BudgieQuaker
Meeting neighbors
- Joined
- 7/28/19
- Messages
- 66
Hi, about a month ago I noticed my 1 y/o quaker plucking feathers. By april 29th, all his green back feathers were plucked.
I did research on how to stop it and what causes it. Some people here told me that since he's so young, I can rule out medical causes, and so, I focused on behavioural causes instead.
My first move on stopping this was letting him have a more natural sleeping schedule so I moved his cage near the window so that he sleeps when the sun goes down and wakes up when the sun rises. Another benefit of this was that he could look outside when he's bored. My house has no sun, and since in canada it was still cold in april, I couldn't take him out to sunbathe so this might've made it worse.
My next step was giving him different mixes of vegetables everyday instead of repeating the same veggie salad the next day like I always did. He loved this from what I can tell. I also let him watch me make the food and try the food while I was chopping it up. His mixes also include a spoon of millet, 3-5 sunflower seeds and some pellets. I also began mixing a small pinch of calcium clay in the mix, I still haven't seen results.
Next up, I now spend more time with him. A lot more time than I did before. I also began to give him different toys for him to try and more foraging and foot toys.
For a week, he slowed down and just preened the feathers that were growing. I saw no new plucked feathers in his cage, and he seemed to be more focused on preening than plucking, which I was extremely happy about.
Now, here comes the horrible part.
My birds cages are near a guest room, and my uncle came over to our house to stay for "5" days. My uncle is sensitive to sound, but he had nowhere else to go so he used our guest room. Originally, he said he would stay for 5 days but it looks like he'll be staying for longer since its been about 3 weeks already. He knows about my birds plucking and that he's healing. He knows I'm letting him sleep naturally and that he will be waking up at 7, and any noise will cause him to scream. But my uncle still decides to sleep late, then begins to complain about how my bird screams.
So last night, while we were all sleeping, my uncle closes the curtains, covered the birds then went to sleep. When I went down, I was shocked, heart broken and felt betrayed.
I took the cover off and almost cried. Feathers were everywhere. He plucked the whole morning. Now it's worth noting I wake up at 1pm, finish my morning routine then go down to check on the birds and make them their meals. So he had from 7 am, when the sun rises and he wakes, to 1 pm to pluck as much as he wants. The cover was white, so light can seep through from the window, he had nothing to look at and instead focused on his feathers. When I took him out to inspect him I cried. ALL HIS LEG FEATHERS WERE GONE. This is the first time in almost 2 weeks since i've seen him pluck like this.
Throughout the day, he kept plucking. Everytime he turns to preen, he plucks instead.
As furious as I am with my uncle, I am equally furious with myself for not noticing the signs of him plucking from the start.
The worst part is that he screams each time he plucks, and it kills me inside. I can't tell him to stop plucking when he does because he will think I'm giving him attention for it and will keep doing it, and that hurts me so much. He's only a baby. He has a long life ahead of him, 30 years. I will be 44 by then, and I want to be there with him for the rest of his life.
I'm only 14, and this has all been stressful but I'm determined to make him feel better. I know birds aren't toys, I have done research from way before I got him and still research to this day. I feed him pellets and fruits, I give him toys and care for him like he's my own child. He's my responsibility and I know that, because I asked for him, I got him, and now, I've done something wrong and I don't know how to fix it. My next best option is giving him to a better home, but I don't know who to trust, because if I give him away, then I will want to know how he's doing, I will want updates and I will want to check on him as often as possible and I will have to know 100% that he will NOT be used for breeding. So I'm throwing the idea of giving him away out the window.
Lastly, I wanted to add that he plucked a blood feather from his back. When he plucked it he let out the worst scream I've ever heard. This all happened on may 17 2020, which was yesterday.
If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong, please tell me. If you know what I should change, or if you have any food recipes that quakers enjoy, toy ideas, or anything else really, please tell me.
I did research on how to stop it and what causes it. Some people here told me that since he's so young, I can rule out medical causes, and so, I focused on behavioural causes instead.
My first move on stopping this was letting him have a more natural sleeping schedule so I moved his cage near the window so that he sleeps when the sun goes down and wakes up when the sun rises. Another benefit of this was that he could look outside when he's bored. My house has no sun, and since in canada it was still cold in april, I couldn't take him out to sunbathe so this might've made it worse.
My next step was giving him different mixes of vegetables everyday instead of repeating the same veggie salad the next day like I always did. He loved this from what I can tell. I also let him watch me make the food and try the food while I was chopping it up. His mixes also include a spoon of millet, 3-5 sunflower seeds and some pellets. I also began mixing a small pinch of calcium clay in the mix, I still haven't seen results.
Next up, I now spend more time with him. A lot more time than I did before. I also began to give him different toys for him to try and more foraging and foot toys.
For a week, he slowed down and just preened the feathers that were growing. I saw no new plucked feathers in his cage, and he seemed to be more focused on preening than plucking, which I was extremely happy about.
Now, here comes the horrible part.
My birds cages are near a guest room, and my uncle came over to our house to stay for "5" days. My uncle is sensitive to sound, but he had nowhere else to go so he used our guest room. Originally, he said he would stay for 5 days but it looks like he'll be staying for longer since its been about 3 weeks already. He knows about my birds plucking and that he's healing. He knows I'm letting him sleep naturally and that he will be waking up at 7, and any noise will cause him to scream. But my uncle still decides to sleep late, then begins to complain about how my bird screams.
So last night, while we were all sleeping, my uncle closes the curtains, covered the birds then went to sleep. When I went down, I was shocked, heart broken and felt betrayed.
I took the cover off and almost cried. Feathers were everywhere. He plucked the whole morning. Now it's worth noting I wake up at 1pm, finish my morning routine then go down to check on the birds and make them their meals. So he had from 7 am, when the sun rises and he wakes, to 1 pm to pluck as much as he wants. The cover was white, so light can seep through from the window, he had nothing to look at and instead focused on his feathers. When I took him out to inspect him I cried. ALL HIS LEG FEATHERS WERE GONE. This is the first time in almost 2 weeks since i've seen him pluck like this.
Throughout the day, he kept plucking. Everytime he turns to preen, he plucks instead.
As furious as I am with my uncle, I am equally furious with myself for not noticing the signs of him plucking from the start.
The worst part is that he screams each time he plucks, and it kills me inside. I can't tell him to stop plucking when he does because he will think I'm giving him attention for it and will keep doing it, and that hurts me so much. He's only a baby. He has a long life ahead of him, 30 years. I will be 44 by then, and I want to be there with him for the rest of his life.
I'm only 14, and this has all been stressful but I'm determined to make him feel better. I know birds aren't toys, I have done research from way before I got him and still research to this day. I feed him pellets and fruits, I give him toys and care for him like he's my own child. He's my responsibility and I know that, because I asked for him, I got him, and now, I've done something wrong and I don't know how to fix it. My next best option is giving him to a better home, but I don't know who to trust, because if I give him away, then I will want to know how he's doing, I will want updates and I will want to check on him as often as possible and I will have to know 100% that he will NOT be used for breeding. So I'm throwing the idea of giving him away out the window.
Lastly, I wanted to add that he plucked a blood feather from his back. When he plucked it he let out the worst scream I've ever heard. This all happened on may 17 2020, which was yesterday.
If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong, please tell me. If you know what I should change, or if you have any food recipes that quakers enjoy, toy ideas, or anything else really, please tell me.
