Feather chewing

[bgmacaw]

Mija recently started chewing the ends of feathers on her chest and the short feathers at the front edge of her wing. I hope this picture shows it clearly enough it's an area about the size of a quarter. She bites off a small piece and chews it in her beak. She doesn't pull the feathers out and hasn't chewed any all the way down. When she was sitting on me she bit off arm hairs and doing the same, which I put a quick halt to. We are trying to get an appointment to see the vet to rule out physical causes. They get lots of out of cage time and personal interaction along with some out doors time pretty much every day. Diet includes, nuts, seeds, fresh fruit, veggies and pasta along with a combo of Harrison's and Zupreem pellets. We try to ensure there are plenty of destructible toys in their cages, paper rolls, wood; as well as interactive toys. Any thoughts?

[The Outlaw]

Jeff:

I have forwarded your question to Wendy Craig and will post her reply.

THE OUTLAW

[The Outlaw]

Jeff:

Here's what Wendy just sent:

Since she is not plucking or chewing down to the skin, it sounds more like it is situational or behavioral. I'd think real hard to see if anything at all has changed in her environment. It could be something as small as a new picture on the wall, or moving her cage or another birds cage. New people or animals in the house, a change in schedule. Of course it is still a good idea to have a vet make sure she is healthy.

Wendy

[bgmacaw]

Nancy, Thank you for the follow-up. We went over to the folks we bought her from and they looked her over for obvious sores or irritations and said about the same thing, they likened it to someone chewing their nails. I made an appointment to take both birds to the vet this week for checkups to be safe. We have been trying to think what may have changed in her environment. She does seem pretty nervous when new folks come into the house, so we will also be working more to getting her out around more people.

[bgmacaw]

We took Mija and Rio to the avian vet this week and his diagnosis for Mija is that it is behavioral. We He found no parasites, bacteria or skin issues. We spent some time talking about what may have changed in her environment or schedule in recent weeks. That was a challenge. One thing that seems to stand out is that about 3 weeks ago Lori and I both got new glasses, mine was a minimal change, but Lori completely changed styles. As we think about it now, Mija constantly grabs at her new glasses. She never touched the old ones. It seems wierd that something like new glasses could affect her. We'll continue to keep an eye on her and try to give her more toys to interact with and destroy.