Kentuckienne
Supporting Vendor
- Oct 9, 2016
- 2,742
- 1,631
- Parrots
- Roommates include Gus, Blue and gold macaw rescue and Coco, secondhand amazon
I tried to find an answer before posting a new thread, but I don't see anything quite like this. Gus the B&G rescue, loves getting his head and neck scratched/preened. He spent many years in solitary and had lots of pin feathers still when he came to us. With tons of preening and a good shower those are fixed and his feathers are starting to look beautiful. He wasn't a plucker - even the first photos from the rescue show him in full feather. But he is doing something puzzling.
When we scratch/preen him, he loves it. Won't let you stop. If you stop, he reaches over and gently takes your finger in his beak and lifts it. But while I'm scratching/petting/preening he will start working on the feathers of his chest, wings, anything he can reach. He has restricted flexibility due to skeletal problems. He doesn't pull out any colored feathers but he pulled out about six down feathers yesterday over the course of two - three hours.
Is this going to progress to plucking? He doesn't do it when he's on his own, only when we pet him. It's not like he's being stressed - he won't let us stop. The only thing I can figure is ... He seems to be trained to poop on the perch because he will get antsy, want to go to perch, then poop and be picked up again. Could the down plucking be a way for him to postpone going to poop because he doesn't want the preening to stop? I'll try putting back on perch mid session to see, and watch to see if the plucking starts after a certain amount of time. If we are doing something to cue this behavior it would be great to figure it out and stop it before this becomes a habit...
When we scratch/preen him, he loves it. Won't let you stop. If you stop, he reaches over and gently takes your finger in his beak and lifts it. But while I'm scratching/petting/preening he will start working on the feathers of his chest, wings, anything he can reach. He has restricted flexibility due to skeletal problems. He doesn't pull out any colored feathers but he pulled out about six down feathers yesterday over the course of two - three hours.
Is this going to progress to plucking? He doesn't do it when he's on his own, only when we pet him. It's not like he's being stressed - he won't let us stop. The only thing I can figure is ... He seems to be trained to poop on the perch because he will get antsy, want to go to perch, then poop and be picked up again. Could the down plucking be a way for him to postpone going to poop because he doesn't want the preening to stop? I'll try putting back on perch mid session to see, and watch to see if the plucking starts after a certain amount of time. If we are doing something to cue this behavior it would be great to figure it out and stop it before this becomes a habit...