macaw possible feather plucking?

[serge_09]

so as i mentioned ive now brought lola in to work, thought it would be nice for her rather than stuck in the cage all day at home alone. ive noticed today though at the bottom of her tree there are about 6 feathers. i know its not unusual for the odd one to fall out when preening a bit too rough, just seems a few to many for my liking today.

do you think this is plucking, or is there a chance that shes molting and she is just riding her self of some of the older ones? ive not had her through a molt yet so dont really know the process but there doesn't seem to be many new feathers coming through?

 

[Sheryl]

That's so great that you can take her to work. Six feathers doesn't sound like plucking. Feathers do fall out kind of like our hair. Just keep an eye on her and watch her preening habits. Sometimes plucking starts out as over-preening. But if you take her to work, that will be a great distraction to preening and probably won't lead to plucking.

 

[serge_09]

That's so great that you can take her to work. Six feathers doesn't sound like plucking. Feathers do fall out kind of like our hair. Just keep an eye on her and watch her preening habits. Sometimes plucking starts out as over-preening. But if you take her to work, that will be a great distraction to preening and probably won't lead to plucking.

i know so lucky! i just wondered if she might be stressed because shes never seen so many people before and usually its just a quite day at home with the radio. i will make sure to keep my eye on it

 

[kendrafitz]

My GW molts all year long. She goes through fits and starts of losing numerous feathers. We never have a huge molt as it is constant. She is two and her third set is coming in now. So I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Frumpydumple]

If she has visible pin feathers, its most likely molting.

Does she have any v-shaped feathers? V-shaped feathers indicate feather chewing which often starts before plucking like Sheryl said.


I personally don't think it is plucking though, I think she is probably just going through a molt.