• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Profile of a plucker

Status
Not open for further replies.

shellbeme

Sprinting down the street
Joined
11/8/09
Messages
589
Location
Iowa
Real Name
Shelly



Name: Chico Bird
Species: Congo Grey
DOB: August 12 1996
Came to me: 5 months Old
Favorite toy: Phone Book
Favorite Sound Effect/Phrase: Fart (Sigh :ashamed1: )
Current Flock Status: Single Bird
Diet: Harrisons High Potency, fresh veggies, frozen veggies (thawed of course), birdie breads, a small piece of pizza every friday night, the occasional tidbit of healthy people food
Plucks/Mutilates: Bites off the feathers over his chest-close to the shaft, leaves the down. Sometimes will pluck around the legs, though not often, and sometimes the bend of the wings.

It has been so long since Chico started plucking, I couldn't remember exactly what age he was when he started, but he does just as you see above. It has been a good eight years at least since he started-when he did I took him to the vet for a full run of tests to try and find the problem. We did go back and forth over several months and for some reason I never kept the files so I couldn't really tell you what all the tests were that we did.

We did do some x rays too, I am not sure that I remember correctly the exact reason why-if it was to try and find some forign matter in his system (like metal pieces or something) but the Doctor did find a very enlarged spleen. I remember that he attributed Chico's picking to an infection that he had-and I had to medicate him for a while, and I believe he told me that when they have a severe infection-sometimes the spleen can become enlarged.

This was several years ago, so I may have forgotten a few details. In the end, he believed Chico would remain a habitual plucker because he had been doing it for a while at that point.

What I have noticed now, is that he seems to do it seasonally-in the warmer months he lets his feathers grow and sometimes we have nearly a full chest even! It's exciting-then winter comes around, heaters turn on, and he starts biting them off near the shaft.

We did get him a humidifier and we also shower him regularly. He LOVES to shred, so while we have a supply of phone books, I give him those, he loves them. I also give him soda boxes to shred-but sometimes he gets over zealous on the bigger ones and they seem to be made a big stronger too-he'll get little abrasions on his face from tearing through it-so I don't offer those lately. There is this neat toy I have found from foster and smith I think, and it allows you to put calculator paper in it for shredding purposes-I want to get him one for christmas.

We are currently allowing his wings to grow out. Ahh, I forgot to mention soon after I got him all those years ago, I took him for a wing trim-to a Dr. who was not an avian vet, all except the very first few primaries were clipped. You didn't read that wrong, thats how they did it, needless to say Chico flew like a rock. We had so many beak and chest accidents-bumps and bruises-and the vet was 3 hours away each time. He never learned to fledge either-but now, he's starting to fly to things on his own-though he hesitates alot-it's nice to see him grow in confidence.

He use to seem so afraid of everything and everyone and in the past couple of years I have come to realize, he's really very loving and he really has a want to know other people-to play with them and interact with them. It's all just a matter of people earning the trust-willing to take a bite or two and willing to take the time to spend with him (my significant other is a good example-he can do *almost* everything that I can with him)

He is a single bird currently, has been for several years (I use to have tiels) but soon we will be adding a baby eclectus (Just waiting for him to be weaned!) He should be joining us January or Febuary. I'm curious to see how that effects things-if it does at all.

So that's about it-the rundown on Chico. Feel free to share your own!
 
Last edited:

allison

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/19/09
Messages
9,630
Location
California
Real Name
Allison
Name: Harper
Species: Pacific Parrotlet
DOB: June 30th 2007
Came to me: July 2008
Favorite toy: Bird Kabob's Bird Kabob Mini
Favorite Sound Effect/Phrase: Does not talk
Current Flock Status: Bonded to Beau (budgie)
Diet: Mostly fresh food with sprouted seeds/grains, some Dr.Harvey's parakeet seed.
Plucks/Mutilates: Plucks chest and back feathers, barbers wings and tail feathers.
Harper just recently started to pluck. She has been seen by a vet and has nothing physically wrong. The vet thinks it's a hormonal thing.
I have used aloe and vitamin E in her bath water to hopefully help with the plucking, it hasn't seemed to have done anything.
Today I put a sock sweater on her and I'm hoping that it will keep her from doing too much further damage.
She has a boyfriend, Beau, who I got for her after she started plucking. She seems happier now, but has not stopped plucking (although, there was a few weeks when I first got him where she let up and stopped plucking for a while).
 

Attachments

Status
Not open for further replies.
Top