African Grey pulling out wing and tail feathers

[Saume]

Hi,

I've had my African Grey for over 6 months now (she's 9 months old) and she just started pulling our tail and wing feathers. This seems like an odd place for a plucker to pull their feathers from (all the cases I've heard from were chest and leg feathers being plucked).

I'm not really sure what could be causing this, or if this is a case of new wing and tail feathers growing, or molting. Are they supposed to pull out their featherrs on their own when new ones are growing, or are they supposed to fall on their own? If she pulls out a "good" feather, would it bleed (she doesn't bleed when removing the feathers and doesn't seem in any pain)? Also, if this is new feathers growing, how soon should I be seen new feathers, and how quickly should they grow? She seemed to remove feathers in the inner wing (closest to her chest / back) first, and is now working on outer feathers, if this is any help. I checked her inside wing but it's kind of hard to see if there are any missing feathers since she doesn't let me fully list anf spread her wings yet.

I'm not really sure what's going on so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also she does "play" with them after removing them, so I remove it from her as soon as she starts chewing on it so she doesn't take a habit of pulling out feathers just to chew on them.


As for her current situation:
She is only in her cage when sleeping, and is in the same room as me the rest of the time except when I don't work from home. She eats a pellet diet with some veggies, cereals and oatmeal cookies mixed in occasionally.

There isn't much sunlight making it in the appartment, but I have UV lights in the room where she spends most of her time. I just got those about a week ago and she started removing feathers yesterday, maybe the new lights somehow "triggered" her molt?

 

[GaleriaGila]

Feather plucking is such a scary and complex thing.

I'm giving your thread a bump. I'm sure some experts will be along soon to give you some personal advice. Meanwhile, you'll find helpful threads by using the SEARCH tab above.

 

[wrench13]

Does she have any bald spots, like if she pulled out a bunch of feathers in one spot?

 

[LeaKP]

Hm I’d definitely get your baby checked at the av ASAP. This is young for any parrot to begin plucking.

 

[Saume]

I didn't find any bald spot, she only removes feathers from her wings / tail, which seems odd to me, will have her checked ASAP.

 

[LeaKP]

Awesome keep us posted!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[psychocircus91]

Agree with avian vet. Are you able to post photos of your bird and some of the feathers/sheaths that came out? I would say pulling them out would be abnormal, but they frequently come out during preening, so they may be in your birds beak. Many of our members' birds are molting right now.

 

[wrench13]

Good luck, Saume and to your Grey too.

 

[SailBoat]

How many feathers from 'each' wing and tail?

 

[texsize]

I have seen my Bingo pull a loose wing feather out. Use it to scratch with and then drop it.
Definitely not a habit, only happens once in a while.

Another vot for a vet visit.
My first thought is she might be low on some mineral or somthin.

 

[Saume]

Around 3 in each wing and 4 from the tail (she pulled out the longest ones).
Her wings now look like a mess and her tail looks super short.
https://imgur.com/a/7m5dt

I have an appointment with the vet for tomorrow.

 

[Yanni]

In the wild the African Grey parrot spends 80% of its time scavenging for food and 20% of its time plugging its feathers.

In captivity the African Grey parrot doesn't need to scavenging for food as its food is in its food bowl, so it's spends 80% of its plucking its feathers.

You should put a cardboard box at the bottom of the African Grey parrot cage with of torn up pieces of paper in the box with some treats hidden in between the newspapers so that the African Grey parrot can scavenge for food like it does in the wild.

 

[ChristaNL]

3 or for 4 flightfeathers at the same time is a lot!
Mine only do (&did) 1 large feather at the time (sometimes 2: one for the left wing, one for the right, usually the same place in the row of feathers) but these are "oldies" / mature birds - I have never experienced a first molt, so that might be slightly different.
But feathers usually just fall out when the bird does something else (flapping its wings, shaking its bodyfeathers etc.) but preening them might also just help a bit.
(not pulling!)


The tail is completely gone now (in the picture) that is not a normal molt.
(this is going to be expensive -> go the certified avian vet / not a 'standard' one)

If you get at the avian vet ask for a bloodpannel (and dna-type if you are not sure male/female yet).
And of course the worst question of all: is your bird tested on the 4 big diseases?
It looks beautifull and healthy, but birds hide things...

Can you post a full list of what your bird eats?
If there is something missing in the diet (or its there but the bird does not eat it) they cannot regrow feathers as they should.




oh...did your bird get a wingclip recently?
Sometimes that really sets them off to pluck because the stumps are annoying.

 

[noodles123]

Are you certain they are being pulled? Get him checked at the vet----- there are some diseases that make feather plucking more likely as well.