Senegal going bald

[Arjan]

Hi,

My senegal is getting balder everyday. It has been a rough time for him as I have been away from him for half a year. During that time, he has hardly been out of his cage. He was handtame and loved to fly straight to me when I was around, but now he tends to be more afraid. He still loves to be petted from time to time. Maybe the trust has to grow back again.

I give him as much attention as I can now. He is allowed to leave his cage everyday for a few hours (only if I am at home), I supply wood to chew and egg cartons to shred, which he still does. I keep an eye on him with my webcam. He sleeps a lot when he is alone.

Just before I got him back, I was told that he was in moult. I have a bad feeling about the moult. First I thought it could be moult, but I think it is plucking, as he is getting too bald for moult. His feathers on the back and his side are all gone. Only the tail, wings and head are full feathered.

How long does it take for his feathers to grow back?

Kind regards,

A worried owner.

[Wolf]

To be honest with you this does not sound like a bird that is molting, it does sound like feather plucking to me.
I would look into what his diet consists of, as well as his schedule. As in all things related to parrots it is a good idea to schedule a visit to the vet so as to rule out any medical reason for this issue as that is always the first concern. Most of the time the molting cycle only lasts about a month but birds may molt twice a year for some species and only once a year for others. It normally takes a period of two years for a bird to replace all of its feathers and you never, in the wild find a bird getting bald spots when they molt, this only appears to happen to captive birds that are plucking out their feathers.
Although I normally recommend that protein levels be kept low, only about 10 to 14%, I would suggest a temporary increase in protein as it can be used to help with feather growth, I would also suggest the addition of a mineral block in the cage as well as a cuttlebone and possibly adding in a little more broccoli to its diet. I think that I would also increase foods containing beta carotene which is the precursor for vitamin A which is to dangerous to use directly as a supplement in my opinion. An increase in the amount of unfiltered sunlight should also help as it will serve to help the bird to manufacture the correct amount of vitamin D-3. I try to find natural way to supplement vitamins as they need to be in the right balance to each other and that is hard to do with direct vitamin supplementation and can even be dangerous for the bird.

Stress and frustration, possibly from a lack of interaction with the birds preferred human appears to directly affect or even be a primary cause for feather plucking type of behavior so I would spend some additional time interacting with your bird if it is at all possible.

[Pajarita]

Yes, it sounds as if it's plucking. I only had one Senegal that started plucking under my care (I had four total and have two right now), a male and after he lost his second mate in two years. He is now doing fine right now, he stopped plucking and his feathers are beginning to grow back but, in my personal experience, it takes a long time for sonnies to get a perfect plumage after they pluck (I took in a female that used to pluck and, although she never did with me, it took over two years for her to have a perfect plumage).

I keep mine at a strict solar schedule, they get a good fresh food diet (gloop and produce in the morning and a seed/nut mix for dinner) and a vitamin/mineral supplement once a week. They have good full spectrum light and come out of their cage for hours to fly and spend time with me. I have found that, when it comes to birds that pluck, they do it out of either sexual frustration or anxiety caused by loneliness.