hello

[shea2shea]

Thanks, I changed the food to the pellets and Kale is not eating. What do I need to do? I also have questions about dry skin. He picks his feathers and scratches. I have a mist conditioner that soothes. His feathers was growing back before he was lost. He had plucked his chest bare. Please advise.

[Wolf]

If you still have some of what you were feeding previously add some of that back in. since birds tend to be distrustful of new foods or new anything for that matter, it in normal that they stop eating when you change their food. Start with a 50/ 50 mix and increase the amount of the new food while reducing the amount of the old. Make the change gradually based on how well he is eating.
You can try adding a little bit of aloe juice to the water that you mist him with, it will held soothe his skin, it may help. As long as the bird does not have either a parasitic or fungal condition, The feather plucking is primarily an emotional problem. This makes it very difficult to deal with as you may never get him to completely stop doing this. Once they start plucking, it very quickly becomes a chronic behavior. The aloe will help although you may not actually see much improvement, it takes a long time. The times when your Grey is most prone to plucking are during periods of stress and/ or boredom. Also they will do this when they want something and don't think that you are giving it to them fast enough. They are smart and can be quite manipulative when it suits them.
I have a Grey who came to me with feathers on her head, tail and most of her wings, the rest was bald and in places she had picked herself raw, it was/ is terrible. I have had quite a bit of progress is getting her to let feathers grow back, but there are days when she will tear out months of regrowth in less than an hour. This is an extremely difficult condition to deal with and there is no guarantee of lasting success.

[shea2shea]

I had the thing on his neck to keep him from plucking the feathers. I took it off and he had feathers that had grown back around his neck. He was tested and has a clean bill of health. I was upset because he pulled out the ones that had grown back on his chest. I will try the half and half mixture of food. I did give him some fruit and yogurt. I did find out that he does not pluck if he is not scratching.