Barbering his feathers again...

Eli has a history of Barbering and every time his feathers are just about perfect he goes at his belly again. I noticed a pile of down feathers in his cage after I had been out for a good chunk of the day today. And his belly is mostly downy feathers now without the exteriors. I can't help but feel like I'm not doing well by him because he's a barberer (luckily no plucking), doesn't talk, hates anything healthy, is hydrophobic, and attacks people. He sees Avian cert vets 2-3 times a year healthy or not. He has several hours of out time a day, interaction and toys and foraging. He's fully flighted because he barbers less then and unless he needs to be clipped, it's my responsibility to adapt my home to him, not change him to make him work in my home. I think clipping is cruel and birds fly. I signed up for a bird, not an amputated bird... Just my thought. I read research on avians in general. I'm a knowledgeable and honestly to the book home. But I just wish I could be sure that he was happy at least.

I feel like he's always molting because of the Barbering he always has new pinnies coming in... Some pictures of him today after seeing he had barbered. Also whoa, dander and pin feather sheaths galore!

I guess I could just use some encouragement because I'm feeling discouraged tonight.





Thanks.





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HI. Sorry to hear about your frustrations. I am by no means an authority. In fact, although I have had birds in the past, I have only had my Grey for about a month.

My guy is an older adopted Grey and I have noticed that he gets "mad" when he wants to come out but can't. He will take out his frustration on his shredding toys. He has also started pulling a few feathers.

I know you mentioned that you have toys for your Grey, but are they shredders? I buy some shredders for my Grey but make a lot of cardboard ones. These seem to be his favorites. He really enjoys tearing the cardboard. Also he loves adding machine paper. I hang a roll and he goes to town pulling and shredding.
I truly believe it helps with HIS frustrations.

Good luck!

I get it.... it is very frustrating that a well loved bird will still do that to himself.
It is in no way critisism on you or a sign you do something very wrong.


It is a pitty you can't get him to take a bath or spray him/ enjoy a shower.
Mine always were better after one (even the "barbering" one / sorry, I am *so* used to call them 'pluckers' ).
Maybe try again? But keep his head absolutely dry (most of mine *hate* getting water anywhere near their ceres/ unless they put it there themselves - but once they found out that was not necessary they started to enjoy it).


My first CAG never really stopped plucking and still was the best parrot I ever had.
It's not about the cover - it's about the story in the book.
Make it a good one!


:40: (just for you, hope it cheers you up a tiny bit)

I have read of CAG's that have everything in the world + lots of attention and out of cage time yet they still pluck and or barber..

I feel your pain. I am sometimes embarrassed to show pictures of my Bella Because she both plucks and barbers.
But I know she is happy and she is in better condition that when I rescued her.



this was how she looked when I first saw her.

bella 04-18 by wes mcfaden, on Flickr

this is now.

texsize said:

I have read of CAG's that have everything in the world + lots of attention and out of cage time yet they still pluck and or barber..

I feel your pain. I am sometimes embarrassed to show pictures of my Bella Because she both plucks and barbers.
But I know she is happy and she is in better condition that when I rescued her.

this was how she looked when I first saw her.

bella 04-18 by wes mcfaden, on Flickr

this is now.

Click to expand...

Eli has been there. They look a lot alike. He was starting to pick the itchy and painful new pins on his belly and got an infection once. Needed to use a cone to keep him from hurting himself while it healed. Even with help he wouldn't eat. So then the av cert vet admitted him to hyperbaric oxygen chamber, vet wrap to keep his neck from being able to reach but he could perch without the cone. Wouldn't eat. Lost almost a third of his weight. Finally he would eat for me and he healed with heavy antibiotics. See pics.
All the damage was done over 2-3 days and the last picture was me visiting him with every treat possible to urge him to eat anything. He hadn't eaten in 2 full days. He finally did one the doctor left and it was just us. He had a biopsy to check for beak and feather and so little man had stitches too. We've been through a lot.





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Poor thing looks like he’s gon through a lot.

I do hope he gets better.

When I got Bella I thought I knew what I was getting into. I knew I could give her a better life than where she came from. See http://www.parrotforums.com/incredible-journeys-bird-stories-bird-lovers/66692-bella-s-story.html

I did not realize what a .....continuing problem it would be.

I would liken it to smoking in humans. It’s difficult to quit and even if you do it’s to easy to go back to when somthing goes wrong in your life (speaking from experience here).

Lots of love ❤️ and attention helps. Shower’s help. It took me 5 months to get Bella to accept showering with me. Now she can’t wait for my morning shower. First time she screamed like I was going to eat her.

How did you do showers? Just make her? Doesn't feel like I should. He's so scared. How often does she get showers now


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Welcome to the forum!

