HELP - G2 plucking

[Dvan]

Hi there.
Our G2 is now about 6 weeks with us. In the 2 weeks before that he was with his previous owners. In that two weeks he plucked his two wings bald ptches, as well as his breast feathers. Since we took him over, he did not pluck any . BUT two days ago we noticed feathers in his cage, and tonight there was easily 10 feathers. We can see its coming from his top breast / neck area. Any suggestions. #
They get normal dry food, with apple and greens alternative days. He has lots of toys, but he is very hard on toys, and they last rarely more than two days.

We would hate to see him pluck.. any help will be appreciated.

[mmr]

Originally Posted by Dvan

They get normal dry food, with apple and greens alternative days..

please claify what you mean by this???? Specific

Originally Posted by Dvan

He has lots of toys, but he is very hard on toys, and they last rarely more than two days...

this is a TYPICAL too. They love to chew. Do you have chunks of wood for him to chew up? What about preening toys? Give him aphone book as they love to shred!

What is his bathing schedule? How much out of cage time doe he get?

[ljhassell]

You need to load cage with wood toys, shredable toys, rolls of adding paper, paper towle cardboard tubes, they need to forage and chew, we pull grates and put corn straw in bottom of cages, this allows foraging and they love to play in straw. These birds also need showers daily, soaked all the way to skin, that will help with dust and a wet bird is less likely to pluck. Another thing is diet, if you have changed alot of what this bird was use to and liked before and was doing well with, you have stressed it. New homes need to try and keep as much routine as possible, they need 10-12 hours of dark, quiet time, too much stimulation will also stress them. Again, wish people would really get serious and research every asspect of breed and bird ownership BEFORE aqquiring, this is so unfair to birds, when will people get a clue??????????

[Congobongo]

Well, it is hard to determine sometimes what will trigger a bird to do this. I believe merely by your post that you love your bird and are trying to do the right things.

Everyone talks about needing an 'experienced bird' owner...but you have to start somewhere. That is why resources like Birdboard are so helpful.

[Dvan]

Originally Posted by ljhassell

. Again, wish people would really get serious and research every asspect of breed and bird ownership BEFORE aqquiring, this is so unfair to birds, when will people get a clue??????????

I'm sorry, but to make comments like these are not fair.
We have a CAG and a Senegal. We've had them for the last 8 years. they eat better than us, get new toys very often, and we frequently skip weekends away because we do not want to leave them with other people. We know how to look after our birds.
We were thinking of getting a G2 for a long time, but we were not sure, so we would rather not.
The one we got know were with people that knew nothing about birds. The had three bowls of water and only one bowl of seeds in the cage. the cage was filthy with the water bowls slimy. The G2 went from fully feathered to almost bare breasted in 2 weeks with them. We had absolutely no choice but to take it. We are very quickly learning more and more about specific G2 traits and the differences between them and our grey. We have almost a whole file of articles we got from the net about G2's before we took him.

Plucking is new to us, and I was mearly looking for advise.
They get apples or fruit daily. On alternative days they get green vegetables. The get a balanced diet of nuts, dried fruit, seeds, chillies, and dry food daily. we clean the cages daily with fresh water twice daily if required. the grey is sh"t scared of water, and the senegal would bathe once a week.
So we bathed the G2 for the first time today, and he liked it. It will become a daily routine! we put a much more toys in the cage.

I trust that he will grow his feathers back with time, and we will stick it out and do what it takes.

[Tom Lawless]

Hello and thank you for taking in this bird and watching out for his best interests.

I have an African Grey who started plucking at only 10 months of age. It really shocked me because I thought I was doing everything right. What I've found about plucking is that sometimes there isn't any one thing you can do to make them stop and often it is a mystery why they started to begin with. With your Cockatoo, it sounds like it is a new behavior and it also sounds like that it can be easily traced back to his last home. That might make it a lot easier to treat. I'm no expert on this but I'll throw out the advise given to me by my Avian Vet when I brought Bing to her. You may already be doing all of these things but I'll put them out here anyway. 1. 10 to 12 hours of sleep in a dark, quiet room (that really killed my t.v. viewing time because she gave them an 8:00PM curfew). 2. A lot of shreddable toys including things like old telephone books hung from the cage, paper towel tubes, straws, etc. 3. Move toward a foraging type of feeding system to keep the bird's mind occupied (we're still working toward this). 4. A shower every day. 5. A good full spectrum avian light for four to six hours. 6. No peanuts and avoid pellets with artificial dyes. 7. If the cage is near a window or in the middle of a busy area, try to provide the bird with a protected corner by affixing a towel or cloth to the cage where he can go and not feel like he is vulnerable.

I can't think of any other. I hope this helps. I know other posters said similar things too. Good luck. If it's any consolation I do think your situation will get much better as he settles into his new house and positive routine.

[maggy]

Please don't think I'm picking...but you said the bird gets dry food and fruit every second day, maybe his diet is also not adequate. One of the first bird books I read before I got my corela said parrots should have two fruits, two veges and two leafy greens a day, as well as pellets or sprouted seed mix. Dusty has all these plus two drops of wheatgerm oil in her warm food in the evening. Also don't get tense about the plucking it will send tension to the bird and make the plucking worse. Perhaps you should get him checked by an avian vet ..just in case. Good luck.