oh no Ollie :(

[Wolf]

Sometimes it is just a matter of waiting it out and being both observant and patient. It won't be much longer before his hormones start kicking in, so you may find it helpful to check up on their natural breeding habits and behaviors as some of them need to do such things as preparing the nest for the female and if he is one of those then you may want to supply him with a nest and nesting materials so that he can begin to work on that and then restart working on introductions and giving the female the chance to inspect the nest to get her into the right frame of mind to be more accepting of him as well. Personally I am not familiar with the breeding habits of this species of parrot.

[marie83]

Well I guess I will have to wait it out but I'm concerned with the extent of the plucking that if it's that bad this early that it will soon turn to mutilation

[Wolf]

Well I finally made it through the thread of Ollie's last bout with feather plucking and can see why you are so concerned about it this time, not that I could not see a good reason for it anyway. There does not seem to have been any definitive diagnosis for the last time although the fact that you ceased to have problems with it when you quit feeding Harrisons pellets, suggests that it was a food allergy. Because of that you might want to check to see if there has been any recent changes in the formulation of the pellets that you currently use or in any additives in a seed mix, that might be related.

Still, I think that this is more related to stress caused by the introduction of a new bird and perhaps Ollie's jealousy of that. If he is jealous then probably the only reassurance that you can provide for him is in the amount of time that you spend with him on you. Not sure if that will effect a cure for this at this time but it may help to reduce the incidence of the plucking if this is what is causing it.

I can't pretend to know the mind of a bird, especially of Ollie but I see that there is a chain of events in his life all of recent occurrence beginning with the passing of Harlie, which must have had an impact on Ollie. Then with his friend gone, you found another bird, and had to spend time with it which probably meant less time for Ollie. So is it possible that he is worried that he is going to also go away? Could he just be worried that you don't love him as much? I don't know and certainly don't know if they even think in this manner, but I am fairly sure that he does not understand these changes or why they happened. I can only hope that he will see that you love him as much as ever and that you are not getting rid of him or that you are not going to go away. I am hoping that with the breeding season and his hormones kicking in that he will begin to see Rena as a possible mate and that this situation will quickly end. I really don't know what else to think about this. Please keep us informed as to what is happening with Ollie. I wish there were more that I could do to help as well as to reassure both you and Ollie.