Macaw plucking another Macaw

[Buzznmee]

Hello, I am new to forums. I have been a Macaw owner for over ten years. I currently have three. None of them have been sexed. My Scarlet, Charlie is 12. My B & G, Merlin is 6 and my Catalina, Sherlock is 4. I am not a breeder and have never planned on breeding my birds. I do not have any "boxes" set up for that. I have a very large walk in aviary that the birds spend 5-7 hours a day in before coming inside to two very large cages that are covered for the night. I rotate who sleeps with who. Hoping no bonds are formed. Recently, I noticed my Catalina, Sherlock has been plucking the belly and leg feathers off of Merlin, the B&G. It does not look to be done out of anger, they all three preening each other during the day and they all hang out together. Sherlock, the youngest and biggest, seems very close to Merlin. I have not noticed any mating signs between them, but the recent feather plucking has me wondering. Does anyone have idea what this behaviour indicates? Other than isolating them totally, which causes screaming, I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions or similar experiences and how you handled it would be appreciated.

 

[SailBoat]

Keep the Mac that is plucking feathers from another Mac separated. As a general reality, it is always better to keep non-bonded Parrots in their own cages, especially at night!

The Mac Forum is a great place to update your knowledge on Mac's. As you read back into the history, you will see that there are a couple of individuals how are very knowledge about about Mac's.

 

[Kentuckienne]

A local rescue has two macs that were kept together, and one not only plucked his own feathers, he plucked the feathers off the other macaw's head. I would separate them if he keeps doing it ... if the feathers get damaged enough, they won't grow back.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums! It seems you have abundant space for your flock. However, plucking leg and especially belly/chest feathers *may* be indicative of mating cues.

I'd imagine isolation causes jet-engine loud "contact calling." Plucking is an extraordinarily complex behavior and discussed in great detail within this thread: http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/52217-plucking-search-answers.html

 

[DiscoDuck]

My 2 cents. Search out Birdman666 posts from the past in addition to current replies.