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Spring is in the air, and grey feathers are on the floor!

LADyver

Strolling the yard
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7/5/12
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121
It's warm and springy in Southern California and Spike (female CAG...I didn't name her) has been shredding her toys more than usual, so I've been keeping her stocked up on fun things to destroy. A few days ago I came home from my shift at work and found a tattered bird and a pile of feathers on the floor. She decided to barber all of the feathers on her chest after she was done shredding the newspaper in her cage. As I was stringing more newspaper in her cage, she immediately started regurgitating when my hand came near. She'll usually do that if I've been sitting with her for awhile, but she's made it clear that she is REALLY loving me right now. Too much. She's really amped up about spring, I think. How does everyone else handle this, especially the plucking?
 
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Cynthia & Percy

cockatoo mania
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just ride it through
 

Doris M

Sprinting down the street
Joined
12/28/14
Messages
333
Better than this moody mess:
IMG_20150321_134644093.jpg He is soooo moody and NOT cuddly. Ugh. And I wish or African Grey would shed some feathers. He desperately needs to.
 

Wolf

Jogging around the block
Joined
9/12/14
Messages
854
While your Grey is definitely hormonal, the feather plucking or barbering is due to you having been gone and the bird needs more time with you. Yes, it is most likely tied into being hormonal as they are much more sensitive about everything while hormonal. I also have a female CAG, and I spend a lot of time with her, but I also have to be with her more when she is hormonal to keep her from destroying the feathers that we have worked so long and hard to get to grow back. Just suggesting that you look a little deeper than just hormones, my Grey is not a touchy, feely bird and is quite independent, but she still requires a lot of company from me. She was naked when she came to live with me, with big open sores on her body from this type of behavior.
 

Doris M

Sprinting down the street
Joined
12/28/14
Messages
333
While your Grey is definitely hormonal, the feather plucking or barbering is due to you having been gone and the bird needs more time with you. Yes, it is most likely tied into being hormonal as they are much more sensitive about everything while hormonal. I also have a female CAG, and I spend a lot of time with her, but I also have to be with her more when she is hormonal to keep her from destroying the feathers that we have worked so long and hard to get to grow back. Just suggesting that you look a little deeper than just hormones, my Grey is not a touchy, feely bird and is quite independent, but she still requires a lot of company from me. She was naked when she came to live with me, with big open sores on her body from this type of behavior.
So, does that mean your Grey is taking his time to molt also? I feel as though we started then just stopped. What the heck. Mine came from a bad situation last July and I was so hoping for a molt - complete feather makeover grrrr
 

Wolf

Jogging around the block
Joined
9/12/14
Messages
854
When my grey arrived they had her on some kind of drug to calm her down, but was actually causing her a lot of problems with muscle twitching and balance issues which improved dramatically when I took her off of it. I took one look at the food that I was given for her and immediately headed for the kitchen for some good food, It is and has been a long process to getting her on a good diet as she was fed rubbish for 14 years. I made and make special efforts to see that she along with the others get a little sunshine daily provided that the weather will allow it, and I make absolutely certain that there are no artificial lights on during the twilight periods just before dawn and in the evening at dusk. But, although these things helped a lot, it was my close proximity to her that stopped her destruction of her feathers.
She along with my other birds live with me in the house so they do lose the odd feather all through the year, extended molt, it is not an issue at this point in time. I am hoping for a regular molt this year as she has only lost about 6 feathers during the past year. We will see soon how that goes but that should still be a few weeks off. This is still breeding season and so she has not started to molt yet. The fact that she has lost so few feathers in the last year and that she has not started losing any now gives mr hope that all will work right this year.
 

LADyver

Strolling the yard
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Messages
121
Thanks for the tips and encouragement! My grey is a super cuddle-bug and loves to be smothered and held like a football (she only has one leg, so she usually lays down on my lap during our cuddle sessions.) A few days ago she started to molt, so that could also be part of the problem. When I run my hand over her head we get quite a few feathers popping off, so hopefully we'll see a new set of feathers that she'll leave alone for the rest of the season!
 
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