Grey Picking Problems

[Alexanderz]

I have an African Grey Akira who has now picked out almost all of her chest feathers. She used to have this thing where she messed with one specific feather by her wing, and I never thought anything of it. Now she shreds that and the one by her right wing. She doesn't pull them out, but instead shreds them. Her chest feathers however are almost gone, all the way down to her feet.
Even when I'm holding her, she is CONSTANTLY preening. She even will pester me until I preen her neck and if I stop she gets quite mad.

I'm really at a loss. She is 4 years old and this is kind of a new thing. I do go to school from about 9-4, except when I work and I'm gone for 12 hours. She has never minded though. I have had her since 4 months old, I did move a while back in January, but honestly I thought it would be better. Before she was at my house with my mother and her children like to bother her constantly. Now around the same time I moved I got 2 other Grey's. I inherited them from a customer at work who was going into a nursing home. I tried to get them acclimated, but they both hate her. She is a really, really, tiny Congo and they're both a bit bigger. I do not have them here for a bunch of different unrelated circumstances. I also thought maybe it's because she is a bit hormonal and she wants to breed. She's been doing the throwing up thing a bit more and always wants me to give her food/water from my mouth while I'm eating...

I have tried so many things and I'm just lost as to how to get her to stop.

She eats Pelleted Food (Zupreem), Random fruits, and occasionally I give her oatmeal when I eat it for breakfast. I took her to an avian vet and she has no parasites, normal weight as well.
She has a quite large cage that I actually leave open unless I'm not here. I moved her cage into another room that has more light, but is farther away from me walking by. She has 6 toys, none of which she uses, even though they're different kinds. She also has two foraging toys I put random things in. At the bottom of her cage I use carefresh, but she doesn't ever mess with it. I bought anti-feather picking spray, but it smells like alcohol and I don't like the idea of her inhaling that.

The only other idea I have is maybe I need to bring one of my other Grey's here. I recently left for 2 months to do some research in Malaysia and I had my friend bring my other boy grey (Aslan) here as well as her birds. She actually slowed down on the chest picking during this time.
I also heard some people use Palm Oil occasionally? I also started leaving the radio on when I leave, but I get worried about what she is listening too. (I'm weird I know) Or maybe she has allergies?

So with all that being said, does ANYONE have suggestions on how to combat this problem?

**Edit**
Added some pictures



How She looked before

[marie83]

Welcome to the forum.

First thing to do is to stop feeding her from your mouth, our saliva has bacteria in it which can make a bird sick and can lead to the death of a bird.

Second thing is to get her back to the avian vet and get her poop tested, bloods and possibly an xray done to make sure there is no underlying causes. I think this is very important as alot of the avian experts believe that up to 70% of plucking is caused by nutritional or medical reasons.

Third thing is can you tell us about your birds diet, cage and routine? Also what toys and things she has to do whilst your not there, we maybe able to help come up with some ideas to help give her things to do other than messing with her feathers.

[Grey_Moon]

The first stop is the vet's.

In captive large parrots the parasites that everyone always blames picking on are rare. More often the cause is malnutrition or injury/disease to the organ systems.

Case in point my own grey plucks her sides because her arteries are hardened and it causes her discomfort.
I see the same blue discoloration around your greys eyes that I saw in my own.

I would get the vet to run complete blood tests, xrays and do fecal tests just in case.

From a dietary perspective zupreem (and especially almost a pellet-only diet) is NOT good nutrition. Zupreem is full of wheat, corn, soy and all sorts of artificial chemicals, colourings, preservatives and sugar. Please please please include more nutrient rich (lots of darkly coloured fruit, leafy greens like kale and collard as well as fleshy orange veggies like carrots, yams and sweet potatoes) fruits and veggies. They should make up at *least* 25% of your bird's diet (I feed 50% fruits n veggies).

Add palm oil only if you start a better diet---otherwise inflammatory grain-filled pellets plus the saturated fat in palm oil is going to start a problem. Flax seed would be a good addition for omega-3's to provide an anti-inflammatory effect--about 1/4 tsp daily would be about right.

