African Grey - plummage and throat bulge

[Grey house]

Hi there,
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. I have an African Grey that will be 27 this year and has recently had some health issues crop up. For the last few weeks he has lost the feathers around his front throat area and has formed a stripe of bare skin down his breast towards the pelvic region. The left and right sides of his breast are not missing plumage, just the central region.

While I don't think he is plucking the feathers, I am not sure if anyone has experience feather loss with their parrot in this pattern. Another issue I have notice with him is that his throat area seems to have a lump or bulge - which is more visible now that it is featherless. Are the two conditions related?

If anyone has experience with the above issues, please share. I would greatly appreciate it!

Cheers

[Wolf]

When in doubt, the best course of action is to take the bird to an avian vet. I think that the bulge that you are seeing is probably the crop, and I think that your bird has started plucking its feathers. Feather plucking can be caused by mental and emotional issues or it may be caused by medical issues and the only way to be sure is to take the bird to the avian vat for a check up. If it is not caused by a medical condition then you have to figure out what is causing the bird to stress to such a degree as to start plucking. In any case, the starting point is a visit to the bird doctor.

[Pajarita]

The crop is to the side and not in the middle (I am not sure where the 'bulge' is) plus the plucking pattern you mention is not part of the 'usual' ones list and, taking into consideration his age and that, most likely, he has had a bad diet in the past (not a criticism, a fact with old birds because we did not know what a proper diet was back then) I would rush that bird to an avian vet for a completely physical (exam, CBC, bile acids, chem panel and Xray -depending on whether the bulge is normal or not, the vet might also want to do an aspiration biopsy on it).

[Grey house]

Thanks Pajarita and Wolf both for your feedback. We arranging for an avian vet to see him this week. You are likely right about the bulge being the crop only - although it seems quite large though. We are changing his diet to include more leafy greens, flax seeds in addition to his regular sunflower seed/fruit/nut diet. I am hoping if this is a dietary issue, then it will be easier for us to address.

In general, he is a very self-sufficient bird. In the 15+ years we've had him he has never had health problems. This is unfortunately the first time he's had a go at feather plucking

[Pajarita]

If his regular diet is a seeds, nuts and dried fruit mix, there, in a nutshell, is your problem.

[Harpmaker]

What did the vet say? We worry about the sick birds on this forum.