Help, please - my crazy bird is hurting himself

bllivingston

Banned
Banned
Sep 12, 2013
20
0
Boston, MA
Parrots
lovebirds (2)
Help Please! I posted a couple of weeks ago because my male lovebird (about 17 months old) was bloodied and loosing feathers. We did take him to the vet. The vet said it looked like another bird was doing this to him. We removed him from his cage. He's with his mate and his sister. Both other birds in his cage have a history of being aggressive and we weren't sure which bird had done this to him.

We separated him, applied the topical medicine and he seemed to be healing. But, about two weeks ago, we started noticing erratic behavior. First, it looked like he scratched his face over one eye - as the day progressed, we watched him rub his face raw. That stopped, then we noticed a line of blood around his neck. A day later, we noticed his back looked strange again (it had been growing new feathers to replace those ripped out). Last night his back was gouged and bloodied. When he lifted his wings last night, we saw that he was still bloodied and raw under both wings.

Our bird is hurting himself. He has tons of toys, his cage is next to his previous cage so he has companionship. Has anyone ever had this experience? i don't know what to do. He's the sweetest bird.

Any suggestions? We're going to reapply the medicine the vet gave us (and yes, she tested him for other things such as mites, viruses...) He's eating and drinking water. i'm at a loss. We have five other lovebirds. All are healthy and happy. I don't know what to do with this little guy. He's really hurting himself - it's beyond plucking. Has anyone ever had a situation like this?
 
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bllivingston

Banned
Banned
Sep 12, 2013
20
0
Boston, MA
Parrots
lovebirds (2)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #2
please help with birdie self mutilation

Help Please! I have a lovebird, not a cockatiel, but I'm desperate to see if anyone who has smaller sized birds can help. I posted a couple of weeks ago because my male lovebird (about 17 months old) was bloodied and loosing feathers. We did take him to the vet. The vet said it looked like another bird was doing this to him. We removed him from his cage. He was with his mate and his sister. Both other birds in his cage have a history of being aggressive and we weren't sure which bird had done this to him.

We separated him, applied the topical medicine and he seemed to be healing. But, about two weeks ago, we started noticing erratic behavior. First, it looked like he scratched his face over one eye - as the day progressed, we watched him rub his face raw. That stopped, then we noticed a line of blood around his neck. A day later, we noticed his back looked strange again (it had been growing new feathers to replace those ripped out). Last night his back was gouged and bloodied. When he lifted his wings last night, we saw that he was still bloodied and raw under both wings.

Our bird is hurting himself. He has tons of toys, his cage is next to his previous cage so he has companionship. Has anyone ever had this experience? i don't know what to do. He's the sweetest bird.

Any suggestions? We're going to reapply the medicine the vet gave us (and yes, she tested him for other things such as mites, viruses...) He's eating and drinking water. i'm at a loss. We have five other lovebirds. All are healthy and happy. I don't know what to do with this little guy. He's really hurting himself - it's beyond plucking. Has anyone ever had a situation like this?
 

MyFlock

New member
Apr 15, 2015
340
1
Parrots
Conures, 2 Red bellied parrots lovebirds.
No sorry, I've never had this experience. Was this an avian vet who checked him out? II think you should bring him to a different vet.
 

dragonlady2

New member
Oct 3, 2010
136
0
Canada
Parrots
Eclectus-Willy, Alexandrine-Oliver, Two Barrabands -Joey and Peewee, Plumhead-Peanut, Senegal-Mookie, Australian King-Bella, Peachfront conure-Peachygirl, Crimson belly conure-Pepper, Parrotlette
Is is possible he has mites?
 

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