Feather plucking, also known as Feather Destructive Behaviour (FDB), is a concerning issue for captive parrots, especially African Greys. It's crucial to understand that this behavior is not observed in wild parrots; it develops in captive-bred or wild-caught birds living in homes or aviaries. Identifying the root cause is the first step toward finding a solution.
When examining the reasons for feather plucking in a particular bird, there can be numerous causes, or a combination of several. A plucked bird might be a rehome or second-hand parrot, or it may be a pet parrot who begins this worrying habit. The first thing to do is to stay calm, look for possible causes and then possible solutions.
Causes of Feather Plucking
Causes of plucking can be described as fitting into three groups (though there can be some overlap): Medical, Environmental and Behavioural. For medical causes, you will need the help of an avian vet, who will discuss the Parrot’s home environment and behavioural issues in detail.
- Medical
- Environmental
- Behavioral
Medical Causes
Only an avian vet can properly diagnose feather destruction caused by illness. A vet visit is needed for a bird with plucked feathers so that medical conditions can be eliminated. Some causes are obvious to the eye, like skin infections.
Here are some potential medical issues that could lead to feather plucking:
Read also: Experience Fad's Fine African Cuisine
- Skin infections or inflammations
- Parasites like ringworm
- Feather cyst
- Liver disease
- Cancer
- Poisoning by heavy metals like zinc
- Metabolic disorders
- PBFD
If a bird is infested with worms, you can usually find a worm protruding from the vent. If not and you still suspect worms, faecal testing will be required. From the cost point of view, vet laboratory work is extremely expensive. Among tests that might be required are a complete blood count and chemistry profile, blood tests for virus and chlamydial infections and skin scrapes. Some vets may even include x-rays. These tests may resolve the medical causes of the plucking. Some vets have used drugs like Prozac but I have never seen evidence that the results were permanent.
Environmental Causes
Once you are sure there are no medical reasons for the feather destruction, environmental causes are not that hard to distinguish, although they might include a lot of heart searching on your part. Here are some common environmental factors that can trigger feather plucking:
- Malnutrition
- Allergies to environmental factors or food
- Dryness of the skin due to low humidity
- Dyes and preservatives in the food
- Not enough time to rest in a too busy household
- Lack of natural sunlight and fresh air
- Nicotine in the birds? vicinity
- Lack of enrichment items
A common one is an atmosphere that is too dry for Parrots - central heating, shut windows, a lack of humidity can all cause feather picking. Even in winter a bird should have the choice to bathe.
Being in a cage with nothing to chew or gnaw can induce a Parrot to over preen and start picking. A poor diet is often blamed for birds spoiling their plumage. Make sure that your bird is not eating too rich a diet, lacking in vitamins (particularly Vitamin A). Amino acids from protein foods are also necessary for feather health. Adding the right supplement at the right dosage can help eliminate feather loss.
Another cause of feather picking can be lack of sunlight and fresh air. I had a graphic example of this when a badly plucked Timneh hen joined our aviary flock. She had been kept in a box for the last 8 months. Put at liberty in a large aviary, the wild caught Parrot that I named Mirt, stopped plucking her neck and chest and refeathered completely within six months.
Read also: The Story Behind Cachapas
Behavioral Causes
Behavioral issues can also lead to feather plucking:
- Boredom
- Emotional stress
Sexual maturity can cause a bird to pluck. In the wild the Parrot would choose a mate. In our sitting rooms, the possibilities of a semi natural life are severely limited. The Parrot chooses its favourite human and in frustration at the non-consummation may get aggressive or pluck its own feathers. This sexual plucking is often marked with Cockatoos. Providing a mate is not necessarily the best solution.
The Cockatoo whose innate nature tells her or him to mate is also habituated to living with humans. Presenting a Cockatoo bonded with a human with another Cockatoo can be a recipe for disaster. Habitual PluckingGiving the bird an enriched environment with branches to chew, toys to pay with often lessens the urge to pull out feathers and for the favoured human to avoid over petting.
Sometimes when plucking has become habitual, the bird relishes the sensation of pulling out its own feathers. It becomes a sort of vice equivalent to a habitual nail biter or even analogous to human psychotic hair pulling (Trichotillomania).If the feather is repeatedly pulled the follicles, unfortunately they will die and the feather cannot never regenerate.
Feather plucking from boredom, being too tightly caged, or from being alone for too many hours are situations that fortunately can be ameliorated with care and enthusiasm.
Read also: Techniques of African Jewellery
There is no hard scientific evidence that wing clipping is a factor in feather plucking. In my view, it is a pernicious practice because since the clipped bird knows it cannot utilize its natural means of defence and fly away, this can cause anxiety and anxiety in a cage bird often results in feather plucking.
How to stop parrot from plucking | HOME REMEDIES
Suggestions for Remedies
Here are some suggestions for remedies you can use to stop feather plucking:
- An enriched environment with provision of ample out of cage time.
- Regular bathing or spraying especially in warm houses.
- Opinion is divided as to whether Collars (self-made or veterinary acquired) or vests work as a long term solution or not.
If the environmental or medical cause of plucking have been adjusted while the feathers regrow, the collar, bandage or vest will give them time to remerge. If the conditions that caused the plucking are still there, once the collar is removed the feathers will be ripped out again.
Keeping each bird in the best possible conditions will help to prevent plucking.
Don’t give up. Try anything and everything. Most importantly, don’t disregard certain ideas because it seems crazy that such a little thing might have such a big effect on your bird. If you have a plucker, don’t think of yourself as a bad owner. This happens in homes where birds receive the very best that humans have to offer. Don’t beat yourself up.
The Addictive Nature of Feather Plucking
The reason why parrots become "Chronic" Pluckers isn't due to the underlying INITIAL-CAUSE of why they started plucking themselves to begin with, whether medical, nutritional, behavioral, hormonal, etc. It's actually because when a bird plucks a feather out, it causes the sudden, immediate release of Endorphins by the Brain, which causes a pleasant, good-feeling for the bird.
So the take-away for us bird-owners when it comes to our birds starting to pluck themselves is the sooner we can get our birds to a CAV/Avian Specialist Vet, have the proper Diagnostic Testing done, and we diagnose the underlying-cause of why our birds started plucking in the first-place, and WE THEN TREAT AND ELIMINATE/CURE THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THE PLUCKING, the sooner we can then see if their plucking stops after the underlying-cause is removed, and if not then we can try to treat the plucking itself as a totally separate, secondary-condition.
No Overnight Solution
In summary, one can repeat that there is no overnight solution, and that there is no single remedy suitable for all cases. Detailed "psychoanalysis' is required for each bird (and very often its owner!), and even then there will be many disappointments. It will take weeks to correct a problem and establish new feather growth, but only a few minutes for a recalcitrant bird to pull them all out again! Many cases do relapse and with repeated plucking there may well be permanent follicular damage that means the bird will never grow feathers in these areas.
