not good

Owlet

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Lincoln is picking at his feathers again and a good bit of grey is now showing through on his chest. All he does is scream lately and he won't step up. He just runs away or bites me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I kind of feel like crying.

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GaleriaGila

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Oh, Lincoln.

I'm so sorry to hear this.

Thank God he has YOU.

Cry if you need to. And hang in there, knowing you're loving and treasuring him as well as anybody could!!!!!!!!!
 

noodles123

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Could it be allergies or the shift in humidity due to cooler weather/season change? Also, is he getting less sun due to temperatures outside dropping? Some birds also get hormonal 2x yearly-- don't know enough about yours, but just thought I would throw that out there.
 

bill_e

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Perhaps you could refresh our memory about is past plucking and why you think he stopped?
 
OP
Owlet

Owlet

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Perhaps you could refresh our memory about is past plucking and why you think he stopped?

I believe his past plucking was due to stress. The lady who I got him from had only had him for 2 months and before that I don't know how many homes he may or may not have been through. When I got him there were signs of feather mutilation but soon after he came home he started really going at it. I can't really say exactly why he stopped. Maybe he just finally settled in and trusted me and was having fun with toys and just didn't feel the need to anymore.
 

noodles123

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How long have you had him and for how long had he stopped doing it once you got him?
 
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Owlet

Owlet

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Could it be allergies or the shift in humidity due to cooler weather/season change? Also, is he getting less sun due to temperatures outside dropping? Some birds also get hormonal 2x yearly-- don't know enough about yours, but just thought I would throw that out there.

I limited his sunlight to 12 hours a day due to some serious hormones since I heard limiting sunlight would be helpful. It helped a bit and he tried to mate with my hand less and didn't scream as much. Recently the screaming started again and now there's biting. It's too cold for me to take him outside into direct sunlight but i want to look into full spectrum lighting to see if that helps but I don't know where to start. I don't think it's allergies as nothing in his environment has changed to cause allergies.
 
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Owlet

Owlet

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How long have you had him and for how long had he stopped doing it once you got him?

I've had him almost 2 years and he started growing feathers back back in april.
 

noodles123

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Have you checked your humidity levels?

Mine messes with hers more in the winter (U2) and I think it is related to lighting, dryer air and grumpier people lol.

If you don't know the levels, you can get cheap wall monitors---there is a higher than normal humidity level preferred by many parrots, but you don't want it so high that you encourage mold etc.


Have you recently gone on any trips, or changed anything (new partner/break-up/furniture/job/sleep schedule)?
 

bill_e

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I know nothing about Eclectus but if I felt nothing else changed my first thought would be hormones. I've experienced that the best remedy for that is exercise and long, dark, quiet sleep cycle.
 

Terry57

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I am so sorry that Lincoln is picking at his feathers again. Please do not blame yourself, it is so hard to keep a plucker from plucking again. Do you think he is still hormonal?
 
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Owlet

Owlet

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Have you checked your humidity levels?

Mine messes with hers more in the winter (U2) and I think it is related to lighting, dryer air and grumpier people lol.

If you don't know the levels, you can get cheap wall monitors---there is a higher than normal humidity level preferred by many parrots, but you don't want it so high that you encourage mold etc.


Have you recently gone on any trips, or changed anything (new partner/break-up/furniture/job/sleep schedule)?


No partners, dating is not going to happen for a long time. No new furniture. I started a job September 10th but this started literally in the past like 2 days. No different sleep schedule. No trips. I don't know my humidity but I'm gonna run a humidifier in that room anyways just to be safe.
 
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Owlet

Owlet

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I am so sorry that Lincoln is picking at his feathers again. Please do not blame yourself, it is so hard to keep a plucker from plucking again. Do you think he is still hormonal?

Maybe a little, it's really hard to tell sometimes.
 

bill_e

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So it wont hurt him to add an hour extra of quiet dark sleep even if it's just temporary. When Nike was having strong bouts with hormones her winter season would start like November/December..

Is he clipped?
 
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Owlet

Owlet

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So it wont hurt him to add an hour extra of quiet dark sleep even if it's just temporary. When Nike was having strong bouts with hormones her winter season would start like November/December..

Is he clipped?

Yes and no? He's grown back most of his clipped feathers there's still 1 or 2 hanging out in there but he mutilated his flight feathers so badly he can't fly anyways. He can glide to the ground for the most part but that's it.
 

Terry57

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I would try an extra hour of sleep time like Bill suggested. Couldn't hurt, and may help.
Maybe also try bathing him really often, that seems to distract Ekko when he is at his worst with his feathers. There are some stretches when Ekko gets misted every day, and that seems to help some.
 

Laurasea

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Owelet maybe it's something with the post molt triggering. My Penny is picking worse again too...:( I feel you! I called my old vet, she said it's hard to get them to stop. I know for me I had been unable to have her out if the cage as much as I had been, my doc recommend at least six hours out of the cage , we normally have her out eight hours , but doc appointments a d stuff has had me only having her with me about 3 or 4 hours.. anyway you've done so much for him! If you have good thoughts or ideas from other posters I will be trying them to..
 

noodles123

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Have you checked your humidity levels?

Mine messes with hers more in the winter (U2) and I think it is related to lighting, dryer air and grumpier people lol.

If you don't know the levels, you can get cheap wall monitors---there is a higher than normal humidity level preferred by many parrots, but you don't want it so high that you encourage mold etc.


Have you recently gone on any trips, or changed anything (new partner/break-up/furniture/job/sleep schedule)?


No partners, dating is not going to happen for a long time. No new furniture. I started a job September 10th but this started literally in the past like 2 days. No different sleep schedule. No trips. I don't know my humidity but I'm gonna run a humidifier in that room anyways just to be safe.


Well, I wouldn't do that without checking--too much humidity can be as bad for them (mold is not good around parrots). If you do get one, research to ensure that it doesn't contain Teflon/PTF/PFOA in in the heating component. Also, use only distilled water and clean it nightly (if possible...)--The last thing you want it to spread harmful mold and bacteria all though the air. I use F10 Sc to clean mine (the yellow kind) and I also have used blue, non-concentrated Dawn, but I rinse it to death when soap is involved.


I also agree with increasing sleep by a bit (just to see) and misting (again, with very clean water and very clean bottle).
 
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Owlet

Owlet

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I would try an extra hour of sleep time like Bill suggested. Couldn't hurt, and may help.
Maybe also try bathing him really often, that seems to distract Ekko when he is at his worst with his feathers. There are some stretches when Ekko gets misted every day, and that seems to help some.

I'm going to try giving him 2 full showers a week at the very least. I also live in Colorado so the air is rather dry to begin with so Lincoln's vet suggested bathing him with some vitamin e oil diluted in water so I've been doing that too.
 

bill_e

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So it wont hurt him to add an hour extra of quiet dark sleep even if it's just temporary. When Nike was having strong bouts with hormones her winter season would start like November/December..

Is he clipped?

Yes and no? He's grown back most of his clipped feathers there's still 1 or 2 hanging out in there but he mutilated his flight feathers so badly he can't fly anyways. He can glide to the ground for the most part but that's it.
Do don't get me wrong, I've nothing against clipping, but Nike really got over her strong hormonal behavior when I let her wings grow out. I think that the exercise along with the security of knowing she could go anywhere (improved mental health) cured her issues and she became an even better bird than she was. The only downside is that she can be very clingy and will hop over to my wife's shoulder constantly...which can be a pain.
 

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