Feather barbering/plucking

[Wannabird2003]

Hi everyone,
I am looking for any advice. My 14 yr old blue head female has never had any issues before, but yesterday and today I noticed that she has started fussing with the feathers on her back/upper tail area covered by her wings and a little on her legs. I am finding feathers which look cut off and some with the sheath on them below her and when I raised up her wings, I could see patchiness where there is only down feathers. I will call the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime wondered if anyone has experienced this. Otherwise, she seems normal and healthy.

 

[alshgs]

Can you take pictures of the feathers? It would be easier to tell

 

[Mizzely]

Under the wings is generally more sparse.

 

[Wannabird2003]

No, I have seen her pull them out. and there are large patches under there w/o green feathers. Attached are the feathers she has pulled or broken off. I have a vet appt tomorrow.

 

[Mizzely]

Has anything in the home changed? Less humid? New or moved furniture? New diet? Anything like that?

 

[Wannabird2003]

No new or moved furniture. Same old hot, humid air outside in Florida, same temp AC inside. Well, I did start giving her some "Zupreem Pure Fun" mix in with some of her other stuff about a week ago. It is a pellet, nut, dried fruit and veg mix. Today, I stopped giving her that. I have been spending a lot of time with her over the last 10 weeks recovering from a knee replacement and now I am able to get out a little more often so I don't know if that might be an issue.

 

[Begone]

Well, I did start giving her some "Zupreem Pure Fun" mix in with some of her other stuff about a week ago.

Pionus is not a plucker bird so the first thing that did strike me is that it's some kind of allergy or other skin irritation.
I was foster to a Brown headed parrot that did pluck herself and the first thing I did was to remove her Zupreem pellets. And that helped.
I know that their is several people her that like Zupreem but my vet (that I do trust a lot) said to me that they have had several cases like mine so she don't recommend Zupreem.

 

[cute_lil_fiend]

Pionus is not a plucker bird so the first thing that did strike me is that it's some kind of allergy or other skin irritation.
I was foster to a Brown headed parrot that did pluck herself and the first thing I did was to remove her Zupreem pellets. And that helped.
I know that their is several people her that like Zupreem but my vet (that I do trust a lot) said to me that they have had several cases like mine so she don't recommend Zupreem.

Mine favours the zupreem fruity pellets over all others, though I've tried roudybush and harrisons as well. What pellets do you feed yours?

 

[Begone]

Mine favours the zupreem fruity pellets over all others

But that doesn't tell that they are healthy for a bird. I mean a kid would probably eat candy all day long if it was allowed to do that.

 

[Wannabird2003]

Saw the avian vet yesterday. After exam, he could find not blood abnormalities or mites or anything. He did a swab culture which will take a few days. He said his guess was the new food. Gave her a shot of an anti-inflammatory and some oral for me to give her twice a day for 5 days. She still pulled out a few today, but not as much as Wednesday. She has eaten Zupreem Fruit pellets for all her life with no problem- and she doesn't eat much as she has a variety of things she gets. What was new that I introduced was ZUPREEN PURE FUN, a combo pellet, dried fruit and veg and not mix. I threw that away and went back to her old standbys.

Her vet, Dr Don Harris of Miami is one of the consulting vets for Zupreem. He said there must be something in there that she is allergic to. Said if someone eats a strawberry and has a reaction doesn't mean everyone will.

 

[cute_lil_fiend]

But that doesn't tell that they are healthy for a bird. I mean a kid would probably eat candy all day long if it was allowed to do that.

I don't disagree with you. Hence why I asked which pellets your birds accept, as I'm always looking for other options.

IMHO Pellets should always be given with a variety of fresh foods regardless, and be used as a supplementary food source. Many pellets have starchy grains as their base, which does not approximate the natural nutritional profile of pionus in the wild.

 

[Begone]

Hence why I asked which pellets your birds accept, as I'm always looking for other options.

Ok, sorry!
I feed Harrisons and Versel Laga. But, very small amounts.
I prefer to give them a varied food that contains veggies, seeds, sprouted seeds, fruit, pellets and also fresh things from the forest, like berries and smaller plants.
And they also eat rose hips every day.
They also get a lot of dandelions, herbs, wild herbs and other things I find outside. I really try to give them so natural and healthy things as possible. And I also enjoy doing that.

 

[Wannabird2003]

Follow Up:
So the skin culture came back negative along with the normal blood work. It has been a week. She is still fussing and has pulled out all her feathers on the inside of her legs so it is bare skin. The vet said that if it is caused by a food allergy, it can take up to 3 weeks for the allergens to be completely flushed from the body. The anti inflammatory meds are not really helping. He suggested trying Children's Benedryl liquid in an oral syringe to see if that helps and suggested having her wade around in clean cool water or water with Epsom salts to relieve her discomfort. He said that if it isn't a food allergy, he doesn't know what caused it because everything points to a normal healthy bird.

Jade eats a varied diet- breakfast consists of mixed vegs, snap peas, grapes, pom seeds, and birdie bread with mix ins. Lunch and dinner mix is the Zupreem fruit pellets (which she eats only a few purple ones), a mixture of Higgins Boca Nuts, Fruits and Veg, Fruit to nuts, and celestial blend along with a seed mix and some pine nuts. Also Nutriberries. So she has a big variety.

I can only hope that she stops picking her feathers soon before it starts to be a habit. I welcome any other suggestions.