Need advice about clipping feathers/barbering

[Iyanden]

Update: we're back to a normal fruit/veggie diet. Rice was replaced with lentils, squash, and pumpkin.

She's stopped clipping her chest feathers, but has now shifted focus to her wing feathers. It really looks like she's bothered by her previously clipped feathers (from before we got her). There's at least 4-5 on each wing that still haven't replaced themselves. How often do eclectus replace those? We've had her for 1.25 years, and we've seen her replace all her tail feathers.

 

[Saash]

Hi

I'm with Chris on the diet. I follow a forum which runs an eclectus rehabilitation facility, and her flock is beautiful. She got a plucked that was totally bald and is starting to boast colorful plumes.

Her rule of thumb is grains, legumes, veggies, fruit, seed, pellets (in order of quantity). At least a variety of 10 items in a day. Try to Google them, The Parrot Hotel, the Eckie mix, and cheeky beaks parrot rescue. Seems the grains are wild rice, brown rice, oats, whole wheat or similar, with chick peas, mung beans, peas, split peas, corn, lentils, veggies are raw or cooked, fruit is a condoment mixed into, its never a main event. Seeds and nuts are a sprinkle.

As a chop she often sprouts or cooks the eckie mix or a sprout mix, and adds chop of butternut / carrots + peppers /chillies + spinach /or other leafy green with mixed spices. Sprinkles of seeds, like chia or flax, and nuts or fruits. She often adds tea for moisture.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=142170290917443&id=108212490979890

 

[Iyanden]

Update and hoping for more advice.

So for the rest of 2021, we had our eclectus on a diet of mostly carrots, pumpkin, lentils, oats, hemp hearts, coconut, mango, and safflower seeds in that order of quantity. She chewed up her feathers badly in the summer, but from September to December, she was doing really well. In December, she had all her feathers back.

But something just changed at the end of December. She pulled her feathers around her neck, and then went on a frenzy of pulling all her fluff feather in a week. She wing flipped all night for a week. We didn't know what to do, and our usual avian vet thought we should try anti-yeast medication for 2 weeks. She got better, but she pulled all her feathers on her neck, crop area, on her legs, and on her flank. There are pin feathers growing in those locations, but she just chews them off. It's a continuous cycle of new pin feathers growing in those same regions, and her chewing them off.

Her bare skin just looks dry? We got a new humidifier, and it runs 24/7. But during the afternoon when the sun shines in, it almost always drops to the low 40s. We wash her every other day and have tried palm oil supplement in her diet, but no improvement. We tried a collar too, but it just stresses her out.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[HeatherG]

Years ago, I adopted a very naked Pionus who’s owner could find no reason for his plucking after a huge amount of vet work.

I bathed him a lot and also removed the more allergenic and antigenic foods from his diet. Those are the foods that people and animals most often develop allergies to, things that are grown in a monoculture like corn and peanuts and sunflower.

I can’t remember all of what I was feeding him but I think it was TOPS pellets and a lot of mash with rice, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, greens…. He did start to grow a lot more feathers and to appear more comfortable.

An alternative could be to remove the most allergenic foods from your birds diet and see if that helps.

But, I’ve never had an eclectus parrot and you have your vets advice and the folks here. I hope your birds plucking settles down.

 

[Henderbird]

Hi everyone. New here, and I was hoping to get some advice about my female (~1.5 year old) eclectus that's been clipping her feathers. Long story, so bear with me.

My wife and I got her from a well-known local pet store two Thanksgivings ago. She was still on formula at the time, and she stayed on formula for a while. We eventually switched her over to a mix of soaked monkey biscuit with various blended veggies and fruits. She would eat 3-4 of those mixes and some safflower seeds a day until around summer of last year. We then slowly reduced the number of monkey biscuit to 1-2, replaced by carrot/yam, farro, and beans. She would still get her usual blend of veggies/fruits. In October, she clipped all of her chest feathers over the course of a few days, to the point where it was just the underneath gray fluffs. The owner of the pet store recommended an avian vet 2 hours away, and we went to see that vet. All tests came clean. After reviewing everything, the vet thought we didn't wash her enough and recommended keeping humidity above 40.

So we tried to do that, washing her almost daily and running humidifiers, especially when the humidity outside was low. She seemed okay for the last few months, but there weren't really any feathers to clip anymore. Fast forward to the start of January, a bunch of her feathers are growing, and she starts clipping them. She also is developing some bald spots around her beak, eyes, and back of her head - looks very similar to mojo molt pictures. We checked in with the vet again, and she recommended an elimination diet (that consists of just rice and supplements/vitamins) to make sure it's not some food sensitivity. We tried the diet, but she basically refused to eat. So we tried a more expanded version of it with (all organic) brown rice, carrot, blueberries, and 20 safflower seeds. She seemed a little better for a week, but she's been clipping the last 2 weeks. The vet recommended removing the safflower seeds last week, and we've done that. Within the last couple days, she's started clipping her larger wing feathers.

