Plucking

[Keatz]

Hi, my three year old Amazon, Basil, recently started plucking. It started with the insides of his legs, before he started plucking his venty feathers, and now he seems to be working his way up to his belly. I"ve noticed that he seems to be plucking mostly pin feathers. When I get up in the mornings, I find them in the bottom of his cage. Sometimes, I see him do it in front of me.
I know the obvious solution is to take him to the vet, but I've been taking my eclectus to the vet and it's costing me a lot of money. I did bring up Basil's plucking with the vet, and he said to enrich his environment with foraging toys, which I do.
When he first started plucking, I cut out fatty foods from his diet. I recently got a sprouter and started sprouting. He eas veggies, fruit and nuts. Sometimes I give him chicken. He's not keen on pellets.
I suspect it might be behavioral. He wants to be around me all the time. I can't always be with him, but I spend hours each day with him and involve him in my activities. When I have to go out, he screams. Also, I let him sit in the kitchen cupboard in the evenings because he loves it in there. I realise this could be encouraging nesting behavior, but I can't see how that might contribute to his plucking.
Has anyone expereinced this before? How did you deal with it? Thanks

 

[DonnaBudgie]

We have many members that have birds that pluck. Some have been successful in stopping it. In particular, @wrench13 has an Amazon, Salty, who started plucking last year. He was able to stop it. The 5hread ypu should read is entiled "Salty is in trouble with plucking".

I hope this will be helpful. There are a lot of other threads on the topic category "Plucking, feather destruction and mutilation". You can search for them under Forums in the drop down menu at the upper left.

 

[wrench13]

Hi friend! Yes, Salty started plucking earlier this year, but we were able to get him to stop. Its unusual for 'zons to pluck, but obviously some do. Salty started on his chest and under his wings and this coincided with a very strong and protracted mating season. What we did:
He had 2 Lupron shots at the vet. Lupron is sometimes used to curtail egg laying in hens and occasionally has been used to calm down mating behavior. The vet wanted the course of treatment to go longer, but the plucking kind of stopped so we stopped the treatment. Unable to say of this turned the tide - the vets seemed to think not, since usually more shots are used.

• Removed anything he could use as a hiding spot or hole. Salty started to seek these out with an almost mindless intensity, very unusual for him.
• Removed all fruit and any sugar bearing veggies like corn etc from his chop and daily diet.
• Made sure we schpritzed him a little bit almost every day with the water sprayer. Unlike most parrots, his species is from an arid, dry area, so his need for bathing is not as intense as others, We did this to make sure dry skin was not the issue.
• Rotated his toys and gave him some new ones that he particularly likes.
• Gave him a bit more out of cage time. Usually it was 50/50, changed to 40/60%.

After 2 or so months of this , we saw that some areas were starting to show regrown feathers and he has since fully all of them.

I would have a full check up done by your AVIAN vet first, to rule out any medical or other (like a parasite) cause, and then discuss the course of treatment with the vet. Intense hormone seasons seem to be becoming more common the past few years - why I dont know. THis feather plucking in Amazons seems likely one of the results. Even in past years where his behavior was intense ( biting and crazy mood swings), Salty has never plucked before.

Good Luck!

 

[nkrbkr]

Hi there! Just curious if you know for sure that Basil is a male? At 3 years old, he may be reaching sexual maturity/puberty, and the plucking could be a result of hormones. The plucking pattern you are describing (around the legs, vent, belly) is occasionally seen in female birds, as they’re creating an area for egg contact. I would definitely discourage any “nesty” situations (the cupboard), as this will only increase hormonal behavior. As mentioned above, it really would be best to see an avian vet to rule out any parasites, infections, etc.