Feather Barbering

[EllenSterrett]

I have a 8 year old Goffin and when I got her she had been plucking however she has stopped plucking and has started pinching the tips of her new feathers off, I have been told that this was called feather barbering, my question is what is feather barbering and why would a bird do this and is this a permanent thing if not how long will it last?

 

[Allee]

Hello and welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us.

Feather barbering is a feather destructive behavior, they pinch the feather off, sometimes down to the skin, when plucking, they pull the feather out. When a bird pulls out a feather, endorphins are released, when that happens it causes a temporary sense of calm, some birds get addicted to the endorphin rush. If your Goffin has stopped plucking and is still barbering, as strange as it sounds, that's a big improvement. The barbered feather shafts will molt out and be replaced with new feathers. There's no way to predict how long the barbering will last. Has your bird been treated for plucking, if not, a thorough examination by an Av Vet and bloodwork may be in order. Good luck to you, please keep us updated.

 

[mwright1972]

I am having a similar issue... but mine has never plucked. I just came home yesterday and he had chewed off all his tail feathers. I have started a thread and he goes to the vet tomorrow. I hope I find out what is happening.

 

[Presley]

mwright1972: please post about what the vet says.

 

[chris-md]

Presley this thread is 2 years old. The OP hasn’t posted since this thread it seems.

 

[Mindy]

There are a lot of opinions as to why birds do this, there is no real answer. There's also no real answer as to how long, unfortunately. I've had my Finnegan since he was about six months old. He started barbering at about 2 years old and has not stopped. He has periods of time when it is very light and times when it's more heavy. Right now he's bad, having plucked his down feathers off his belly after a visit to the vet for a beak trim. After ruling out a medical issue I read about a zillion articles and tried a zillion 'remedies' to no avail. The things I have not tried are the collar and the vest people sometimes use-I just don't think the benefits outweigh negative effects for his specific personality (more on the shy and nervous side).