kaydotklaxon

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Apr 2, 2016
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Hey, so I'm new to this site. I have a male quaker parrot, we don't know how old he is, but we know he's a baby. He was found in the south valley of New Mexico about a year ago by a friend of my brother's who posted about him on Instagram. We agreed to take him and when we got there, we discovered him in a cage covered in ants that had bitten him. We got him home, got him cleaned up and fed, but now he has a severe plucking issue. He is terrified of ants and has an "ant pose" where we think he hallucinates ants.

The feathers around his chest - what's supposed to be his bib - are missing and scraggly. We give him baths very frequently but his feathers have not grown back in so we think he's still plucking.

We also don't spend as much time with him as we should, he's out with us every weekend but we feel like he needs us to spend more time with him.

We don't know if he's plucking because of the ant trauma or if it's because he's lonely.

Is there any way to help him grow his feathers back in? Or to stop him from plucking with both situations?

Thank you so much! :greenyellow:
 
Mar 11, 2016
103
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Centennial, CO
Parrots
Morgan- (2) PGCC, Merlin- GCC (10 months), Chi-Chi-female Mustache Parakeet ( 11 months) , Teddy-Budgie (6 months)
Welcome to the forum. What an awful, traumatic event for him. Thank goodness you got him out of it. How long have you had him? Has he seen an avian vet yet? Just curious what the vet may think, if there are other issues?
 
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kaydotklaxon

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Apr 2, 2016
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It was really sad. He definitely has PTSD, he'll be sitting on my arm or my jeans and he'll see something like the stitching or if there's a pattern and he'll do his "ant pose". We've had him about three years, but we know he still sees ants. We took him to a vet and they gave us drops to put in his water and a spray, but we used a spray on our last bird to help him when he was molting and it burned his feathers off.

We're not home during the week and he's in our back room because it's the sunniest and has big windows so he can look outside. We tried putting his cage on the deck, but that scared him so we didn't do that again. We leave music on for him and try to take him out with us when we can, but he's still plucking. And we're pretty sure he's plucking because it's only in the areas he can reach...I posted a picture of him.
 

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Flboy

Well-known member
Dec 28, 2014
12,598
4,101
Greater Orlando area, Florida
Parrots
JoJo, 'Special' GCC, Bongo, Cinnamon GCC(wife's)
The ants are so terrifying! There was an Amazon that I was in love with at the rescue, Zinna! Problem? She 8, me, 60's! I visited her every few days and hung out with what I was told was a mean bird. Wrong! Well, on one visit, I realized her cage was covered with fire ants! I freaked and they immediately responded to save her! Even though she has been placed with a different home, I still know I may have saved her life!
Still miss her though!
 

Allee

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2013
16,852
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Texas
Parrots
U2-Poppy(Poppy lives with her new mommy, Misty now) CAG-Jack, YNA, Bingo, Budgie-Piper, Cockatiel-Sweet Pea Quakers-Harry, Sammy, Wilson ***Zeke (quaker) Twinkle (budgie) forever in our hearts
Welcome to the forums! Thank you for sharing your quaker's amazing story! What an adorable little parrot. I can't even imagine how traumatic it was for the little guy to be attacked by ants, an event like that could easily cause lasting effects. Your quaker doesn't look like his plucking is very advanced. It's great you are looking for solutions now instead of later.

The feathers around the neck are a favored place for a parrot to start plucking. I can't tell for sure from the photo but it looks like he's been razoring his legs as well. Quakers tend to be more prone to plucking than other species. In the most advanced cases, plucking can lead to QMS (quaker mutilation syndrome). Thankfully, most cases don't progress that far. Unless you've had your quaker DNA tested you probably aren't sure if your quaker is male or female. In most cases gender doesn't matter a lot, but if your bird is female you will probably see plucking escalate during hormone season or during a molt.

I agree with you about the spray, frequent baths or showers in plain water will help the skin and feather condition. The only other spray I would recommend is Soother, an aloe based organic spray. You can make your own aloe spray with one part 100% aloe juice to three parts water. I only use aloe spray for raw irritated skin, otherwise, I use plain water.

Quakers are flock birds and highly interactive, they need companionship, when that isn't possible, provide lots of shreddable preening toys to occupy their busy brains. Leave a TV or radio on when your quaker is alone. Could you possibly allow your quaker at least a few hours with you on a daily basis? An hour in the morning and a couple in the evenings would probably make a world of difference to your parrot. If that's not possible, even a little time, a half hour here and there squeezed into your busy routine shouldn't be too difficult.

A healthy diet is necessary for all parrots, more so for pluckers. Offer a wide variety of vegetables, raw or cooked, a little fruit, cooked beans, pasta, grains, sprouts and a small amount of fish or chicken occasionally. We have a diet section you may want to read through when you have the time.

Here is a link inspired by my own plucking quaker, you may find something helpful there.

http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/52217-plucking-search-answers.html

Best of luck to you and your little companion. Please let us know how everything turns out.
 

plumsmum2005

New member
Nov 18, 2015
5,330
94
England, UK
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Lou, Ruby, and Sonu.
Fly free Plum, my gorgeous boy.
Just as a suggestion do you think it might be worthwhile researching a natural sedative for her in the hope that if she relaxes a little it might get her to ease up on the ant thing. If it's not on her mind all the time, break the habit?
 

ZephyrFly

New member
Sep 21, 2014
686
0
UK
Parrots
Pazu - Green Cheek Conure - Hatch Date ~27 September 2014~
Just as a suggestion do you think it might be worthwhile researching a natural sedative for her in the hope that if she relaxes a little it might get her to ease up on the ant thing. If it's not on her mind all the time, break the habit?

A little bit of weak chamomile tea is talked about for helping to calm birds. Just throwing this in here.
 

plumsmum2005

New member
Nov 18, 2015
5,330
94
England, UK
Parrots
Lou, Ruby, and Sonu.
Fly free Plum, my gorgeous boy.
Just as a suggestion do you think it might be worthwhile researching a natural sedative for her in the hope that if she relaxes a little it might get her to ease up on the ant thing. If it's not on her mind all the time, break the habit?

A little bit of weak chamomile tea is talked about for helping to calm birds. Just throwing this in here.

Yes I have heard of this and you can search the net too. :)
 

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