feather chewing senegal

[lifespeed]

I have a 19 year old Senegal who just recently started chewing his breast feathers. There was a rock polisher running on the other side of the garage wall that made a rumbling noise, so I eliminated that. Also some boxes have been placed in the room not too far from the cage, so will move those too.

But really, this is unusual behavior for the bird and nothing that significant has changed. We just got him several new toys to rotate through his cage, but he does not seem that interested. Only chewed a little. The bird is at home alone for 7 hours during the day, but gets lots of attention daily in the afternoon and evening.

Any ideas

[Wolf]

Perhaps a radio placed on some soft music would help. Feather plucking can be caused by a lot of different factor acting singlely or together. For that reason I ask for details of an average day for him starting with the time that he gats up and ending with the time he goes to sleep, please include feeding times and foods fed at those times . also do you cover the cage at night? location of the cage in relation to where you would be spending the most time in the house.

[lifespeed]

Weekdays he gets mixed vegetables in the morning, a seed ball and the boring pellets. He is by a large window in the dining room, but it just looks out on a fence. Not too interesting. He is in between the kitchen and living room where there is usually activity in the evening, but he chews his feathers during the day when nobody is home.

When the kids come home from school he comes out to play, and probably stays out of the cage 70% of the time or more. He has a portable perch and moves around the house to keep up with the action. If he isn't moved he will jump off the perch and wander into the "right" room. He has dinner with the family on his perch also. He gets carrots, apples, and other fresh foods in the evening also.

At night around 8 - 9 PM he goes back in the cage and is covered.

Weekends he is out a lot more. He has not ever chewed his feathers on the weekend. It has happened three times in the past couple weeks.

[Wolf]

It would be better for him if he were on a solar light schedule which is the same as the birds outside with exposure to both dawn and dusk to keep his internal clock properly regulated. Seeds and pellets available all the time is too much protein and fat in his diet and could lead to liver disease. The plucking seems to be primarily from boredom so I would try the radio and take the time to teach him to play with his toys. I would probably give him foraging type toys and put like the occasional half of an almond in one out of 6 so that he has to find it and teach him to tear them open to find the nut and get rid of the seed ball. Foraging toys can be made of a variety of bird safe materials such a palm fronds, or paper.

[Pajarita]

I think he is overly hormonal and lonely and depressed. Sennies seem to need company more than other species... not as much as, say, a cockatoo, a gray or a GCC, but definitely more than we think they need (they are always referred to as birds that do well in apartments and by themselves but that has not been my experience with them).

[lifespeed]

I made several foraging toys, he seems to know what to do with them. Does not seem extraordinarily interested, however. All he really wants is to get out of the cage and receive human attention. Shoulder time, dinner time, perched on the finger. He craves attention, more than is possible to give him sometimes.

I saw that he clings to the side of his cage up high, staring down the hallway hoping for somebody to come rescue him. He hangs there chewing his feathers. So I put some balsa wood blocks with almonds embedded in them at that location.

This bird gets plenty of attention, and has throughout the 20 years I (now we, family of four) have had him. Apparently he needs more now.

I am planning to move his cage to the kitchen window when we leave the house now so he can look out into the backyard and see the hummingbirds and other activities. Definitely inconvenient, but I would really like for him to be happy and stop chewing his feathers.

[Wolf]

In many ways your last reply is the most informative as to why your Senegal has started plucking. They are high energy birds and they want to be a part of what is going on around them. This doesn't always mean that they have to always be on you, although that is usually their preference. Many times placing their cage in the room, other than the kitchen, that you spend the most waking time in will solve this issue. The bird has been unhappy about this for quite some time as plucking is not a thing that they suddenly start doing in most cases, rather it is normally from a gradual build up of stresses. Try this and let me know if it helps.