Back after a while (advice needed)

[ahmadses]

Hey guys a few of you might remember me. I have some good news! I recently adopted a Blue and gold Macaw. I need aome advice. So this little girl is a past plucker, but her feathers have grown back (i’ll attach an image later). Any ifeas on keeping her calm and pluck free?

 

[noodles123]

If she plucks, do not attend to it. Give her lots of time out of her cage. Engage her with foraging and toys and make sure you have her checked by a CAV (Certified Avian Vet) to rule out anything like PDD that might cause plucking.

Try to pay attention to when she plucks and see if you can distract her without paying overt attention to the behavior. Also, based on when she plucks, (or over-preens) look for patterns and try to avoid or desensitize her to those situations. When she isn't plucking/over-preening, pile on the attention (assuming she likes you lol). Try preening rings, foot toys, mop heads (if bird safe) etc in order to foster replacement behaviors.
Make sure she isn't nervous or bored and make sure that she isn't being hormonal. Hormonal birds will sometimes pluck, so avoid warm foods, dark spaces of any kind and "cuddling" (stick to petting on the head).

Pay attention to diet and humidity. Sometimes deficient birds will pluck or over-preen, so make sure your bird has up to date medical records and that there are quality pellets +veg involved daily. Sodium and preservatives can increase plucking behavior.

In terms of humidity, look up your species and determine what is normal in their native habitat. Dry skin can cause plucking, but excessive bathing can cause hormonal behavior, so a balance is needed. Get a humidity gauge and monitor levels---if you use a humidifier, make sure it is PFOA/PTFE free (no teflon or fluoroplastics) and use distilled water or the upper portion of tap water that has sat out for a period of time (minerals in regular water are harmful to bird lungs).

Last but not least, be cautious of environmental allergens and irritants. Perfume, cologne, lotion, scented cleaners, candles, air fresheners, nail polish etc can all irritate bird's lungs and skin....as can other pets in certain cases. If your bird is very dusty, consider an air purifier, but make sure it is a non-ionizing/non-ozone producing one!

As a last resort, there are medications that may help with OCD etc. There are also homeopathic and natural treatments that have been reportedly used with mixed success.

 

[ChristaNL]

Lots and lots of really good showers (its one of the things that seem to work here), great food and routine (lots of sleep and certain moments of interaction at the same time, every day), teach her to play with toys if she does not know how, always have plenty of things to destroy in the cage.

With all adoption-birds: has yours had all the usual tests done yet?
( visual inspection, weighing, poopgazing, bloodwork, test for all the nasty diseases (and DNA-sexing would be good too)
Do you know the age? (you say " little girl" are you sure she is a she?)


Welcome in the insane world of macaws btw

 

[ahmadses]

We’re taking her to a CAV this week to make sure shes good on the inside. The owner adopted her from a family that wanted to breed them but they never bred. I’ll upload a pic when I get home

 

[Scott]

Why yes, welcome back and congratulations! Taking your new B&G to a CAV is an excellent plan! One of the best treatises on plucking: http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/52217-plucking-search-answers.html

Please let us know how the visit went and findings, pending possible lab tests.

 

[ahmadses]

Hey Scott, I remember you! Im finding CAVs in the area and will plan an appointment for my little friend over here and see how it goes.

 

[ahmadses]

Good news friends! We have an appointment on Saturday, also I was able to get her out of her cage today. She was really aggressive yesterday so I decided to just stand near her for hours and let her hear my voice. Shes sitting on my chair next to me as I type this. Im going to petsmart or a bird store tomorrow to get her stuff. Also when I woke her up this morning she said hello to me, and i literally freaked out. Could someone help me out on the difference between plucking and preening, I just want to make sure.

 

[noodles123]

There is healthy preening, over-preening and plucking.
Healthy preening looks like a bird kind of gently chomping around in its feathers and running beak from feather base to tip of tail feathers...If you have ever seen a hamster groom itself, it is like the bird version of that



Over-preening is when the chomping/chewing etc occurs too often and/or with too much intensity (so the feathers actually develop a chewed appearance over time). It is more compulsive than healthy preening. It can still cause feather loss, but it is not as aggressive as plucking....


Plucking is what it sounds like- the bird grabs a feather (with foot or beak) and yanks it out. Blood may or may not be involved. Now, if a feather is injured, birds will sometimes remove them manually, and that is different...Plucking is a pattern of yanking out healthy feathers.

 

[ChristaNL]

Overpreening is a fine line..
birds spend forever at their feathers - and that is fine, it is what helps them survive.

Only when you are a bit familiar with the bird you may notice that certain areas are getting a bit too much attention.

(My female grey picks off her downfeathers but leaves the other ones be - sofar- on her chest, but will completely overbarber the ones on her schoulderarea. The chest part can be something hormonal/nesting related, the shoulders is -in her case! not every bird plucks the same pattern- definitely stress -> she is not okay with the new macaw and the horny other grey. But there is nothing I can do about that and since it does not seem get any worse (yet) I hope she will mellow out and stop again.)

The parts where feathers are growing in will always get more attention (because growing feathers have these irritating pointy bits, and have to be flaked/peeled clean as they grow out)- so another thing to make you worrie.
(My macaw targets and damages the growing ones, so extra issues there ;P)

If you find a feather looking like a long stem with just a tuft at the end... thats is definitely overpreening.
Feathers bitten to pieces also occur when an old feather just falls out naturally and had been a toy and demolished by bird. So do not freak out about those, it may be competely harmless.
(When you find a part of a feather on the bottom and you can match it to a half-feather still on the bird ... like a jigsaw ... thats no good obviously. I can do that with the primaries sometimes, it is really disheartening.)

 

[ahmadses]