Plucking chest?

Over the last few days i've noticed ChiChi is missing chest feathers. I have attached some pics and would appreciate any opinions. Does it look like she is moulting, or plucking?

Hmm to me it does resemble plucking from what pictures I've seen online. Did it just happen all of a sudden? I'll leave this to someone with actual experience. Here's hoping its nothing of the sort.

Is this ChiChis first molt?


From what i have seen, it does look like plucking, however it COULD be a serious molt...

Usually their first molt is pretty intense, the next ones, yes, they look scruffy, but you shouldn't have any proper patches without feathers! :/


Here was Fargo's first molt as a baby, you can see how bare he looks in some spaces, it was just very intense.. Looks terrible!




His molts after that have been bad, makes him look a bit scruffy, but he never has noticeable feathers missing!



Really hope its nothing serious with your baby!! Fingers crossed


Are there pin feathers on her chest? Usually with that many feathers missing you should have alot of pin feathers in that area, but doesn't look like there are? :/

and forgive me if i am wrong, but i didnt think conures were actually that prone to plucking? So it could be something medical?

ChiChi is a sensitive bird, my most sensitive bird actually. we have had alot of changes, a new conure, the birth of our second child. So alot has gone on. It is not her first moult, she was born around the end of 2012. She was rehomed to me due to behavioural problems.. too aggressive for her previous owners. The patch of missing feathers happend literally overnight over a 2 day span. When I bought her home in the beginning of 2013 I noticed she had a habit of barbering her moulted feathers, slicing them in half. But she never plucked. I just woke her up to examine her and there are no pin feathers on her chest. I am so upset knowing that she is probably doing this intentionally. I will have to book her in at the vets in the next couple weeks. I was hoping that it was a moult, but my gut tells me it's not..

She's very cute. Definately go with your gut and schedule a vet appt to rule out any health issues. It does sound like a lot of changes, especially for a very sensitive bird. Keep a close eye on her and watch how she grooms. A daily bath will help if she has dry itchy skin. Make sure she has plenty of her favorite stuff to shred to keep her beak busy. Good luck with her, she's just adorable

It is weird it happened so suddenly!

If the moult would of been heavy there would be lots of pin feathers, so something is definitely up!


Schedule a vet appointment to make sure she is all healthy!!

Good luck to you both!

I just thought of something. I moved her cage a metre from where it usually is, and put the lorikeets cage where hers wad previously, so basically switched the cage positions. Could this be why she is upset? I did this 4 days ago.

mimi88 said:

I just thought of something. I moved her cage a metre from where it usually is, and put the lorikeets cage where hers wad previously, so basically switched the cage positions. Could this be why she is upset? I did this 4 days ago.

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Most definately it could be, little things like that can set them off. I would move her back immediately and keep an eye on her. Even moving the cage slightly can cause them to become nervous, insecure and depressed. She might feel she's been demoted, that you favor the lorikeets over her. If that's what happened at the same time she began plucking then it's most likely what it is. Even a new painting or knick-knack can set them off, especially if they're particularly sensitive.

I have moved her back. Will see what happens now. I think I will still take her to a vet though. Maybe get her DNAed while i'm at it, to find out if SHE really is a SHE

Does she have a preening toy in her overnight cage? Mine has a fluffy string toy that dangles at body height and in the evenings she sits preening that

I had a similar situation with my crimson bellied conure. I moved him into a larger cage and within 2 weeks, he had plucked his belly, legs and back. I even put all of his toys in the same place, just further apart. Once I put him back in his old crowded cage and put everything back the way it was, he stopped plucking, his feathers grew back in and he hasn't plucked since. Go figure that he doesn't want a bigger cage...

since I'm at the vets a fair amount, I usually like to ask tons of questions while I'm there.

Evan my A-vet told me that typically when a bird plucks it's always something that has lead up to it, and has usually been brewing for a while, even though everything 'appears' fine, until they start to pluck.

I had taken in Violet, my pretty little cinnamon violet lovebird, she was a mess in literally a two day span, and not knowing the cause I took her in to get checked.

Evan told me that if a bird plucks itself, they USUALLY pluck the feathers(shaft and all) right out.

your bird looks like it's not plucking but could be either stress or nutritional deficiencies....but again that is a guess

I remember when I was at the vets, I said to Evan....I guess if it's plucking it could be 20 different reasons why.....and he looked at me and his reply was...."try more than 20!

the end result for Violet was she was being plucked by her over zealous mate