Help!

KevGallagher · Oct 24, 2014

Hey, I am a new Green Cheek owner, and I've just started having a problem with my conure. He's had some problems with chewing his tail in the past/present, but that seemed like it was fixed for the most part, until just recently, he's been deliberately and incessantly plucking at his down feathers, and down feathers only.

What's going on with this behavior? He normally only gets chewy if I am away from the house for long periods of time, but this just seems to happen?

Sunset_Chaser · Oct 24, 2014

Has anything changed that could be bothering him? Diet, schedule, new cage, cage being moved etc?

Allee · Oct 24, 2014

Hello and welcome! It would be helpful to know how old your bird is and how long you've had him. If you just brought him home recently, stress from the move could be a factor. Is your bird molting? Pin feathers can cause a bird to pick more often than usual. Dry skin could be a possibility. I would check the humidity and give him more frequent baths and see if that helps.

KevGallagher · Oct 24, 2014

So far, the only thing that has changed is his bedtime, where I am trying to slowly wean him from 8 down to seven over the course of a week and a half. Though, I did take him to get his nails clipped a day ago, and he struggled enough that he accidentally got nicked by the dremmel.

As for how long I have had him, I've had the little guy since March, and he's about 1 and a half years old. He's almost smothered in toys, and i try and rotate new ones in every so often (Which stopped most of the tail chewing) Humidity might be a thing though, as I live in Bakersfield California, and winter is approaching

Dinosrawr · Oct 26, 2014

Have you seen your little GCC deliberately pluck out his down feathers? When I come home while Avery is molting, the bottom of her cage is absolutely littered with down feathers with a few flight or tail feathers here and there. So your bird may just be going through a molt

If you have seen your bird deliberately pull out down feathers in a targeted area, then there may be some underlying medical issues. Sometimes birds will try to get at an internal problem from the outside, resulting in feather plucking and skin mutilation. Or they may just have dry skin that's itchy and uncomfortable, as Ally has suggested.

I would look into seeing an avian veterinarian and doing a blood panel and health check up just to make sure there's no medical reason behind it.

KevGallagher · Oct 27, 2014

Well, it's been a while, but the problem seems to have gone away after I gave him a light misting around noonish. It probably was just dry skin or maybe not? Still, thanks for the help!

Birdman666 · Oct 27, 2014

My guess is it might be an issue with hard molting...

Increase bathing and a little aloe vera gel on the skin under the feathers where he is chewing. (Not the feathers, the skin.)

It's just a guess.

Help!

KevGallagher

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Allee

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KevGallagher

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Dinosrawr

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