oh no she has started plucking

[felisdomesticus]

Yesterday I noticed several feathers at the bottom of Scarlett's cage and under her boing. I gave her a good bath this morning and hoped that maybe she was just itchy or had dry skin or something. I just changed her newspaper lining about a half hour ago and I walked in to find 3 more feathers at the bottom already. They look to be feathers off of her wings/back.

Nothing in her diet has changed. I have been rotating her toys and perches weekly. She gets tons of attention from me daily. I even just bought her another toy, a pinata thing that is meant to basically be ripped to shreds, this morning and put it in there when I changed the newspaper. She seemed to really be enjoying it and chewed the heck out of it--yet there are still feathers falling.

[paultheparrotlover]

Originally Posted by felisdomesticus

Yesterday I noticed several feathers at the bottom of Scarlett's cage and under her boing. I gave her a good bath this morning and hoped that maybe she was just itchy or had dry skin or something. I just changed her newspaper lining about a half hour ago and I walked in to find 3 more feathers at the bottom already. They look to be feathers off of her wings/back.

Nothing in her diet has changed. I have been rotating her toys and perches weekly. She gets tons of attention from me daily. I even just bought her another toy, a pinata thing that is meant to basically be ripped to shreds, this morning and put it in there when I changed the newspaper. She seemed to really be enjoying it and chewed the heck out of it--yet there are still feathers falling.

I reccomend you subscribe to

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeedingFeathers/

[Monica]

First off, are you sure she is plucking and not molting? If she might be plucking you may be able to find some red skin or bare spots...

[felisdomesticus]

Originally Posted by Monica

First off, are you sure she is plucking and not molting?

good point. I just went in to take her out of the cage and saw her puff herself up and "shake out". Another feather just fell right off of her at that point. So maybe she is just molting. In my horror and panic, I had forgotten about that possibility.

[The Outlaw]

She could be doing either. Here's the deal: when they are mature (usually around 3) they often start breeding behaviors. This includes pulling downy chest and sometimes back feathers. In the wild, they would line their nests.

With Ekkie females, its all too common. Since most aren't paired and allowed to raise a family, this behavior starts but has nothing to turn it off. No eggs, no chicks to raise. They often, therefore, get stuck in this insane pluckin cycle.

My ekkie was in beautiful feather for many years. Last year, however, she pulled so many feathers it just broke my heart. This started just about this time last year. It continued throughout the fall and winter. I even make special anti plucking vests to deter her.

I started using a product line designed to help with anxious and plucking birds. This I got from Avitec.com. I used a product called Avicalm, another called Featherin and a third called Featheriffic. Within a few days of giving her these supplements and spraying her with a mix, she stopped pulling feathers. By then, she was bare on her chest and had pulled every single blue feather and a lot of her red ones.

I'm not sure if the trigger to shut off the behavior was tripped, or if she simply stopped due to normal hormonal changes. She is now just about fully feathered again. I will be leaving for a few days at the beach and I'm worried that she may start again. However, I have the products here and will start her on them before I leave. I also have the King's product but really haven't used it.

I should note that though my Ekkie responded very well to the Avitech products, my female BG macaw had no improvement whatsoever. However, I never did think that my macaw had the same problem as the Ekkie.

Unfortunately, plucking in the eclectus parrot is very, very prevalant. You can make yourself crazy and try all kinds of crazy things. Usually, they simply don't work. The more relaxed you are about it, the more likely you'll be to help stop the cycle. At least that's the conclusion that I've drawn from my own personal experience.

Here's a shot taken of Mai Tai, my ekkie a week ago. She is still feathering out, but there are no bare spots. She does, however, still have a lot of pins. I haven't seen ANY feathers on the bottom of her cage since June.

If you'd like to take a look at the Avicalm products, you can do so on-line. Go to www.avitec.com. This isn't a hyperlink, so you'll have to cut and paste. Make sure to type it as it appears. There is no H in the address. Good luck.

THE OUTLAW

[birdsnthings]

Not to worry! I think we all don't want to see our birds feather picking or plucking.
Alice

[felisdomesticus]

thank you to everyone for the replies. I hard-boiled some eggs to give her and even added a few little pieces of chicken to her bowl last night even though it freaked me out to do so. I really hope it is just molting.

[peeker]

Unless you are seeing bare patches, it's more than likely she's molting. My birds are all molting now. Lots and lots of feathers to vaccuum, but no picking here. If she shakes out and feathers fall off, it's a pretty good chance they're dropping naturally. For whatever reason, I have had a different experience than Nancy with my ekkies. I have two females and two males and no one is paired up~~they are all pets. My two females are horribly hormonal right now. Ruby sneaks under tables and digs like a chicken in corners and looks so guilty when I call her out and Tina begs to be held and tried to get me to pet her back~but no plucking of the feathers for either of them. **knocks wood** Try not to let your fears get ahead of you.

[felisdomesticus]

She was sitting on my hand this morning while I looked at several sites from another thread in an attempt to determine her subspecies. While she was perched there, I noticed her doing A LOT of preening and got a good view of some pin feathers. So I am double-crossing my fingers that it's just a molt.