African grey suddenly rubbing beak on everything in cage

[TheMrsFoster]

My African Grey is suddenly rubbing her beak on everything in her cage. I mean EVERYTHING. Food dish, toys, cage bars, perches.....she's acting like she has something stuck in it. She has a cuttlebone in her cage that goes largely untouched, and it doesn't seem to be hindering her eating at all, as she's eating like crazy. I had just cleaned her cage and put a new treat stick in, and she's cleaned it off already. (She was doing this before I put the treat stick in, so I know it wasn't that). She has fresh water... Is there anything else I can do for her to help her?

[Wolf]

I don't know. What did you use to clean the cage with? Have you looked at the inside of her beak to see if anything is wedged in there? Can you post pictures of the cage and furnishings? Is this constant or off and on rubbing?
Try to remember detail as you are our only eyes and ears into what is going on with your bird. I know that it is hard to know what is important to say and what is not so just go with lots of detail.

[64O0]

It's territorial behavior

[Wolf]

It's territorial behavior

Please explain.

[Pajarita]

I seriously doubt it's territorial behavior because parrots are not territorial species (only territorial species 'mark' their territory), they are social. The way it sounds, she is wiping her beak, my grays do it, too. Now, I don't know what kind of 'treat stick' you put in her cage but if it's the common ones made out of seeds, please discontinue immediately, they can't eat that many seeds and those sticks usually have a high sugar content which is not good for them. For a good healthy treat, cut up a sweet potato into sticks (like French fries) and bake them in the oven until crispy (my birds LOVE them with a passion and they are SOOOOO healthy for them).

[TheMrsFoster]

She has stopped doing it, but she had been making a weird noise too, like a peanut skin had gotten caught under her tongue, so I think that might have been what it was. I'll post pics of my pretty girl as soon as I figure out how to do it. I'm proud of how her feathers are coming in. Considering how she looked when she came to us, I can't WAIT to see how she's going to look soon!! How long does it usually take for their feathers to grow?

[Wolf]

It has taken me and my Grey the better part of a year to get most of her body feathers to grow back, but she still picks at them a little but not much.

[Pajarita]

Yes, it's not so much how long it takes for feathers to grow, it's how long it takes for them to stop plucking them and it can take years but they can also become seasonal pluckers instead of chronic AND they might leave most of their feathers alone except for one small patch that they might continue to pluck (I've had all three outcomes with chronic pluckers but there has always been an improvement).