Moulting or feather destruction?

[Jace]

Hi, I've had Walley for about 3 months now .
He's about 2 and a half.
He has a few little stress bars on his tail feathers and some tiny spots elsewhere from the previous owner .

I live in Tropical North Queensland, and we are having 35-40c heat ATM and high humidity .

He is moiltng at the moment but I'm worried his overpreening may turn to plucking .

His feathers don't have blood or flesh on them, been treated for mites etc.
He is scratching what I would say is excessively and losing a lot of down .

He's chewed the upper feathers to pieces.

We only have 1 avian vet where I live and it's hard to get in on short notice

Could someone please advise me if this is normal behaviour or not?
Pics attached. I managed to get some while he is fluffed up as well.

He doesn't seem to have many pin feathers coming through, but there are some shorter ones that seem to still be growing.

He also wants to breed at the moment.
He's getting 12hrs of darkness but as we have dogs I cannot say it is uninterrupted .

Will upload photos when he drops his next feathers.
Thank you .

Also, he doesn't seem anxious or stressed or bored.

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[Macawnutz]

Yes, your bird is "barbering" for a technical term. Looking like a bad case of barbering too. I would first look at your diet as I know eclectus parrots have very tricky diets. I would not treat for mites or use anything on him but water. I would also increase baths and humidity possibly.

 

[Jace]

Thank you .
I was looking through photos comparing and his feathers have gotten a bit better which has mafe me relax slightly but still very concerned.

I've tried changing his diet a million times. He came to us like this and was just having kiwi fruit, strawberries and seed .

I've tried everything from just veggies to pellette, seed and produce mix and he ended up toe tapping within hours of the change to include seed and dried fruit. next day took them out and he stopped a few hours after waking .

Chop to whole pieces to trying to force him into forraging etc.
Like, turnips, corn, different berries, broccoli, brocollini, cauliflower, stone fruit, melons, kale, fennel, chillies, capsaicin, 3 types of green beans, prouts, sprouted beans, apple, zucchini, carrot, doffediff types of pumpkins, cherries, flowers, teas, meats, eggs (which he loves but cant have them often. I have exhausted everything at our supermarkets, farmers markets, organic shops except the basically useless produce like cucumber and lettuce etc. I've tried to lace his food with pellette ground up into dust and I've just made a mix of equal parts wallnut, almond, chia, and pellette dust which he seems ok with as a reward. (It's all blended up and mixed and I let him have 2 little beak fulls, he's not greedy and doesn't try scoop as much as he possibly can)

It's not really possible to increase humidity as we sit around 50-80% (66% today, and its dried up a bit compared to this morning) at the moment and he has a shower as often as I can, once every 2 days to 2 times a day . He doesn't always let me so it's up to him. I've tried baths with lavender and rose in it .

I've stopped using the aircon when he's inside (I'm dying .Lol) and he has reduced scratching a bit . I'm not very familiar with Eclectus, just smaller parrots, but he does have what seems like a tiny bit more dander than I would expect him to produce.
Our little boy is allergic to dust mites so our house is like, cleaner than a doctor's clinic. Haha .
I'm sensitive to fragrance and chemicals so mostly natural and make sure to let the house air for a bit before bringing him inside .

 

[Jace]

Not stressed or bored or anything. He gets 6 hours a day inside with me .
I've tried 12-14 hours sleep but 12 seems to be working the best .

No skin conditions or anything .

I honestly am starting to think maybe he developed this with the previous owner and just became a habit that will be super hard to break .

If I notice him going overboard with the preening I sorta give him a little nudge to get him to stop.

 

[Macawnutz]

Sounds like your humidity is more than enough.

I really know zero about eclectus diets. All I know is they are extremely tricky and when improperly fed they fall apart.
I'm going to tag someone I know owns one. @jmfleish If I recall I believe she has two of them.

 

[Jace]

Yes they are very sensitive to diet and have quite a few conditions that are exclusive to Eclectus

Thank you .

 

[Leanna]

If he wants to breed, it could be frustration from that. Has he lost any weight recently? Is there a reason you are supplementing with pellets?

 

[Jace]

That's exactly what I thought may be happening. Yes he wants to breed, but has since we got him. And apparently young ones are prone to overpreening but corrects with age? I've essentially accepted he's just always going to want to except the odd day here and there.Lol. That mixed with high heat and moulting, I don't blame him if he's incredibly frustrated . Doesn't take it out on us though . Still very sweet and gentle and loving .

He also seems to be getting at the ones near pin feathers coming through and where they aren't I figure they will come through shortly.

No he hasn't lost weight. I actually have to watch how much he eats for fear he's been putting it on. (I can't eat often so it could just be that I'm exceptionally weak that day ) and need to get digital scales

Only reason I am using pellette is just in case. It's like, a teaspoon a day of the mix so a third of a teaspoon of pellette. Best vet for birds I could find comes on Monday to check EVERYTHING out. This week's menu consists of broccoli, chillies, strawberries, kiwi fruit, nectarine, carrot and string beans, then I've scooped out the flesh of pomegranate so he has to try get the fruit\seeds out and some pine nuts for protein.
Pepitas as a reward and one almond slice a day.

I've noticed on closer looks he has the odd stress mark here and there but they aren't up near the skin so hoping that they were there with the last owner as he had little time out and a cage that was WAY too small. Like, could hardly even move in there .

 

[Jace]

PS I know it should be mainly veggies, but he will go days without eating if he doesn't want what he's got. So something is better than nothing I guess.
(Even one day he won't want strawberries, the next chucks a tanty if he doesn't have them) so needless to say, I've started composting

And he gets a 6th of corn on the cob a day as well

 

[Leanna]

Milo still has stress bars from when I got him. I'm hoping they go away with the next molt as they seem to get better each week. I feel your pain on the diet thing as Milo goes on hunger strike regularly as well.
Does he get any sunlight?

 

[Jace]

Yes he gets a lot of sunlight. His cage is outside. spends 5-7 hours a day inside with a 12hr sleep and our house also let's a lot of sunlight inside as well. I can't let his cage have direct sunlight as it will just be way too hot for him. (30-40 Celcius ATM) In the process of turning our back patio into an enclosure so he can move in and out of direct sunlight as he pleases.

 

[Jace]

Makes me feel a little bit better Milo goes on hunger strikes as well . God they are fussy, stubborn little things. Hahaha.

 

[Jace]

Thanks for the help .
Diet is fine.
Enclosure is fine.
Combination of a heavy moult and pin feathers coming through, drastic change to much warmer temperatures and higher humidity, and habit from previous owner, sexual frustration and Overpreening which he should grow out of apparently. And looking back at photos his feathers look a lot better and has quite a few new ones coming through .