What have you tried for your plucker? (LONG post)

[Sillybird]

I was wondering if I was the only one who feels like they've exhausted all options when trying to help their feather plucker. Short of voo-doo, psychotropic bird drugs and bird psychics, I'm running out of ideas. LOL!

Brief description - I am an RVT who worked for a Board Certified Avian Practitioner (so goes to show even veterinary people can run out of ideas) when I acquired my Rose-breasted Galah Cockatoo. He was bald on his chest, crop and top of his back. He was given to the clinic with hopes of finding him a forever home (along came me). I thoroughly checked him out - ran every diagnostic test available and he passed with flying colors, and had him microchipped. He had lived with a woman who would fly to California for three months out of the year (we are in TX) and she would take all of her birds with her on the plane, hence the beginning of a plucking habit. So when i got him, he had been plucking for some time already. Jump ahead three years later (he's 10 years now), and we are where we are now, still bald in the same spots, and he pulls every feather out that comes in. I observe him carefully and the majority of the follicles are still good - new feathers come through, and he pulls them out straight away. I don't mind the baldness - but I still keep an eye out for something else to try - of course I take things slowly and give them a chance to work - some things taking months (like diet or lighting) or others over the course of days or weeks.

So this is everything I've done and was curious to know if there is anything else I could try or maybe someone has had some experience with something else I haven't heard of? If anything, over the past three years, I've developed a crazy case of OCD over this bird...LOL!

1. I weaned him off of his diet right away three years ago when he moved in with me (was on colored food that looked like cheetos) and he immediately took to Harrison's and Birdie Bistro, add some raw veggies, nuts and crackers and pumpkin seeds (in moderation of course) and what feathers he did have blossomed, including his attitude and general color.

2. Installed direct overhead full spectrum lighting

3. He came with a huge 5 foot tall, 4 foot wide/deep cage and TONS (huge rubbermaid tub full) of toys so the only thing I added was more foraging and shredding toys and rotate them monthly

4. Tried different areas in the house, but got the best results with him being in the living room full time

5. He has two natural 6 foot tall tree perches (with numerous branches) positioned by windows in the house for free flight or bird watching

6. We sing to him and let him watch TV daily (he has a large vocab and can talk and I am home with him mostly every day) and touch and pet him daily

7. He doesn't like water, but I have some rain mist that I use (aloe vera and H20) twice a week for a mist bath (he tolerates it)

8. I cater to him constantly - making sure his heated perch is always on, checking the ambient temp in the cage - making sure his bald skin doesn't get itchy or dry.

9. We've tried sticking to routines and changing routines over long periods of time just to see what would stimulate him

10. Last but not least we bought him a friend (altho he won't admit it, he enjoys his company) and the new bird has only been here a month or so - too early to tell but my galah does seem more lively now


So what do you all think? If anything, this post might give some others good ideas and we can swap/share.

 

[piercesdesigns]

My ekkie Eko has plucked for 6+ years.

It always gets worse when the heat goes on, despite the humidifier being on.

This is right about the time of year we lose all the feathers. (Makes perfect sense, right? Pluck your feathers when it is cold. )

Anyway, I started him on this:

HEALx Booster Concentrate (30ml)-harrisonbirdfoods.com

We will see if it will stop him.

 

[suncoast]

I have/had 3 pluckers... In two of them it was diet related. My little yellow Lovie Chotu is allergic to corn, it took me months to figure it out. Anything with corn in it, including corn husk toys and he plucks his backside and legs. Even now sometimes he plucks a little bit and I wonder if the food I'm giving has been exposed to corn somewhere along the line. But he's much, much better. Also with my G2 Truely it was food related. She was allergic to pistachios. Again it took me 6 months to figure it out because we had trimmed her wings to keep her from dive bombing us and we thought the plucking was from that. The minute I removed the nuts from her diet she improved and now is fully feathered. My other little G2 is now plucking, but she ingested lead in July and was on chelation therapy and anti-biotics for weeks and her feathers are odd now. They have no loft and look matted and I'm wondering if it's because her system is still expelling the toxins.

