Hi guys!
I've gotten a bunch of PM's and requests in the original thread for updates about our cockatiel and Sun Conure. Sorry about my extended absence. After our storied beginning, we've had a setback.
I got pneumonia and spent a week in bed so sick I could barely drag myself to the bathroom. Then my 2 year old caught it and spent 2 weeks in the hospital in intensive care. She is home and much better now, but worrying every second that we could lose her was the scariest time of my entire life.
Anywho, during the week that I was sick, the birds received basic care- food, water, clean cages- but not much in the way of attention. When the baby got sick my mother came to stay with us to watch the other kids and care for the house/pets so my husband could go to work and I could stay with the baby at the hospital.
Unfortunately, my mother never goes anywhere without the most horrible, ill behaved yap yap dog on the earth. She is also one of those people who thinks she's an expert at everything (even things she doesn't actually know anything about).
My mother had strict instructions to leave the birds alone, but since she always knows best about everything, she decided to get Lucy (our Sun) out. Lucy climbed up on to the top of her cage and then, predictably, refused to either return to the cage or step up on to my mother's (a complete stranger) hand. When attempting to coax Lucy with sweet talk and treats didn't work, my mother tried to just grab her, and received a (completely deserved) bite. After that, she threw a towel over Lucy and smooshed her back in to the cage that way.
When I heard, I was FURIOUS. There are not words to describe how angry I was. She had turned my perfect bird in to a biter by not following simple instructions to just leave the birds alone!!! It gets worse.
Over the course of her visit, my mother's horrible yap-yap dog yapped. And yapped. And yapped. 24/7. Never. Shuts. Up.
Between the stress of no attention from her family, being manhandled by my mother, and listening to that damn dog, Lucy started tearing out the feathers on her chest!
I know we didn't have another choice, it's not like you can choose spending time with your parrot over spending time with your hospitalized baby. But I am just heart broken. Since my mother left, Lucy has continued to pick at her chest- but much less. She's pulling out a few feathers a day vs bucketloads when I was gone. Her chest isn't totally bald, she's still covered in white fluffy down, but all of her orange feathers are gone.
I want to treat this aggressively, since I know that feather picking can become a lifelong habit if not gotten in check immediately. I know that usually, the first stop is to the vet. But she just had a complete vet work up a month ago and I think it's pretty obvious that this is stress related not a sickness problem.
Here's what I've done so far:
-Have been spending TONS of time with her.
-Got her one of those sweaters for feather pickers. I'm still getting her used to being around it, so she hasn't actually worn it yet.
-Got her a fleece sleep tent to snuggle in. I didn't have one in there before because I've read that they can stimulate mating type behaviors, but she was just so shivery and cold, I thought it might make her happy to have something to cuddle in. She LOVES it. I've been putting it in her cage at night for her to sleep in and taking it out during the day.
-Bought a gazillion new toys that are marketed specifically towards feather pickers. She has spent a lot of time plucking those, which is hopefully cutting down on her plucking herself.
-Have been bathing her every day with "avian solution bath spray"
-Bought some Harrison's bird bread and made the mix with Sunshine Factor. Have been feeding her that daily (in addition to the Harrison's pellets and fresh foods she already gets).
Any other ideas about things I should be doing (or not doing) to get her to stop feather picking before it turns in to a habit?
I've gotten a bunch of PM's and requests in the original thread for updates about our cockatiel and Sun Conure. Sorry about my extended absence. After our storied beginning, we've had a setback.
I got pneumonia and spent a week in bed so sick I could barely drag myself to the bathroom. Then my 2 year old caught it and spent 2 weeks in the hospital in intensive care. She is home and much better now, but worrying every second that we could lose her was the scariest time of my entire life.
Anywho, during the week that I was sick, the birds received basic care- food, water, clean cages- but not much in the way of attention. When the baby got sick my mother came to stay with us to watch the other kids and care for the house/pets so my husband could go to work and I could stay with the baby at the hospital.
Unfortunately, my mother never goes anywhere without the most horrible, ill behaved yap yap dog on the earth. She is also one of those people who thinks she's an expert at everything (even things she doesn't actually know anything about).
My mother had strict instructions to leave the birds alone, but since she always knows best about everything, she decided to get Lucy (our Sun) out. Lucy climbed up on to the top of her cage and then, predictably, refused to either return to the cage or step up on to my mother's (a complete stranger) hand. When attempting to coax Lucy with sweet talk and treats didn't work, my mother tried to just grab her, and received a (completely deserved) bite. After that, she threw a towel over Lucy and smooshed her back in to the cage that way.
When I heard, I was FURIOUS. There are not words to describe how angry I was. She had turned my perfect bird in to a biter by not following simple instructions to just leave the birds alone!!! It gets worse.
Over the course of her visit, my mother's horrible yap-yap dog yapped. And yapped. And yapped. 24/7. Never. Shuts. Up.
Between the stress of no attention from her family, being manhandled by my mother, and listening to that damn dog, Lucy started tearing out the feathers on her chest!
I know we didn't have another choice, it's not like you can choose spending time with your parrot over spending time with your hospitalized baby. But I am just heart broken. Since my mother left, Lucy has continued to pick at her chest- but much less. She's pulling out a few feathers a day vs bucketloads when I was gone. Her chest isn't totally bald, she's still covered in white fluffy down, but all of her orange feathers are gone.
I want to treat this aggressively, since I know that feather picking can become a lifelong habit if not gotten in check immediately. I know that usually, the first stop is to the vet. But she just had a complete vet work up a month ago and I think it's pretty obvious that this is stress related not a sickness problem.
Here's what I've done so far:
-Have been spending TONS of time with her.
-Got her one of those sweaters for feather pickers. I'm still getting her used to being around it, so she hasn't actually worn it yet.
-Got her a fleece sleep tent to snuggle in. I didn't have one in there before because I've read that they can stimulate mating type behaviors, but she was just so shivery and cold, I thought it might make her happy to have something to cuddle in. She LOVES it. I've been putting it in her cage at night for her to sleep in and taking it out during the day.
-Bought a gazillion new toys that are marketed specifically towards feather pickers. She has spent a lot of time plucking those, which is hopefully cutting down on her plucking herself.
-Have been bathing her every day with "avian solution bath spray"
-Bought some Harrison's bird bread and made the mix with Sunshine Factor. Have been feeding her that daily (in addition to the Harrison's pellets and fresh foods she already gets).
Any other ideas about things I should be doing (or not doing) to get her to stop feather picking before it turns in to a habit?
