please help-conure plucking feathers

[mollypip]

Just wondering if someone can help me. I came home today to find that Pip, my conure, had plucked out a fair bit of his chest feathers at some point today. He seems to be eating and drinking normally and he definitely has no change in behavior. I did some research which suggested that the cause could be boredom, which is a possibility but I have lots of toys in his cage...and he seems to play frequently. However, I have moved his toys around to change it up a bit for him. Any advice or past experience with this sort of thing would be helpful. There is also a possibility that he had something stuck in his feathers, although I can't really think of anything he could have gotten in to. Thanks!

 

[weco]

If you've observed Pip playing with his toys, I might be inclined to look elsewhere than boredom... What specie conure are we talking about? How long have you had Pip? When was the last time he was seen by a veterinarian & were any tests performed? What part of the world do you live in? Have you started using your heating system yet...if so, what type of heat do you have? Have there been any other changes in yours or Pip's lives recently? Pictures might help.....

 

[mollypip]

Pip is a green cheeked conure. I have had Pip since April. Bought him from a breeder. We live in eastern Canada. I haven't brought him to a vet, we have horrible vets here and it is VERY hard to find one who knows anything about birds. I am looking to find the best one available... So doing a lot of research to find the best option. I'm new to this site and didn't know how to upload pics. We use electric heat,there has been no change in the temperature in his room. I have curtains to the window which are closed during the night and have been closed the past couple of days due to bad lightning storms, as I didn't want him to be scared of the flashing lights while I was at work. I was home one night when we had lightening, however, and he didn't seem scared.

 

[EAI]

Maybe something more on the medical side like mites, metal poisoning or something in his diet? Are you spending less work around him? Theres a chance that he might be doing this for your attention, so when you see him plucking he knows he'll get attention.

 

[weco]

My primary reason for inquiring about your location & heat type is that environments that are too dry can cause a bird's skin to itch & subsequent plucking.....electric heat & especially gas heat tend to pull moisture out of indoor atmospheres.....

Not trying to pry, but have there been any recent personal difficulties that Pip might have picked up on.....birds are good at picking up on our negative energies.....

Was Pip's breeder possibly a smoker? If he's not shown any concerns with vehicle lights flashing in & out of his windows at night, there's probably no concern there.....

Do you have any other pets in the house? While it's probably a reach, you might lay a sheet of typing/copy paper in the bottom of Pip's cage tonight, then get up before daylight tomorrow & check the paper, looking for little black or red creepy crawlies...better know as mites.....if by chance you do find mites, DO NOT buy one of those mite/pest preventers disks they sell in pet stores...those things can kill a bird.....

Can't help you with East coast Canadian vets...sorry.....

Have you seen Pip actually pull any feathers or just finding them after the fact? I ask because in the pic you posted, it looks like he's got a new pin feather on his right chest.....

 

[mollypip]

I usually will bring him into the bathroom while the shower is running so he can breathe in some more moisturized air. Do you think getting an air dehumidifier would be a good idea?

I have had some extra stress into my life over the past little while, probably more than usual. However, I always try to seem happy and playful with Pip and he usually seems the same.

There is a half lab/half golden retriever who lives in the house but is kept downstairs and away from my conure's room at all times. They have met previously on numerous occasions and the dog was more afraid of my conure. My conure, Pip, was actually curious and seemed to want to play with him...however they never came into direct contact.

I have put down a white piece of paper towel this morning so I can check when I go home to see if any more little strands of feathers will be there. Do mites only come out in the night time? I will listen to your suggestion and put a clean piece down tonight before bed and check tomorrow morning.

I have found a vet who seems to have good reviews when it comes to small animals. Two other vet clinics also recommended him, so I have emailed the clinic and am waiting to hear back a reply. I am nervous bringing him to the vet due to the cold weather we currently have here and I know that the wait times are often very long, and I don't want to put any stress on Pip.

I actually have not seen Pip pull any of his feathers out, I was with him for three hours last night (out of cage) and he didn't seem to pay any attention to his chest feathers. When I originally got him his wings were clipped and I have been letting them grow since, and they have been growing in very quick the past month or two. He just seems to be biting at his wing feathers at the root where the new ones come through. He has been doing that for a long time and I am 90% sure it is due to molting.