Besides the clipping, she's seemed mostly normal. She tears apart her toys, flies around a bit daily, sits on our computers when we work (which looks a bit uncomfortable), and "talks" for anywhere between 15 minutes to 2 hours a day. While on this rice, carrot, and blueberries diet, she has shown much more food motivation (sometimes flying to the kitchen whenever she sees one of us in there), talked less, and appears sleepy (long blinks) sometimes during the day.

Has anyone else had similar experiences? Is it just a really bad, first molt? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!

Hey! I'm so sorry that you're dealing with such a stressful situation with your bird who I can see you really treat as a close family member! That's so good.
Your bird may be plucking for different reasons as plucking can be medically involved, it is also a psychological thing.
So continue to work with your vet to rule out any health issues. Check the poops as those can tell a lot about a birds health and possibly give in a stool sample from your bird to the vet to further help address the underlying causes.
If there really is nothing that is physical, then it could either be due to hormonal fluxes because of the change in daylight in spring or it could be that your bird is facing a psychological dilemma.
If so, this could be fixed with more out of cage time perhaps? Or you could find different ways of enriching your bird through foraging toys or shreddable toys so they are kept busy for as long as possible.
Make sure physical interactions are limited to the head and neck areas to prevent hormonal raging and also ensure that your bird is getting a lot of quality time with his human flock.
Hopefully things will fall in place though!

 

[Henderbird]

Update: we're back to a normal fruit/veggie diet. Rice was replaced with lentils, squash, and pumpkin.

She's stopped clipping her chest feathers, but has now shifted focus to her wing feathers. It really looks like she's bothered by her previously clipped feathers (from before we got her). There's at least 4-5 on each wing that still haven't replaced themselves. How often do eclectus replace those? We've had her for 1.25 years, and we've seen her replace all her tail feathers.

I just saw this omg 😳 I feel dumb lol

 

[SailBoat]

I just saw this omg 😳 I feel dumb lol

No so quick, your information was spot-on!!
Always remember that the unintended reader will gain from what you added! Hence it is still important! And That Is Winner Status!!

 

[Henderbird]

No so quick, your information was spot-on!!
Always remember that the unintended reader will gain from what you added! Hence it is still important! And That Is Winner Status!!

True though!

 

[Iyanden]

The shorter version of the whole story.

2020, in Oct, our female eclectus (<1 year) clipped all her colored chest feathers within a few days. We got her to an avian vet, who gave her a clean bill of health and suggested we try to wash her more and keep the humidify higher. We also switched to a more adult diet.

2021, in Jan, as she was growing her feathers back, she started clipping them all again. We went to the vet, and nothing was obviously wrong. We tried restricting her diet to less allergenic foods, but nothing came from that. In the summer, she crunched and chewed her red and back wing feathers down to stubs. We stuck to a diet of mostly carrots, pumpkin, lentils, oats, hemp hearts, coconut, mango, and safflower seeds in that order of quantity. From September to December, she grew all her feathers back.

2022, from last couple days of Dec 2021 to early Jan, she pulled her feathers around her neck, and then went on a frenzy of pulling all her fluff feather in a week. She wing flipped all night for a week. We didn't know what to do, and our usual avian vet thought she might have a yeast infection and that we should try anti-yeast medication for 2 weeks. She got better, but she still pulled all her feathers on her neck, crop area, on her legs, and on her flank. There are pin feathers growing in those locations, but she just chews them off. It's a continuous cycle of new pin feathers growing in those same regions, and her chewing them off. She's also in the phase of chewing up her red and back wing feathers.

My wife and I mostly worked from home since the pandemic started. She's out of her cage most of the day. She likes to just sit with or near one of us (mostly my wife). But for an hour or so during the day, she'll just want to chew on stuff. She has lots of toys, cardboard, etc. for that. And I usually fly her around our place for 10-15 minutes a day with safflower seeds as a reward. She also flies to us, her cage, or her eating spot several times a day.

Overall, it just seems like she has abnormally dry skin? We got another humidifier a month ago, and it runs 24/7. But during the afternoon when the sun shines in, it almost always drops to the low 40s. We wash her every other day, and she dries in the sun with the window open. We also tried palm oil supplement in her diet, but no improvement. We tried a collar too, but it just stressed her out.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!