Hello. Advice needed please.

[EmmaH]

Hi. I have a 1 year old african grey parrot. A few months ago he started feather plucking due to what can only be assumed as stress. I've tried everything I can possibly think of to stop it. He's had a collar from the vets. He has his toys rotated on a regular basis and I've tried distracting him every time he's seen doing it. Nothing has worked and I'm stumped. He's a clever bird and easy to train but apparently untraining this particular behaviour is proving difficult. Does anyone have any suggestions? Pretty please! Desperate for him to start flying again so he can go in his aviary and get some birdy mates.

[DanielA]

Welcome to the forum!
About your parrot, I personally don't know about parrot plucking, but you should ask GreyMoon, since her TAG is a rehome and has plucking history.

Good Luck!

[pennyandrocky]

hi i have a plucker/chewer,almost cured,once started hard to stop. how do you distract him? you are supposed to ignore the behavior since he can see it as a way to get your attention.when i see my mya pulling her feathers i will turn my face away or even leave the room.you may want to check his diet sometimes a vitamin deficiancy can be a cause for plucking there are things you can buy to add to his water or things you can add to diet to fix this. another question is how often you bathe him too little or too much bathing can dry skin.hope this helps keep us updated.

[DanielA]

Definitely should follow pennyandrockys advice, since her bird has plucking history. Good luck!

[EmmaH]

Thank you. Seems to be good advice. Chester hates being bathed with a passion. Depises it intact. I use luke warm water in spray bottle but he sounds like its hurting him. Tried him with different temperatures but all have the same reaction so he may have some form of irritated skin. However, he'a hated being bathed since he was a tiny babe. He has yet another vet appointment tomorrow which I'm sure he will hate but I'll ask them to look at that.

[liz]

There is a product called Tropical Rain. Now that Myrtle can fly she won't stay in the shower but she will take a misting with Tropical Rain.

How about a boa or a bib with strings and buttons on it.

[marie83]

regarding the bathing have you tried him with a bowl of water? Ollie hates being sprayed but loves jumping into his cat litter tray and having a good splash about in lukewarm water. Dont worry the cat litter tray was never used for anything else. On the other hand Harlie wont bath in a bowl at all and will only accept spraying if she actually want a bath, running the hoover for a while seems to get her in the mood for a bath for some reason but other than that she will just freak out if we spray her.

[laducockatiel]

Add foraging toys

[Grey_Moon]

A lot of the things I suggest might run contrary to 'good bird care' or the 'way things are supposed to be', but I'm not one to fight the flow of what the bird wants in favour of what 'is good for it' when it comes to plucking. That said, YMMV with what I suggest.

First step---take that collar OFF! They do more harm than good and the stress they place upon you and the bird's relationship/trust (plus just on the bird in general) is not worth it *unless* you start seeing bloody wounds---bald spots are just bald spots. I'd rather damaged follicles than a damaged relationship or mind.
Second---especially in a bird that young (older birds can sometimes through sexual frustration etc become the often cited 'behavioural' pluckers---but even then) go over *EVERYTHING* with your vet. Any vet who suggests 'oh all greys are nervous and pluck eventually' (like mine did )---slap them silly or find yourself a new vet. Look at every possible organic cause---get a CBC done, check all organ function, look for PDD and other chronic diseases, heavy metal toxicity, fungus/bacterial infection, allergies/intolerances...everything.
The third biggest thing, has been, for me, to reduce stress and anxiety, promoting a sense of safety/security and fulfillment. In other words, think like a parrot and live like a flock.
For example, my TAG wakes up before dawn and goes to bed when my partner and I do, does this get her the 10-12 hours a night? Nope, not even close--on a good night she might get 8. But for the first time ever, generally speaking, there's no down on the sleep carrier bottom in the morning.
If I try to put her to bed without us 'the flock' or get her up later than 5-6 AM or enclose her (either in her sleep carrier or day cage)---she plucks at night.
The solution for her has been sleeping in the open, perched nearby (she sleeps at the head of my bed) and waking/sleeping when the 'flock' does.
As well, foster a sense of community and security--my TAG and I eat, sleep and bathe together. This natural rhythm of living is instinctively comforting to them, she wakes with us, we have 'snooze and scritch' time in the morning for a little bit, we 'fly' to our foraging site in the kitchen and have a bite to eat, then we 'fly' to the shower to have our morning bath, then we 'fly' back down to her day cage and we hang out (or I head off to class), and then lunch, supper and our evening bath (another huge thing with greys---bathing and humidity! If your little guy doesn't like spray bottles for now just bring him in the shower and let him sit in the steam with you) before we settle down for bedtime. Try to fufill as many natural desires and modes of living (like foraging for all his food and travelling within the confines of your home) as you can.

As well, keep up the toy rotation and enriching environment.

As far as distraction goes try to stop that, as it may be reinforcing it. You don't want him to pluck for attention if he isn't already. The biggest thing however is acceptance and keeping your own feelings in check, if you're stressed and anxious it will make the plucking worse. He may pluck forever, but learn to love and accept him as he is.

[liz]

Grey Moon is right. Rambo and Myrtle are mainstreamed like the rest of my critters.

Being flighted, Myrtle doesn't stay where I put her so showers are out until she decides to do it again. Rambo loves showers. I bought a shower perch and he hated it. He prefers to be on the floor of the shower and bathe in the stream of water that runs down the curtain. Yes it gets a little crowded in there with all his flapping but whatever makes him happy.

My birds have their own routine inside the family routine. They are in the sunroom and wake up at sunrise. They stay there and play until they see me. That is when it hits the fan. The dogs want out to pee, the cats want breakfast and the birds complain that they haven't seen me allllll night. (Myrtle sometimes does night flights to make sure she know where we all are.) Although they have a free choice food supply and fresh veggies in the morning, at meal time they want a plate of what we have.

Rambo is like a 6 year old boy with a speach impediment. Myrtle is like his 2 year old sister. They knock each other around at time and steal from each other. They also preen each other. I have two green kids.