Help! Lilo is plucking!

kq_fan

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Lilo - Female Green Cheek Conure ~ Pal - male cockatiel ~ Pheobe - female cockatiel
She is! I am wondering if it is,

a: I haven't had too much time with her lately, school :(
b: The new bird
c: It may be close to her molting.

What do you guys think? She is healthy and I feed her veggies and fruit so I don't think it is nutrient deficiency. please help, I don't want her anything to happen to her. :green2:
 

Ann333

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Sorry i cant help, but have you tried doing a search for past threads that may be useful? Or possibly a google search. I am sure there is a lot of info out there to help... :( sorry
 

Allee

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Are you sure Lilo is plucking? Can you tell us a little more? Is she chewing feathers or pulling them out? Is it one area she's picking at? When did this behavior start? It's possible what you are seeing is over preening due to dry skin caused by molting and winter weather conditions. Frequent baths can help to make her more comfortable. It's also possible she's stressed about the new bird and your longer absences.
 
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kq_fan

kq_fan

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So I just noticed in a few places she has been bothering with. I noticed Moore feather loss today and I just noticed feather loss yesterday.
 

Pinkbirdy

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Is their pin feathers?
 
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kq_fan

kq_fan

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Lilo - Female Green Cheek Conure ~ Pal - male cockatiel ~ Pheobe - female cockatiel
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No just fluff, the vet visit for a wing clip was very stressful, She didnt talk or move through the hole ride home! And Sonic came back to me with blood on him and his perch! :(
 

Kalidasa

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As for the blood, they most likely cut a blood feather, which is not supposed to happen. To double check, you might want to call the vet and find out where this blood came from. If they did nails it could have come from a nail cut too short.
Is Lilo focussing on her shoulder areas in particular? Have any pics? I'm wondering if she's actually barbering, which I've noticed is pretty common in conures around the shoulder area.
 
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kq_fan

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Kalidasa, She has feather loss around the sides by her shoulder on her chest and a little bit on her front but it seems to be on the sides. I asked a parrot shop owner about it and she said It may have just been a tramatic experiance. With the other bird bleeding, he seems to have a cut on his foot. I found that when they gave him back to me. There was alot of blood all over the perch and that is not an exaduration. The avian vet wasnt there so i think the nurse did it. Lilo was also unmoving in the box on the way home and I thought she was dead! She is always so happy and playful after the vet! She is never lethargic! I just want her to be happy and healthy! :( I gave her a bath today to maybe see if it helped the irritation. She is preening like all day! :(

And thank you for all the reply's everyone :green2:
 

Terry57

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Lilo may just be upset, or it could be the moult. You may want to rule out a bacterial infection at the vet to be on the safe side.

My conure Phoe has always been a feather chewer, and just in the last couple of weeks graduated to full on plucking. We took him to the vet and were able to rule out infection, but his protein levels were a bit low so she recommended that I give him either cooked egg or tofu each day, as well as a vitamin supplement. We also moved his cage from the big bird room to the small bird room. He is getting some new feathers but still is plucking a bit.

I hope Lilo stops soon, I know how stressful it is for you:(
 

Kalidasa

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I would definitely voice your concerns to your vet, leave a message for him/her to call you back. If it's always been a positive experience prior to this "nurse" (tech) then you need to speak up and let them know you don't want this tech in contact with with your birds again, but with the person who did it before. This tech obviously didn't know what she's doing, or it as too much for her. If your vet is someone you're comfortable with and you want to stay with them, than report the incident as tactfully as possible. Your birds aren't supposed to be handed back to you traumatized and bleeding for crissakes! Give Lilo some special attention and reassurance, and she'll come around. My GCC was injured by the vet tech's to a degree that he lost his flight ability for 3 months. Now, a year later, he still has issues over it, although he's getting better. I'm pretty sure the tech wasn't deliberately mean or stupid, but they're often overwhelmed and inexperienced. But you should let your voice be heard to the vet about all this, because it's NOT ok.
Hope everyone recovers from this quickly!:)
 
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kq_fan

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Thank you for your concerns :) So my question is what do I do now? When I see her I get reminded on how she is in pain in one way or another :( I don't want to bring her to the vet because I don't want there to be something wrong! She defiantly doesn't act sick. I wonder if it is the weather, new bird, and bad vet visit all mixed into one?
 

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She is! I am wondering if it is,

a: I haven't had too much time with her lately, school :(
b: The new bird
c: It may be close to her molting.

What do you guys think? She is healthy and I feed her veggies and fruit so I don't think it is nutrient deficiency. please help, I don't want her anything to happen to her. :green2:

Hellooooooo, if I were to make a logical guess, I would say a combination of all 3. Boredom can make a bird pluck...But I don't think that's the case here. New bird, not likely, but possible, I would say the molt is coming on, One of my parrots is going thru a molt, it's very irritating for them. I find that when I place the shower perch in shower and run and run the shower nozzle on mist, she will calm down and really enjoy it. Her plucking of feathers stops for a few days. then another mist bath in a few days...It really helps. It's like when you shave hair it gets a bit itchy when it comes back....imagine what the bird goes thru with the feathers. Never the less have it checked out, mites have a tendency to also make a bird pluck out it's feathers.
 
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kq_fan

kq_fan

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Lilo - Female Green Cheek Conure ~ Pal - male cockatiel ~ Pheobe - female cockatiel
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Thank you hawk, It all seems like unfortunate timeing for her :( But I will give her showers, which she gets really calm in, and give her as much love as I can! :)
And thanks again everyone for the reply's, they ha e made me think about other causes and decide what to do. :)
 

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