Plucking

[MJMette]

We've owned our Quaker, Oscar, for about 4 years. He is a breeder and is currently caring for five eggs, the first one just hatched today !! He started plucking about three and half years ago, roughly the same time they started breeding. He plucks under his wings, around to his back, and around his neck. He's really a character. We give him lots of attention and love and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies and of course everything else that we have and he doesn't. He'll even fly across the living room for a cheez-it. He loves talking and has a large vocabulary. So he can't be plucking out of boredom. He is a bit jittery though, we've successfully trained him to be held ("rub-a-dub-dub") and he rarely bites, but he has a spaz when we play with the female, Jabba. He scares easily at quick movements, touching his belly, or neighbors in the yard.
We've been using "Natural Pet Pharmaceuticals: Stress Control", which is the same as "Pluck-no-More" if reviews were correct, for about five weeks. For the first couple days we rubbed it on his skin but that seemed to just stress him out more so we resorted to 1/4 capfuls into the water spout every time we change the water. His nerves seemed to have calmed a bit, but we haven't seen any significant plumage return. Is there anything else we can do??

[birdscomefirst]

Hi,
Plucking is a complicated issue in parrots. It could be the result of hormonal changes, stress, something the bird just doesn't like, nesting behavior and so on. Each reason is handled in a different way.

The first thing always advised is to have a vet visit with an avian vet so that tests can be done to rule out anything medical. Many times, plucking can be the result of dry skin or a dietary deficiency.

Although many people try to avoid the step of a vet visit, it is the most important one as you need to know if the plucking is a physical or emotional issue for the bird. It must be an avian vet, not just a run of the mill vet as most (of course, not all) are relatively unfamiliar with the complexities of a feather plucker. many "non avian" vets will just reccomend spraying your bird with some useless spray meant to stop plucking or tell you the bird needs a collar. Neither of these deal with the underlying cause and that's what really needs to be addressed.

Bill

[birdsnthings]

The folicles may be damaged to the point that feathers may not grow back. I often see this is breeding birds such as the Quakers and Tiels.
Alice