Newbie cockatoo parront..plucking?

[danadear]

I have a 5 month old RB2 named Willow..she's been with us for 2-3 weeks now and is doing great. Last night after her shower she started pulling at the feathers on her neck and face with her foot. She was pretty rough although no feathers have come out so far. I was hoping she just had water in her ear or something but she started doing it again today. I have made her a vet appointment for Friday but am kind of freaking out imagining what could be wrong. How common is this?

Probably should have posted this in the questions and answers forum..will do that now.

 

[friedsoup]

ok first breathe, sounds like preening and it could be pin feathers can you give her scratches? if so check for pin feathers then you can help by cleaning the pins she can't reach with her beak.

 

[melissasparrots]

My goffin's does that too. Cassie plucks a little bit, but the most annoying thing is that she likes to reach up with her foot and yank her longest crest feathers in half. Usually she is missing the last 1-2 inches of her crest. In your birds case, it may or may not be a precursor to similar behavior. Sometimes I see Cassie just scratching herself like that which generally means she wants me to pet her. Its very normal for birds to scratch their head with their foot when they are feeling content or they want to be petted. I think some birds just aren't very good at preening themselves appropriately and do things rougher than they should.

 

[Alisana]

My goffin's does that too. Cassie plucks a little bit, but the most annoying thing is that she likes to reach up with her foot and yank her longest crest feathers in half. Usually she is missing the last 1-2 inches of her crest. In your birds case, it may or may not be a precursor to similar behavior. Sometimes I see Cassie just scratching herself like that which generally means she wants me to pet her. Its very normal for birds to scratch their head with their foot when they are feeling content or they want to be petted. I think some birds just aren't very good at preening themselves appropriately and do things rougher than they should.

Keep some spare feathers around (tail or wing) - sometimes if they really want a head scratch they can hold their feathers and use the pointy end to give themselves a scratch. I'm not sure if this is a learned behaviour though, or something that they can figure out themselves. Reduces the risk of pulling when they scratch with their foot.

 

[danadear]

Thanks guys..I do need to calm down. I am a nervous wreck. I think she may have had water in her ear because she was not doing it at all last night or this morning. She is fine..I need a valium.

 

[melissasparrots]

Keep some spare feathers around (tail or wing) - sometimes if they really want a head scratch they can hold their feathers and use the pointy end to give themselves a scratch. I'm not sure if this is a learned behaviour though, or something that they can figure out themselves. Reduces the risk of pulling when they scratch with their foot.[/QUOTE]

Cassie is a rehome and does some strange things I think she picked up in her other life. She's not quite normal as far as I can tell.