Realize that after a while that plucking causes the skin to be terribly itchy and irritated, so the bird will continue to pluck new feathers out because they itch. Daily baths are a good idea.

Start with enough sleep, bathing, a good vet check and a good diet---then worry about toys.

Lay off the sprays because it is just viewed as dirt and the parrot will preen/pluck harder trying to get the residue off. Plain water works fine. Plus, alcohol-based sprays dry out the skin and feathers, making them itchy...so they pluck more.

[liz]

Greys are very intelligent. They get bored easily. Give her more things to chew on and destroy. Give her as much freedom as possible. If the other greys don't like her it is because they are bonded. I would not encourage inner action.

http://www.YouTube.com has videos of greys talking and singing. I know it sounds silly but they do respond best when the video is the same species. Myrtle pays attention to all amazons but really consitrates when it is a blue front.

Keep us posted.

P.S. They love wooden clothespins and chopsticks. When I have nothing else I will cut a piece of tree branch.

[Alexanderz]

I did hear about the saliva thing a while back and so I generally push her away.

As far as the fecal test I actually did have it done to check for any parasites or bacterial infection. I did not however check her blood or get an x-ray. I've also heard that many times picking it related to health, which is why this is so weird to me. The vet said some of the picking seemed "allergy" related, yet he did not offer me any solution to what the allergy could be. He thought it could be a "nervous tick"

I have heard some people who argue against Zupreem for reasons similar, and with the coloring. I was considering getting the natural blend. I give her fruit occasionally, but never tried veggies really. I only am able to do it on days I'm home all day because I've heard mixed things about leaving fruit out all day and possible bacterial issues. I really hope it's not a blood or organ issue. Once my mother gave her a coconut and it ended up being moldy and I flipped out. She also fed her tortilla chips from Chipotle, reason number 198 why I moved out.

As far as her routine. In the mornings she gets new water, food if she has chewed down hers and I open her cage. I don't always eat breakfast, but If I do I typically make her something. We talk a little bit, or at least I do, hah. She knows when I wake up and will location call me if she knows I'm not acknowledging her. I usually leave her cage open until I leave. I have a husky and I used to leave her out all day, but she started walking around and I didn't want him to get any crazy ideas. I usually leave and will turn on the TV or radio before I go. When I come home I let her out again and change her water again. Typically I bring her either into the living room if I'm studying or I have a perch in a doorway I will set her on if I'm in the kitchen. Then whenever she seems sleepy I put her to bed. Occasionally I give her showers, I lost my shower perch a little bit ago so since then I've just been spraying her.

In her cage she has several toys. She has two foraging toys. One is a small box you can put nuri-berries or something similar in. The other is this large pipe thing with 4 separate cups I can put random things in and then close the tops. She also has a large thing of blocks with coconut husks in them. She has a large strand of random very colorful child toys basically. She has a rope toy with wooden blocks. She also has a pedi-perch, rope perch and a wooden perch. She has another toy I can't think of currently, thats a little different. I was concerned she wasn't using her toys and I tried to find new ones that were different than each other. She also has a play-stand which has a swing and some climbing things, and room for toys on the top. She often just climbs to the highest point and just stares at me.

I have not considered flax oil before. I will only buy palm oil if I can make sure its from Africa from local farmers.

I did consider they didn't like her because they were bonded (or at least I thought) They were together a long time, but Aslan began attacking Allie so I decided to separate them. They are 9 and 7 but were together only the last several years.

[liz]

That is wonderful that she has started contact calls. It means she wants to be with you.

Myrtle also likes to take the plastic caps off water bottles. I do give her toys but just like a kid would prefer to play with the box.

[pennyandrocky]

i would definately add vegetables sounds like diet to me.you should empty the pellet bowl even if there is some left over about 75%of the pellets i buy feed wild birds and squirrels so i know how frustrating it can be to throw them out after spending so much. i just give them less and feed mostly fresh foods like veggies.mya is a chewer too but has improved with the food i've introduced her to.

[Grey_Moon]

You do not need to leave food out all day for her.
Feeding her twice daily is plenty and allows her to build up an appetite, allows you to monitor how much she's eating and it also allows you to get an accurate body weight.