I am also stopping into a local pet store this evening who I had previously went to when I had a sick budgie bird. This particular pet store's owner had a lot of knowledge and advice, so I hope to get some more information.

I will also post more pictures tonight.

Thank you all for your advice,opinions, and help. This is my first time owning a conure so it is a whole new challenge!

 

[weco]

After your last message, I doubt Pip is plucking, though I could be wrong.....I think it's that he may have just pulled some loose feathers that were ready to be molted out and may have been irritating him...molting birds will do that, think loose eyelash tickling your eyelid.....

Yes, mites do come out at night, that's why I mentioned that you need to check the paper before daylight...once it begins to get light, they will have gone back to their hiding places.....

When you say "little strands of feathers," are you talking about little fluffies, smaller than down feathers? Those are part of his molting process.....if he were to molt all of his feathers at the same time & be a naked bird, he would have molted off a couple of thousand feathers in a big pile.....

I don't think you need a dehumidifier, because excessively dry temperatures are what cause some birds' skin to become itchy, generally you can tell if you have a too dry atmosphere in your home if you wake up with dry mouth, which would indicate the possible need for a humidifier.....your inside humidity level should be between 30% and 50% ..... if you think you need to monitor your indoor humidity, you can find inexpensive Taylor brand indoor/outdoor thermometer/hygrometers at most Ace Hardware stores & other full service hardware stores.....

 

[mollypip]

Ok, so first off some good news: I found no evidence that Pip was plucking his feathers yesterday. Also, I put down white paper towel on the bottom of his cage last night and checked it at around 3:00am for any sign of mites (there was none) and again at dusk (none). So, hopefully that is not the case!

Yes, mites do come out at night, that's why I mentioned that you need to check the paper before daylight...once it begins to get light, they will have gone back to their hiding places.....

When I say "little strands of feathers", I mean that they look almost like either human eyebrow hairs or eyelashes...they're not fluffy and don't look like his normal feathers.
They are light coloured and single stranded.

When you say "little strands of feathers," are you talking about little fluffies, smaller than down feathers? Those are part of his molting process.....if he were to molt all of his feathers at the same time & be a naked bird, he would have molted off a couple of thousand feathers in a big pile.....

I am going to bring Pip into the vet sometime soon, before I book an appointment I'm going to try to make it for a day that doesn't have down pour rain or really windy. I spoke with some people at the local pet stores and they were not very helpful.

I also bought him some new toys and he seemed to enjoy that surprise.

I have attached some pictures that I took this morning.

Thank you!

 

[mollypip]

I took some pictures of the area on his chest that he picked at, as well as some other general photos in case anyone sees anything that may be a sign as to why he plucked. Like I said before, this is my first time owning a conure so I don't know what exactly to look for.

Thanks again

 

[drj130]

I think that Pip might be molting myself. I say this because I brought my Pat into my home in or around Jun and he was born in April. Have you notice a lot of white stuff on his feathers or on you when you give him scratches? Lately, anytime I have Pat in my hands giving him attention, I have feathers falling out all over the place (he isn't bald yet, but I'd swear that he should be by now) and a lot of the coating that protects the new feathers when they are ready.

 

[mollypip]

Oh, yes he us definitely molting. There is a fair bit of that white stuff around. However, I've never seen any of my previous pet birds have a complete patch of their feathers plucked out when they were molting. Also, up until this week the only feathers that I've seen from Pip are fluffy ones or actual feathers with that white stem part. I have a vet appointment booked for two weeks time as this particular vet is apparently hard to get into.

Thank you!

 

[mollypip]

Photos of the area that is missing some top feathers

 

[weco]

I think you can rest your worries.....it looks like Pip's body just got started in that spot on his chest & will spread out when the other feathers are ready to drop out.....

 

[mollypip]

Last night I finally managed to get a look under his chest feathers and saw that he has a couple of rather large needle/pin like feathers..ones that haven broken through yet. So now I am almost certain that he was just trying to get those feathers broken through. I am still bringing him to a get just to get a general check up and to make sure he is perfectly healthy.

Thanks for all your help!!

 

[drj130]

Nothing wrong with getting a health check. I did that for Pat a few days after bringing him home.