Plucking feathers or its just molting

Rani · Feb 3, 2011

Please help me!

For the last 3-4 days i have seen that Rani(female Ekkie -1yr 4months old) has been plucking her feathers out. The feathers are not full feathers but the colored portion is what i see in the cage. So i see hair like strands of her red and bule color feather. One her left side there is no color left and all i see is the grey from below the feathers. Is this normal molting?

Also 2-3 of her tail feathers are now gone.....

She is super super picking on food and in the end i get worried and give her some pellets and sun flower seeds. She dont seem to like any fruits except for grapes and no birdie bread either... and raw veggies are her enemy.
Please help.

chrisi

MikeyTN · Feb 3, 2011

Have you tried eating infront of her to entice her to eat what your eating? Sometimes that does the trick. Sometimes you just have to be give tough love. When I changed my parrots diet from seeds to pellets I give them tough love and work with them over time. I know its harsh to see them not eating and break down and feed them what they want. You should still give them what they want but in small portions and give them more of the food they should be eating. Then once they do eat it, take the old stuffs away all at once. Good luck to ya!

Rani · Feb 3, 2011

Thank you. I will be eating breakfast in front of her tomorrow morning.

Today she did give in a bit after staying hungry all day. She ate a few sprouts,fiddled around cauliflower and ate some grapes......funny thing she saw me hide her pellet bowl under the cage and after a few minutes of eating the veggies she goes out the cage and jumps down and starts eating the pellets.... I took the pellets away and she had no choice but to return to the cage

Tomorrow morning she will be given birdie bread and no choice...Its so tough being a tough mom

chrisi

MikeyTN · Feb 3, 2011

I hope that works out for ya! Just make sure she is eating and not losing her weight. Keep us posted!!!

etse20 · Feb 4, 2011

Willie is having some feather problems as well. We just started sprouting seeds 2 weeks ago. Hoping that'll help him. Vitamin A is essential for healthy feather growth and Willie doesn't like carrots and sweet potatoes. He loves his sprounts.

Beilana · Feb 4, 2011

Also make sure when your eating in front of her that you make it look really yummy. take a bite and offer her a piece. Another thing I have done is hold the food sticking out of my mouth for Chia. Not open mouth because our saliva is bad for them but just sticking out so she can bite on the end. Parrots especially young ones need to be taught what is good to eat and what is bad. In normal circumstances they would learn from other flock members. So we must take over that job for them.

Chia has been chewing on her feathers as well. I changed her over to harrisons, bought a bunch of new toys and also a UVA UVB lamp for her. I have yet to see if this causes any difference but either way the UVA UVB lamp is proven to be beneficial to their psychological health and could be a good investment for your feathered companion

Sweetie2 · Feb 4, 2011

My cockatoo is having a similar problem, he seems to be molting, since the summer. I am feeding him harrison's super potency coarse. When I called Harrison's support group, they suggested cutting down on the other foods I am feeding him and adding an avian enzyme to help him get through the molting. Does this sound like what your parrot is going through? Also, does anyone know anything about avian enzymes? This might be a good solution for both of our birds???

Rani · Feb 4, 2011

Hey,

Rani is hooked on her pellets (Lafeber Premium Daily Diet Parrot Food)
For eclectus they need other veggies and fruits as main diet so i am trying to cut down on the pellets. My breeder did give me some powdered spiriluna and flower pollen but i am bit hesitant to give that to her since i have heard mixed reviews about spiriluna. I am trying a lot of different veggies and fruits and boiled eggs with her right now.

Also we had some contractors working in the house and i feel that may be the noise has scared her a bit as well. I will let you know how this is going.

My plan is fruits and veggies and some millet all day and few pellets at night.

chrisi

MikeyTN · Feb 4, 2011

Vitamin A is very important! You can supplement by cooking some pasta and pour some ketchup to mix with pasta. Your better off to supplement with food then vitamin drops in water!

Cowtown · Feb 5, 2011

Rani, Have you tried warming up the carrots and peas and corn? Abby did not like them at 1st. I warmed them up just a little and cut them into small pieces also sprinkle some crushed red pepper on them. Eckies love it and jalapenos and like the others have said, eat some in front of her and offer her a small piece. Abby loves to eat from my plate.

I would cut back on the grapes, they are mainly water and not much nutrition.

Also try some cooked oatmeal with some cinnamon sprinkled on it.

Mike

Rani · Feb 5, 2011

I am getting Harrisons pellets for her tomorrow. I am going to mix harrisons pellets with her lafebers pellets and let her eat till she stops her feather plucking. I have decided that i will leave some fruits and veggis in the cage and see if she tries to eat them.

Today she starved herself until 7pm when i felt really really bad and gave her some pellets. It seems to me she needs more nutrition right now then better eating habits LOL....

What do you guys think?

Also i had some workers in the house and i now think that the noise has probably scared her. The work is finished so she is back to being the queen in the House

May be this had something to do with the feather plucking.

Let me know. I greatly appreciate all of your comments and suggestions
rani

Cowtown · Feb 6, 2011

How long were the workers there? Just one day or several? That could have caused her to get stressed.

Keep us informed.

Rani · Feb 6, 2011

The workers were there for 4 days. She seems very relaxed today. She was actually playing with her toys and making trumpet sounds. I did get harrisons high potency pellets for her to mix with veggies and sprouts.
She ate well as well today

Thank you for your help guys
rani

MikeyTN · Feb 6, 2011

That may have a lot to do with it! Hopefully she'll be in a better mood now...

Plucking feathers or its just molting

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YAY!!! I just bought my little boy.

70% pellets!?!

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