Pinfeather plucking!

[Whiskers]

Hi everyone!

My two and a half year old cockatiel Sakai has started up with a new problem this Spring (in our backwards seasoned Southern Hemisphere). He's always been a good preener and an exceptional moulter, but all of a sudden, coinciding with a particularly heavy moult, he's started ripping the new pinfeathers out of his front and back. It's hard to tell if it's JUST the pinfeathers and not other feathers, but that's what a lot of careful observation has suggested.

A vet visit is incoming but I wanted to check with your good selves as well. To curb possible sexual frustration I increased my birds' night-time hours and all access to mirrors (he's fully flighted, so keeping him away is difficult). I also gave him a couple of good long baths, which he doesn't get too many of in winter, and upped the egg in his diet to make sure he's getting the protein he needs. What else should I do until the vet can get a look at him?

Crucially, my other tiel has none of these problems. I don't think his moult has really kicked in to the same extent as Sakai, but I haven't observed any of the same behaviours in him. I'm not ruling out Giardia, but it seems unlikely one bird would have it and not the other.

Help! He's pulled out about five more in the time I've spent writing this!

Sarah

[Whiskers]

Quick update--just gave him another bath and he was ripping out normal feathers as well. Not sure if he does that when he's not wet.

[Greycloud]

Well he is definitely in need of a vet visit ASAP! He can destroy hisself pretty fast. Until you check if anything medical is the problem it is going to persist. Unfortunately when this habit starts it is very difficult to break. Make sure he has lots of busy toys, especially foraging toys. Sounds like the bath may have stressed him. Hold off till you see the vet.

[Whiskers]

Vet visit today. I will try and pick up some new toys for him as well, even though he has tons. It's really come out of the blue...he's gone two spring moults before without doing anything like this!

[Whiskers]

Well both Sakai and Chen were in at the vet all day yesterday--when I called they bumped me up to a first thing appointment. He had all the pathology checks and so on and a physical and came up with a perfect bill of health except that he is perhaps a little fat. (This is after last year's diabetes scare when he was dangerously thin...make up your mind, birdy!) So the vet gave him a couple of vitamin injections, some antibiotics for his water just in case, and I've made serious alterations to his diet. I'm also keeping him separated from Chen since Chen's response to spring has to become quite dominant and frankly, a bully.

Anyway, last night Sakai was in pretty bad shock after the ordeal and wasn't plucking at all, but this morning he's happy, cheery, and right back to it. Gah. I can only hope the new diet and the other medications will make a difference over time...and that it's not before his feathers are all lost!

[Greycloud]

Try misting him with a 50/50 mix of aloe gel and cool water. This has a relieving effect.

[maggy]

I'd suggest you back off the animal protein...it helps to bring the Oz birds into breeding condition, the feather plucking might be sexual frustration or preparing to make nests (brood patch). Keep the protein levels up with vege protein (beans,legumes), back-off rich food especially any fatty food even seeds and back-off the showers as winter rains stimulate breeding behaviour in Aussie birds, but most of all don't panic, don't act disturbed, i will only stress the bird and make it pluck even more.

[Whiskers]

He doesn't get much animal protein anyway (only eggs) and I've dropped that. He's been completely on a mix of rice and cooked vegetables, with a millet spray for the first time today (and on inspection they've just shredded it, not eaten any, so it probably doesn't count. Vitamins and antibiotics have been in his water every day, and he's been separated from his brother a great deal to cut back on any bullying. He's also been getting a lot more sleep.

No change though. I thought he was doing a lot better, and perhaps he is, but he's sitting on my shoulder now and plucking a lot. And I took a quick look at him and he has quite a big bruise on his chest I can only assume as a result of plucking something that bled. It seems a few days old, though. I don't know whether to take him back to the vet since when he went last Thursday he was clean of any medical issues...so I'm not sure what else to do!

[LovelySydney]

I am sorry to hear your little one is plucking, it sounds like you are doing all you can to curb the behavior. Isn't is true that some birds just pluck for no reason? I know it is devastating and of course none of us WANT our birds to pluck but I swear I read that sometimes they just do and there is nothing we can do about it. I know that doesn't help you any but it might just be one of those things = ( I hope he decides to stop pulling out his feathers but know that you are doing all you can to stop it, you are being a wonderful parront!!!