Golden biting off her feathers

[Bailey87]

Tl;dr: Golden has been plucking for 6 mos, need serious help!
Does anyone here have any golden conure experience? I have a female who has just turned two, and she began plucking in December. She has already been to two different avian vets and she has nothing medically wrong with her. She forages for her food (eating mostly pellets and fresh food), has a cage that is approximately30"depthx40"widthx60"high. She does not spend a ton of time in hercage, she's out on and offthroughought the day for about 4-6 hours total, and is rarely homealone. When she is alone we keep either the tv or radio on for her.There are other birds in the home, she regularly interacts with a sunconure, also female but they have to be supervised as the sun over preens her. The sun was adopted asa plucker, so we have theorized that she may have picked up the habit. Anyone have experience breaking abird of a plucking habit? It's not so much that she's actually pullingfeathers but she breaks them off, around her throat/chest and in frontof her legs. I'm going nuts, please help!

Also posted in conure section.

 

[msplantladi]

I am starting to sound like a broken record-but what is her diet-9 times out of ten its something in the diet.

 

[Bailey87]

She eats mostly pellets and fresh food, she does get seeds but no sunflower (I know this is not ideal).

 

[Begone]

What brand of pellets? Is she allowed to fly?

 

[Bailey87]

Zupreem. And she does not free fly, she flies a little bit from her play pens to her cage and that sort of thing. It is absolutely not possible for me to dedicate a room for her or allow her to free fly, unfortunately. It's not that I'm not open to it it's just not an option due to our living arrangements.

 

[Begone]

Change the brand. Harrison is what I recommend. (or no pellets at all)
I didn't meant free flying, I meant flying indoors. Is she clipped?

 

[Bailey87]

Not that I'm questioning your advice, but what is the reasoning for switching to Harrison's? I co-own her and I'll have to have some reasoning behind switching her diet for her other parents (my own parents), if that makes sense lol.
She is clipped, I avoided it for as long as possible, but my parents decided to have her done.

 

[Begone]

IMO the best way to make them healthy is to allowed them to fly and never clip them.

Not that I'm questioning your advice, but what is the reasoning for switching to Harrison's?

Because I think that she can be having an allergic reaction to her pellets. That can be a part of her problem. She can also in combination with that being depressed and bored.
And also I did have a plucker that I rescued. My vet suggested that to change the birds diet will be what to do.
So I did switch my girl from Zupreem to only a small amount of Harrison's and seeds, the rest fresh natural food.
My vet do not recommend Zupreem, as she have seen several bird having an allergic reaction to them.

Anyone have experience breaking abird of a plucking habit?

This is my advice and how I did it.
Change diet. Let her exercise so she gets tired, (the best way is flying, the second best thing is trick training) and not are put in her cage with a lot of excess energy or frustration.
Bath her every day/every second day, and let her get out to have real sun. (in a carrier or in a harness) At least 15 min every day/every second day.
Place new toys in her cage, some should be toys for pluckers. Do that often!
Make sure that you have a healthy bond to her. Don't pet her you are not her mate.
Create new and healthy routines that you follow every day.
Make sure that she gets her important sleep. And that is 12 hrs in a dark and silent room.

 

[MiniMacaw]

I don’t have experience with plucking but I do have experience with a very sensitive parrot. My macaw came to me ill and abused. The first time he flied in my room he lit up from the inside. I know he’d be incredibly depressed if I took that freedom away. Even when we have a rough day (if I couldn’t spend the time I normally do with him around the house) a nice solid flight through the hallways or even just around and around my room always puts him in a happy, relaxed mood. I don’t know that that’s what’s causing your babies plucking, but it’s just something to think about.
I know different things we may see as little inconsequential things may be big deals to certain birds. My guy drinks chamomile tea every night with me for our “tea time” and I missed that once (sick with the flu hell day) and he was very upset for a week solid (there were many fake lunges to my hands lol) So maybe look at your babes routine? Any upsetting changes?
I’m sorry your little one is going through this and wish you luck getting it figured out.

 

[Bailey87]

I am having trouble harness training her, so we take her outside when we can in a smaller cage. The weather where I am is pretty unpredictable and we've only had a few days over 60 degrees f so far this year. I am very careful to only pet her head and neck, and she spends time each day with each of the family members. She has a lot of toys that we rotate in and out of her cage, but that doesn't seem to be helping. What do you recommend for toys?

So maybe look at your babes routine? Any upsetting changes?

She spend a bit more time alone last week than she usually does. A few days she was alone for 3-4 hours, the radio was on for her (also she's never really completely alone, we have three other birds, and three dogs). I know that could be upsetting for her but it's not abnormal; when we first got her everyone in the family was working full time so she's had alone time all her life. I try to keep a routine as far as light exposure goes, but I'm afraid to keep her "out of cage time" routine too predictable because she does occasionally have to be alone for a few hours at a time, and I don't want to upset a routine, which would in turn upset her, if that makes sense? She's never been a terribly sensitive bird, she's definitely not acting depressed, she's very talkative and active, enjoys chewing and running and playing and cuddling etc. I will definitely try the Harrison's pellets and go from there