One of the things I have started doing, which has helped with Truely, is to give them handfeeding formula a couple of times a week. It's nutritious and very easy to digest and I think it helps build the feathers while their being formed before the molt.

Ginger

 

[piercesdesigns]

I have/had 3 pluckers... In two of them it was diet related. My little yellow Lovie Chotu is allergic to corn, it took me months to figure it out. Anything with corn in it, including corn husk toys and he plucks his backside and legs. Even now sometimes he plucks a little bit and I wonder if the food I'm giving has been exposed to corn somewhere along the line. But he's much, much better. Also with my G2 Truely it was food related. She was allergic to pistachios. Again it took me 6 months to figure it out because we had trimmed her wings to keep her from dive bombing us and we thought the plucking was from that. The minute I removed the nuts from her diet she improved and now is fully feathered. My other little G2 is now plucking, but she ingested lead in July and was on chelation therapy and anti-biotics for weeks and her feathers are odd now. They have no loft and look matted and I'm wondering if it's because her system is still expelling the toxins.

One of the things I have started doing, which has helped with Truely, is to give them handfeeding formula a couple of times a week. It's nutritious and very easy to digest and I think it helps build the feathers while their being formed before the molt.

Ginger

Which handfeeding formula are you using? I may start supplementing Mojo's food with it.

 

[Deejo]

If anything health wise has been ruled out...then next would be diet, which you've changed.

What worked for an elderly amazon we had years ago, was removing all soy from his diet.
He'd been a bald little guy for more than 15 years. Today, he is still feathered nicely and is not fed soy in any form.

Most of the time, we never determine what leads to plucking in the first place.
Likely a combination of various things...however, for Pedro - removing all soy did the trick!

 

[jenwren59]

I have two plucking birds. I did all the testing I could think of and all the possible research. This is just so hard to address. For my quaker - she came from a series of nasty homes. The last one they kept her in a bathroom and let the cats all around her cage and they smoked, etc. She was luck to have any feathers left!

Anyway, with her - she started to improve on a better diet with better enrichment. Then she got a lot worse - possible due to me fostering additional birds in my home. So - I think stress is a big factor and it can be hard to know what exactly causes stress. She has improved back to almost her old condition now that I no longer bring new foster birds into my home.

Same is probably true for my african grey plucker. I would say that the main thing I can identify as causal is stress related. Like you, I am OCD regarding my male grey bird. His cage keeps increasing, he has an outside small aviary, he has my full attention much more than anyone in my home. He is what I call "larger than life". I adore this bird and I try to work it out for him to have a great birdie life. BUT - he is not living like an African grey parrot should - with a mate in a huge flock out in Africa... I think I jsut can't quite cut it and he has a coping strategy that includes pulling on his feathers. He has a "bib" and barbered legs - so he is not too bald. He is fuzzy on his chest. He has been badly plucked a couple of times - once was when I housed a female BFA in his room. She apparently drove him nuts. His plucking reduced right back down to his normal level after I moved her into a separate room.

My key items that I work on are:

1. diet - I am currently making a very natural raw "mash" diet and using it in addition pellets
2. enrichment - I give them as much as I possibly can with large cages, time out of cage, flight is encouraged in my home, etc

I have managed to stay away from medications other than a chinese herbal that my vet prescribed to calm them. I think things like chamomile tea are nice, too.

I hope we hear from others out here and keep a conversation going. I am interested to gain new inspiration also. I am going to query the folks on quaker causeway for quaker diets. She is much worse than my grey and I wonder if I can help more with a specific diet for her. Sometimes our birds are allergic and I think often they are fed diets that may be too "rich" or just too much food...

 

[jenwren59]

If anything health wise has been ruled out...then next would be diet, which you've changed.

