Senegal Parrot Chewing Both Wings

[Paul Lewis]

My experience goes back over 40 years dealing w/ feather problems. Many can be "worked with" and helped to some degree depending on how long it's been, some clear up entirely others have had follicles atrify and will never regenerate a new feather. My backgroung w/ the avian endocrine system is basically what I've picked up over the years through AAV seminar presentations, Dr Greg Harrisons Avian Medicine book, and personal conversations w/ vets. I've read about photoperiods and recommend it for some things but it seems to be an easy answer for nearly all problems, especially for animal behaviorists. Sorry I don't agree. I'm in a position that I deal w/ birds and people w/ their birds all day every day for the past 24 years. Many of my opinions are vastly different than what you'll see in BIRD TALK or on the internet, but I'll stand behind everything. To provide you w/ a link to prove that photoperiod manipulation doesn't work doesn't make sense. It's fine in some cases but I feel it's an easy answer for most people, and in my experience rarely helps what people are having problems with. Stimulating or decreasing breeding is what it seems to be best suited for. In most feather mutilation cases I suggest more full spectrum lighting( w/ a CRI over 90 ) than to reduce lighting. I usually suggest first seeing a vet to rule out any health issues, improved lighting, increased bathing, and lots of fresh green natural branches, then any other stimulating things added to their environment. One also needs to educate bird owners not to reinforce the behavior of feather destroying, which most people train the bird to do.
If you've had about a 50% success rate not bad, probably about par.

[Wolf]

Feather plucking can also be caused by people keeping the bird to a human light schedule thereby screwing up their endocrine systems resulting in a hormonal bird that is also in pain due to overgrown gonads, in which case you need to reset the birds cycles and this in most is best accomplished by putting them on a solar light schedule. I also agree with bird safe branches with the bark on for them to chew on as well as added mental stimulation. I also believe that more time spent out of the cage hanging out with the owner cannot be overlooked as many of our birds have no other companion and due to their social nature need to have that closeness. That does not preclude physical contact with the bird, but then I don't ever pet my birds other than on the head, neck and beak. Mostly they perch on me and we talk, whistle or sing. A good diet is always a must, and I like using aloe vera in their bath water as it seems to help.

[Pajarita]

40 years of dealing with feather issues? What species of parrot did you have 40 years ago that had feather issues? I didn't even know parrots were commonly kept as pets in America 40 years ago... they must have been hugely expensive!

In my personal experience, every single plucker (and self-mutilator) I've taken in had hormonal issues and they all got better when their endocrine system got back in tune with the seasons. The self-mutilators (lovebird, U2, CAG) all stopped but the too continued plucking only it was just under her wings during breeding season. A CAG that had only feathers on her head ended up with just a small patch to the left of her chest. An amazon, a LSC, a CAG and another U2 stopped altogether and never again plucked. A male eclectus who plucked and barbered his entire body ended up just barbering his chest. A cockatiel with chronic giardia eventually stopped but it took me years to get her better. I am now working on a male Senegal, one of the two birds that started plucking under my watch, and he is getting better but I doubt he will stop altogether unless I can find him another mate.

It's great that you share your experience with us, we appreciate it greatly. But I would be careful of telling people to keep their birds with a screwed up endocrine system... especially if they already pluck!