Not a do or die emergency, but very puzzled....

[ferdinand]

Tyler (our green rump parrotlet) was fine yesterday, but today when I got him out of the cage her was featherless from the chest down - this happened literally overnight....and today he has plucked the feathers on his chest...I watched him pluck out feathers most of the day - he is eating and playing fine

I tried to think of food changes and I tried hulled oats 3-4 days ago in their food mix so i have removed any of the mix with the seeds in it - Georgette (our pacific is fine). We will see the vet on Monday as soon as we can get her in. Any ideas as to whats going on?

 

[Saemma]

Oh boy. I'd be so worried too. I hope the vet will shed light. Could he have an allergy?

 

[ferdinand]

Oh boy. I'd be so worried too. I hope the vet will shed light. Could he have an allergy?

I'm hoping it is something like that and I can just remove whatever it is...

 

[birdlvr466]

I wonder if it is nesting behavior? I have heard birds pull out feathers to make nests. We'll see what others think.

 

[JLcribber]

If she was feathered fine and then all of a sudden plucked all her feathers, that sounds very "medical" to me.

Make sure the vet is very thorough and tests for everything. "Unchange" anything you can think you've done and be sure to mention the oats to the vet.

 

[looniebirds]

A friend on my other forum had a similar incident with her Quaker. It turned out to be bacterial and what a mess! It seemed like he was under treatment from the vet forever, and the bird was practically naked at the worst of it. Thankfully her bird is well and all the feathers grew back. At one point he had to wear a collar, he was itchy and would pluck out new feather growth, I wish I could remember what it was called that was wrong. He went to bed fully feathered and when she uncovered the cage in the morning, she was greeted by a pile of feathers on the cage bottom and a half naked bird. A vet visit is in order, I think.

 

[Danita]

It sounds like something medical is going on, like John said

 

[Kimba]

I agree, and anyways...it is always wise to rule out medical before looking at behavioral!

 

[Emmilyy]

I hope you can figure out what is wrong!

 

[Sadieladie1994]

As others said could be medical but the cause can be many things such as infection. With that rapid onset of plucking it almost sounds allergy related or something got onto your bird. The worst I heard was from someone using cedar shavings on the floor of the cage. Once all the cedar oils got washed off the bird was better. (cedar is toxic to birds)

Anything new? Oils in the house, incense, change of substrate on bottom of cage? Anything sprayed around the bird such as fabreeze or other type of airfreshner? New cleanser to wipe the cage down with.

If any of these things occured make sure your bird gets a good bath and repeat bath.

Of course follow up with your vet.

Peggy

 

[Billie Faye]

I also agree with a vet visit...BUT bird will do this also when under stress....has something changed in your house?

 

[Welshanne]

Have you introduced anything new in his diet?or cage furniture?
Any new plants he can get to in your conservatory?
Any other birds bullying him? or stressing him out from outside on a window ledge etc during the daytime when you are not there?
if no to all those things then it may well be a skin allergy/infection as suggested by others and the Vet would need to take skin scrapings/feather etc to test and find out.
A little thing like different furniture /colour clothes you are wearing can also upset some birds.
Leroy goes mental at the sight of a step ladder or hose pipe and that makes her gittery for ages afterwards, but she is a neurotic Grey!
Hope you find out soon what it is and if it turns out to be hormonal it will pass until next time. How old is your bird? Is he coming up to breeding age? Good luck.

 

[ferdinand]

Thanks for all of your feedback. The only change is the oats. Angie our new "old Grey" has been with us for a bit over a week, but they do not have any contact with each other. I will make sure to check back tomorrow after the vet visit.

 

[JLcribber]

Thanks for all of your feedback. The only change is the oats. Angie our new "old Grey" has been with us for a bit over a week, but they do not have any contact with each other. I will make sure to check back tomorrow after the vet visit.

Can they hear each other?? That is a huge change.

 

[ferdinand]

Can they hear each other?? That is a huge change.

Yes they can hear each other...but there are 7 other loud birds that Tyler is next to that she can hear more

Here is a vid of the parrotlets area - they play on Georgette's cage which is right next to all the other birds (except Angie) and you can hear how loud it gets when I ask Georgette to say hi...(its like they all heard me and want to say hi too)

edit to add video..
This is how Tyler looked 3 days ago...I'll try to get a pick of how she looks now.

 

[magni]

I hope everything is OK and try not to stress to much I know it is hard not to

 

[birdlady]

Awe poor baby...good luck at the vet...hope you can figure out the cause.

 

[ferdinand]

This is Tyler from this morning

 

[Danita]

Oh boy

 

[allison]

This is exactly what I went through with Harper. I got her tested for every disease imaginable and all were negative. My vet said it was hormonal. How old is Tyler? That doesn't mean that this is hormonal for Tyler though. Maybe she misses Mary?