First Vet Visit!

[AYA]

Aya, my green cheek looks exactly like that and has for almost a year. The pet store that I adopted him from said he moulted from stress. He is about 2 years old now, and is regrowing his feathers, but he always loses them again. Im not sure what is happening, but he acts just the same, so its okay with me!

I obviously can't say what his problem is, but I would say that the new feather growth is a good sign, at the very least.

However, by losing the feathers, do you mean that the new ones fall out, or that old ones do? If it's the old ones, then I guess things are going well, but I'd be concerned if he's moulting new feathers. Are there any signs of blood at the ends of the shed feathers, or have they been chewed or 'chopped' in half? If that's the case, then I'd be worried-- the former is a sign of plucking, which is very bad, while the latter is called 'barbering' and is what Lawrence did, hence her grey, downy breast/belly/sides and ragged wing feathers-- this is also bad, but generally not quite to the extent of plucking (Lawrence is particularly bad in this regard, as she has ruined her wing feathers as well as most of her body feathers).

Now, I'm not trying to cause you to panic or anything, but I do think that it would be a good idea to monitor your little buddy for a few days to work out what's going on, and then scheduling for an avian vet appointment to make sure that something isn't wrong (probably a good idea to do this soon anyway, as his condition at the pet shop doesn't sound too great if he was that stressed. Birds are very good at hiding illnessess, so it's best to be safe than sorry at this point)

Hope this helps in some way, and also, what's your little fella's name?

 

[Lwalker]

My YSGCC barbered at a young age too until he had a grey fluffy chest. I was beside myself. The vet said it was likely a habit, like chewing your nails as he did it right in front of me while absently looking out the window. And he preened one of his tail feathers until it was just a stick shaft. On the advice of the vet and some wonderful people here on the forum, I got him a bigger cage and a neighbour. I rehomed a Pineapple GCC. They live in side by side flight cages but have time out together every day. They instantly bonded and he hasn't barbered since and the red and yellow is coming back. Not a solution for all cases and I definitely had not planned on two birds but love them both like crazy

 

[AYA]

Thank you, but hile I would love another bird, it's just not in the cards right now, and Lawrence lives in an 84cm high x 77cm long x 46cm wide cage (33'' x 30'' x 18''), which was the biggest cage that I could afford, and also the largest non-cockatoo/macaw-sized-bars cage I've been able to find (Australia seems to generally have a very poor selection of bird cages, with Victoria having even less-- apparently people only own birds in NSW and QLD)-- I'm not sure how good of a sized cage that is though, so some advice for future reference would be greatly appreciated. I'm pretty sure that it was the upset of finding herself no longer the most popular pet of the family when my parents brought home the puppy while being unhappy and moulting that triggered this if anything, and I feel that it's also, at least in part, my fault for not noticing sooner and possibly not giving her enough attention at the time to fill the void of my parents no longer doting on her as much as they had.

However, things are looking good, as she has not barbered in almost a month, which I think is due to some mix of to her acclimatising to the dog, her medications, and the increase of forraging (and also now chewing activites, as I bought her more toys specifically for that to help distract her)-- though I won't know for sure until early next year when she moults again, but here's hoping!

 

[Lwalker]

That is good news. It would be so much easier if they could tell us what is going on with them!

 

[AYA]

That is good news. It would be so much easier if they could tell us what is going on with them!

That'd be the day!

Though, one of my favourite things about parrots and birds in general is how alien they can be to us mammals, while at the same time feeling very much like a strange little person, with how strong their personalities and how intelligent they are. By all rights, we shouldn't be able to get on with them and they with us as much as we do, and yet here we all are

 

[AYA]

Just thought I'd give an update on Lawrence's barbering-- after a relapse that lead to her body being left completely grey, and a few weeks of occaisionally chewing little bits off of whatever new feathers grew in, she hasn't barbered for a whole month! Her chest is becoming more and more colourful as time goes by, and she no longer chews instead of preening



Her wings are still slow going, but she's been dropping feathers from them recently, so fingers crossed that she can continue to leave herself alone!