Overpreening pionus?

[rwong]

Here's Charlie - we adopted him in 2016 so he's been with us almost 2 years now! He's 16 this year, and always been neurotic. He chews off all his wing feathers and all but one tail feather. Since last year - we noticed some of his feathers have black edges, and none of our foster birds have that.

We've done cultures and all sorts of tests which came back negative, and we've given him Nizoral baths in the past.

Some research says it could be due to overpreening - sort of makes sense because those feathers are the ones that he can reach, except for the ones on his head. Anyone have any experience?

Also.. anyone have a super neurotic pionus?! A change in the day can throw him right off and he won't stop "mewing" which is his little annoying cry!

P.S. Charlie has zero flying capabilities (He can't even glide).

 

[Love My Zons]

Is he a Maxi Pi? The feathers look to me as maybe worn alittle. Moulting on his head, normal looking. Are you giving him plenty of forage opportunity to work for favorite treats and shredding toys?

 

[Maxsmom]

Maxi pi have grey/black edges to their feathers. I have not dealt with over preening but I have a neurotic rescue pi....named Charlie. Get your bird distracted. Try target training, Try foraging. It took me a lot of work to accomplish this but it helped greatly with the neurotic behavior and perhaps will help with the overpreening. Ensure a healthy diet. Offer lots of organic veggies daily...broccoli slaw, kale, chard, blueberries snap peas, pomegranate, squash, string beans, carrots, black berry, etc....eventually they eat it...took my Charlie 1 year with daily offerings. Half of his diet is fresh food and the other half is a high quality pellet Ensure intake of Vitamin A....red palm oil, red bell peppers, squash, carrots, etc. Also reward all good behavior, ignore and have no reaction to bad behavior...eventually they realize what they need to do to get treats, head rub, or whatever motivates them and diminish bad behavior. Best wishes

 

[LSA]

I just assumed my WCP's heavy preening was a seasonal thing and it isn't nearly what you describe! Is Charlie's overpreening the reason he can't fly?

Like yours, I'm starting to wonder if she CAN fly. She moves about her cage alot but has never even tried to leave it. One wing is scarred and doesn't look as long as the other during showers.

Forage baskets are a must! My WCP LOVES corn! She figured out pretty quickly when I empty her treat/chop bowl and started stashing the cobs in her forage basket for later.

Because mine doesn't even try to fly, I keep several natural branches in her cage and am making a swing of nat. branches for her. If nothing else, it'll hopefully encourage chewing which she seems to enjoy.

What does your AV say?

 

[Wannabird2003]

Mine has the blackish edges on some feathers due to skin oil (mine) from where I kiss her wing and scratch her head. They eventually moult out.