I understand your frustration, I know you didn't expect this when you adopted Eli, but with adopted parrots, especially Greys, Cockatoos, Macaws, etc., you not only get the parrot, you get that parrot's entire past-life, just as you do when you adopt a young, human child.

Do you know much of his history prior to coming to you? Was he a plucker prior to you bringing him home, or did he only start plucking once you brought him home? (If you are his original owner and have had him since he was a baby, at what age did he start?)

What is his normal, daily diet?

When is the last time he had a complete blood-panel done?

With a bird going through this, sometimes a couple CAV visits a year is not enough, unfortunately, nor is every CAV the same. Does your CAV have a lot of experience with treating pluckers? There is a huge difference, trust me...

Also, has your CAV done any specialty blood-work, cultures, imaging tests that are focused on plucking? There are many blood tests that must be done on a chronic plucker in order to rule-out a physical cause, rather than a psychological/behavioral cause...That's always step #1, having all of these medical/health tests done to rule-out a physical/medical cause...

Also, have you gone through your entire home-environment to ensure that it is not being caused by any cleaning products/scent products/fumes from your heating/cooling system/fumes from any household appliance, pots and pans, heaters, blow dryers, etc.? Anything at all in the room he is in, or out the windows of the room he is in?

I'm sure you've gone through all of this, but you can never be too sure...

I've been lucky that my Perjo isn't much of a plucker, she preens a lot and seems to go through a slow gradual molt for about 4 mos, with a minor acute molt once a year. However she has a tendency to barber some of her flight feathers and I think she may have permanently limited her ability to fly as some primary flight feathers never seem to come back when she molts or maybe she gets to them before they get a chance to mature. Vet said trauma to a feather can cause a permanent issue in which said feather never comes back.

I have to monitor this, she flies but not so well, bums me out.

Absolutely heartbreaking. :smile016: I’m so sorry.
One of my biggest fears. Levi is only 2 and has not started doing this, but it’s always present on my mind.
A while back I read a great thread all about this. It was very enlightening. I don’t remember the name of it, but I’ll look for it. If I can find it I’ll share the link.
Please know my thoughts are w/ all of you who are struggling to resolve this self-destructive & self-mutilating behavior. :heart:


I found it-
http://www.parrotforums.com/congo-timneh-greys/73737-observation-about-plucking.html

Hope this is helpful….

If taking a shower is an issue.... make your bathroom a fun place to be first.

Greys can either take stuff at facevalue of really need to acclimatize to things slowly (I can never predict which one it is going to be this time, they keep me on my toes ).


I introduce them to the room (without water running etc.) first, so they can 'take their bearings'
- and if they are okay with that just casually open een tap for a bit (serval times if needed) so they can see and hear and get used to the change in sounds etc. etc.
Bathrooms are echochambers and that could also disorient them (as they react to sound almost as much as to visuals) and make them uncomfortable.

Once they are comfortable with that and have found a 'safe spot' to sit - go have a short shower while obviously 1- enjoy yourself mightily 2- ignore them like mad!!

The second part is very difficult to fake- but if you keep staring at them for signs of them being uncomfortable...that is just what they will be!
They will get the vibe that something is very wrong, otherwise you would not be so tense ...
(sometimes it would be *so* much easier if they did not read people so well )
Anyway: sing and splash about and have a ball.
and for goodness sake... relax!

They don't have to love it (yet) but even sitting quietly is a great sign.
As your showertime builds - so does the steam, and that *will* make them feel better.
Just like introducing new foods ...it takes time.

(I said it before: mine really *hate* getting their face wet, so it you start splashing them... be gentle

Watertemperature is also important- not all of them like it cold (or hot), but lukewarm might be 'too chilly' - I start at parrot-body-temperature and vary a bit and see what they like/ dislike.
No worries- they will let you know.

I am lazy so prefer the shower to spraybottles (empty too fast and my hands get tired).

It is not about training them to like it, its about training yourself to make them dislike it the least
(does that even make sense?)


Anyway- since they really like to come along given the choice I guess they like it?
(I almost always give them a choice to take a shower with me or not - most of the time they enthousiasticly want to come with.)

Eli LOVES the bathroom and actually flew into my head the other day when I was getting out of the shower. Maybe he's starting to be interested. He does love baths but he takes them so rarely and doesn't get very wet at all. He enjoys making a mess and loves that I play splash splash by elmo and friends! Maybe I'll play it for my shower. He sits on the sink playing with his bathroom toys. We call it having a bathroom party!


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Sounds like a big bowl of fun!!


Oh...they really like just sitting on my shoulder and soak away.
(they both can fly rather well, so would not be there if they objected)
But... if they sit somewhere else and I offer to spray them there ... it's "no, ma'am, we don't like that one bit!"
That's greys for you...