I think she's plucking.

[xNess]

Hey, everyone! I came to you all a year ago seeking advice for my green cheek.

She has an anxious problem chewing her tail feathers. I took her to the vet, I tried so many different things (changing her water, diet, playtime, toys, cage, environment, upside down cone) and even the vet said she's perfectly healthy. She just has a habit.

So, a year went by now and I'm coming to you all again. She was fine for a long time! She stopped chewing her tail feathers and they were amazing.

But now she has what I've attached in the picture.

I woke up and this is it. This isn't molting, is it? What am I doing wrong? She gets at least an hour out a day, more because there's so many people home and attentive.

I'm so nervous if she starts plucking.



PS: she has so many pin feathers on her head, but she refuses to let me pick them.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Hi I am going to ask you to re-visit your previous thread as there was so much good info given http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/54832-autumn-needs-cone.html#post498053

Do you re-arrange her cage and toys, ensure she has toys that are a challenge to her?

A shower can help soften those pins.

If it is a case of over preening herself then get her a preening toy that she can focus some of her attention on and hopefully leave herself alone?

 

[EllenD]

A better photo of your bird's head, back, tail, basically a whole body shot would be very helpful...The pin feathers on her face (the few I can barely see in what is shown of her face) is definitely her molting. So it's quite possible that she is molting and she has over-preened her chest/belly. It looks as though she has picked out the feathers in that area sporadically but left the down underneath. Do you see any pin feathers in the area where she's pulling them out, or are they only on her head and face?

My cockatiel is in the middle of the worst molt I've ever seen in 30 years. She literally has tons of pin feathers on every part of her body and she's absolutely miserable. So it is definitely the season for it. And if your bird has a habit of "chewing" on her feathers or over-preening when she's upset or anxious anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if she is molting all over and is really itchy and uncomfortable, which is causing her to go crazy trying to get them out.

Warm showers will help a lot to speed up the process and make her more comfortable. You can also try an aloe vera spray made for birds, or a bath/molting spray like the one made by Ecotrition. You can buy it at Petco for around $10-12 a bottle and it has lanolin, aloe vera, and purcellin oil in it, which will help with the itching and skin irritation and help to break up the keratin sheaths. My cockatiel won't let me help her with her pin feathers either, though she tries, which makes me believe they are just too painful to be touched right now. She puts her head down for me but when I even lightly touch a single pin feather she cries. The Ecotrition spray has helped her immensely.

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[OneHorseRanch]

EllenD, can you put those products right in their bath water or does it have to be sprayed on? I tried spraying Sheldon and he really didnt care for it.

 

[plumsmum2005]

This is interesting Winged Wisdom Pet Bird Magazine - Weather The Feathers....Molting in pet parrots and exotic birds - Birds, Birds, Birds

Have also been reading that birds with chronic pin feathers have shown response to Echinacea. Please research if interested.

 

[EllenD]

I've always sprayed it on them simply because that's what it tells you to do, but I've also sprayed it onto my hand and rubbed it on them...The water is a great idea actually because the idea is that the spray soaks into their feathers down to their skin, you wet them down with it and let them dry. But when it dries they look almost a bit greasy because the Ecotrition spray has the same preen oil they naturally get out of their preen gland by their tails and rub on themselves when they preen. So if you added some to her bath water it would definitely soak into her feathers and into her skin, yet when she dries she won't be so lathered in it...I actually might try this right now on my poor cockatiel, she is so miserable, I've never seen so many pin feathers, and she's starting to pull feathers out now! I think it's accidental, she's trying to get rid of the keratin on the pin feathers, but she has so many she's ripping out down, old feathers, new feathers, flakes of dead skin and keratin, I'm sitting on the couch next to her cage, she's on top going crazy, and I'm just seeing stuff flying all over the room and her talking to herself! It's hilarious, I'm trying not to laugh at her because I know it sucks but she's so mad!

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