What worked for an elderly amazon we had years ago, was removing all soy from his diet.
He'd been a bald little guy for more than 15 years. Today, he is still feathered nicely and is not fed soy in any form.

Most of the time, we never determine what leads to plucking in the first place.
Likely a combination of various things...however, for Pedro - removing all soy did the trick!

Doris - can you elaborate on the steps you took to figure this out? I am curious how to safely find out what food item may effect a bird.

 

[suncoast]

I use Roudybush, but I don't know if that would be appropriate for an ekkie. The other thing I wanted to mention was that Truely does better in a smaller cage. She was frightened in the big gi-normous one. Sometimes what we think they need and what they actually need are two different things. The other thing I think is healthy for them is to have a safe, dark, quiet place to sleep. In peace without having to worry about other pets, even other birds. It's different if they have a mate or buddy, but birds who don't get along shouldn't sleep in the same room together, it's too nerve wracking for them.


Ginger

 

[sodakat]

In addition to diet, same species companions and keeping them busy, the other component that I believe has helped my 3 who exhibit feather destrusctive behavior is frequently getting soaking wet with regular room temperature water. Like your Galah boy (what is his name?) they did not like getting wet when they moved in with me. The get drenched regardless. I know it's good for their feathers and skin.

This will be the second winter that Bella and Sully have lived with me and I'm interested to see how they behave. Both have given up their plucking and barbering for the most part. Neither of them are allergic to anything apparently.

Lolly has been here less than 2 months so I'm still observing her. She is extremely plucked and I don't think many of her follicles can produce feathers except a few yellow spurts. She is able to grow tail feathers and primaries as well as a few coverts.

 

[suncoast]

Me again, sorry. I would also nix the aloe vera mist and use just plain water. And birds have their own preferences for temperatures. My Lovies love cold water, and the Too's won't get wet unless the water is warm enough for a human. So experiment.

Ginger

 

[Deejo]

Doris - can you elaborate on the steps you took to figure this out? I am curious how to safely find out what food item may effect a bird.

Certainly, although there were no 'steps' in figuring it out. We were just as troubled/upset about it as anyone would be.
Our assumption at first, was that Pedro had simply reacted to so many losses in his life - he was wild caught, along with his mate...they spent many years in a pet store in California....the mate (the female) died years later. Pedro wound up in Canada.

Then his first family, their 16 yr old son that Pedro grew up with, died tragically in an accident.

After that, Pedro spent many years with another family - the husband died, who Pedro was bonded to - and next he came to us.

We already knew about soy and knew that many bird people were attributing the plucking/hormonal rages etc in their birds, to be associated with soy. So, shortly after we adopted Pedro, we removed all soy from his diet, just to see if it made a difference.
It did!
None of our birds were fed soy...my Green Wing also has a soy-free diet in the 14 months since I adopted her. This was done by weaning her off pellets that she'd been fed for 7 years.
An ekkie that I hand raised never had pellets or soy, and he never picked, plucked or barbered feathers.

After many years with parrots that were not fed soy...and only one plucker in all those birds (Pedro, the amazon who was fed soy). We don't eat soy either by the way.
*Just our opinion: we avoid soy. Google Monsanto and soy...better yet, rent Food Inc and then decide about soy

 

[suncoast]

What do you feed Doris?

Ginger

 

[Deejo]

What do you feed Doris?

Ginger

Lots of fresh foods...and sprouts everyday.
A bit of bird bread once a week. Some days mash mixes....dry treats are AO (soy-free) but they are offered as a treat.
Fresh foods are mostly veggies (yams, carrots, kale, broccoli for example), but I do feed papaya several times/week as well as banana, various berries, melons...and coconut oil once/week.
Nuts in shell everyday...those vary: macadamias, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds to name a few.
Cage mix is the blend on our web site.

The bulk of Coco's is fresh foods, nuts and sprouts - all are fed daily.
The other items are not fed daily.

