Merlin and Pete as well.

Hey, Roxy, I also buy from "Abirdtoy" on ebay. She's great, isn't she? Has a lot of good things.

BillsBirds said:

Hey, Roxy, I also buy from "Abirdtoy" on ebay. She's great, isn't she? Has a lot of good things.

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She is great. She made those things in bulk for my Blue Crown who saw untying the knots as her life's work. She knew she could fit 3 into a priority mail envelope for me to save on shipping. And whenever I've messaged her about getting more, she has had them made for me by the next day.

I am happy to report that I just inspected Merlin's belly and she does actually have almost all her feathers back. So now I need to hope she lets them stay there I often can't get a good look because she likes to lay on me when she's out, lol! As soon as I get her out, she will dive towards my shirt.

Molcan2 said:

If you take on this bird, never ever expect the plucking to stop. It may go away once he is settled in but never expect it to. Go ahead and except that he may be this way for life (and more than likely will). Ideally it would be nice if he could be rejoined with the Macaw, that may stop it completely.

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I would also be interested, if you're willing to delay your adoption yet again, whether or not the behaviour resolves its-self if you put him back with the macaw?

I believe everything that needs to be said has been said already. And it really comes down to your decision as to whether you are up for it. But i will say that ignoring them when they pluck is HARD, all you want to do is tell them to stop and make it okay and allowing it to stress you out can also stress them out because they know when you are agitated.

It really bugs me when i have people over who dont know parrots, and i feel like they automatically assume that i am a bad parront, or that my baby is diseased or something and they treat me, and him, differently for it.

You really do have to be prepared to accept him as bald for the rest of his life. But you are also never allowed to completely give up hope that the great new idea you have had for him to play with tomorrow might just work.

Even perfectly happy, healthy, active & well entertained parrots on great diets can start to pluck. I own two of them (both Goffins). One is even adorable during the breeding season which is the only time she plucks & then only down to her soft white & salmon fuzzies & not the skin; I call her my little emu (no tail) during those months. The other (a rescue who was plucked when I got her) plucks to the skin during the same period.

I think people get too anxious about plucking. That anxiety can only make the bird more anxious. I really don't care about plucking. As long as they're healthy, happy & not self-mutilating beyond just feathers, it's fine with me.

But you have to search your soul & determine if you can love & accept a nakid parrot bird knowing that like nail biting, feather plucking is a habit that is extremely difficult if not impossible to break & that this bird could be naked for life.

Personally, until the subject comes up, I don't even see the nakedness any more. They're just my sweet, lovable little fids.

UPDATE I did not get the feather picker, she decide to keep him there at the rescue, Atleast he was not offered to me again, I ended up with a three year old female named LUCY she is a delight I am truely inlove!!!!! I posted pictures of her on my album , she is not a plucker at all just adorable and so far doesn't talk much but I do not care I just love her so much If she never talks too much thats okay, I am not gonna say that I do not want her to , I do. she does mumble alot to herself really quiet like , she does blurt out Hello really loud and whistles and make phone sounds and back up truck beeps and alot lof other silly sounds. I have had her for about 7 weeks.

Congratulations!