 

[Sillybird]

This is really good input from everyone! About soy, I never thought about that particular ingredient. Regarding nuts, yes, Charlie (my naked Galah) loves different kinds of nuts, too. I'm always counting his fat calories so to speak (LOL) since his breed has a predisposition to fatty tumors, so I micro-manage everything he eats as a whole but once in awhile he gets things like plain pumpkin seeds (not his favorite but he just likes to shred them and throw them around), walnuts, almonds, pistachios, rarely sunflower seed, and sometimes he might get a peanut or two when he gets a handful of his treat seed which is Sunscription Vita Prima Large Hookbill (I feed it as a treat, not as a diet). I am going to revisit my food labels again and see if any of them have something in common just to check. It has been awhile since I went OCD on the food labels-I guess I'm due another round.

As far as baths go, more frequent bathing certainly won't hurt - at least for a couple of weeks to try to see what effect it has on his skin, feathers, grooming habits, etc - so I am going to try that for sure.

When he lived with his previous owner, he lived in a room with other larger parrots (umbrella 'toos - each had their own space/cage/etc) and I often wondered if their social situation may have contributed to plucking as well? I don't know much about his previous environment, if it was a happy one or stressful one. That's why I tried keeping him as a single bird for so long. So it has been interesting watching Charlie become accustomed to the new bird (Fuego the 9 mo old Sun Conure).

Fuego has free flight around the house, is a chatter box, will come when called and say a few garbled words and will go into Charlie's cage while Charlie is still in there, and play with his toys right in front of Charlie. At first, this irritated him but Charlie is quite taken with Fuego and now they share food, chew on the same toy at the same time, and groom side by side. This is HUGE! From a psychological standpoint, my Galah is much happier. He was such a 'standoffish' bird - very social with people (talks, sings, dances, steals food off the table, etc)from a distance but wasn't keen on being handled too much. Charlie has the option of free flight around the house, but doesn't fly very often. Now when he sits on his favorite tree perch by the window, Fuego will fly back and forth to him and around the room and Charlie is very entertained by this. So feathers or no feathers, Fuego is still good medicine.

 

[Kiwimommy]

We adopted a feather plucking cockatiel. She was nearly bald when I got her! All I did was change her location, gave her a good diet and attention, kept her away from male cockatiels (she was housed with TWO and bred many times) and she "adopted" a few parakeets as friends/mates. All that together made her stop plucking and she has not plucked since shortly after we got her. Unfortunately, it was too late for her back feathers and they never grew back in.

 

[Sillybird]

UPDATE

So just an update for anyone who might be researching or has similar problems and are considering another bird as a companion bird. In this particular case, the new bird is having a huge impact on my Galah's life. My Galah is the plucker in question and the companion we chose is a young, energetic sun conure who happens to be an excellent family bird (great with the kiddos) as well so it works out for all of us. Long story short, the cockatoo tolerated the conure for awhile - mostly staying on one side or the other opposite of the conure in the cage, and over the past 7 months, their friendship has grown tremendously.

Now the conure and cockatoo share toys, groom each other, sleep together, share food out of the same bowl at the same time, and even share food while one or the other holds it with their foot. For the first time in three years, my cockatoo decided to take a bath in his water bowl after watching the conure take a bath. My cockatoo would always speak his English words but never made too many natural bird sounds and now he will sing, whistle, shriek and make warble noises for about 10 minutes every other day or so while he dangles upside down and plays with toys.

He is still a baldy on his chest, but he has allowed a few new feathers to partially cover his crop. Every day I open the cage door so they can come and go as they please, altho the conure is the only one who will fly around the house, steal food from plates and explore upstairs (this bugs my cockatoo - he calls and calls for his friend!). The cockatoo won't come out on his own, but he will crawl around the cage door while it is open and consider it. At the rate we are going, I don't think it will be long and he'll be joining the conure on the big perch by the window of his own accord.

These things take time, that's for sure - it has been interesting watching how their friendship evolves. It is also interesting to see this bond develop between two different types of birds. So far, the new bird has been the best medicine yet!