Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Molting or Feather plucking

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

Molting or Feather plucking

Postby Canadian senegal » Wed Sep 21, 2016 5:59 pm

Hi.
I'm trying to figure out if my Senegal is molting or feather plucking.

Background info:

My Senegal (Zazu) is 4 years old. I've owned him since he was 4 months old. He is fed a very well balanced diet of pellets and vegetables. He has a large cage and many toys. He bathes himself regularly and takes a few showers with me a month.

About a month ago I noticed a small bald patch forming on his chest. the feathers along his wings, and most of his body really, have become tattered and dull. His eyes are still bright and he still has a big appetite and drinks a lot. I haven't noticed any difference in his stool either. But the spot on his chest has grown larger and larger. Most of the right side of his chest is now bald. The down is growing in but very slowly. I noticed some color feathers returning, which makes me feel better, but I'm still concerned. He has never lost more than a few feathers at a time.

I have noticed that his eyes still look good, his behavior and mood have not changed and he is still talkative and active. Nothing aside from his appearance is different.
I have since started him on a Bird bath spray once a day, and skin and plumage supplement on his food. I've also hung several more shredding toys in his cage.

I should note that up until a month ago he has spent almost his whole life in a basement suit with very little natural light, as I am a student and moved a lot. I recently moved into a new apartment and he now has access to a large window. He has been getting much more day light time and more free time around the house/ out of his cage and with me. Which is why I was hesitant to say it was feather plucking, usually that's a sign they don't get enough attention isn't it?

I'm still worried about my boy, he means the world to me, so I want to do everything I can to make sure he is ok. If it is just a molt, then I'll be able to rest a bit easier.

Not sure if it is relevant but we live on the west coast of Canada. So it is fall time here now.
Canadian senegal
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal parrot
Flight: No

Re: Molting or Feather plucking

Postby Wolf » Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:56 am

Sounds to me as if this is feather plucking. Although some birds will get to looking rather moth eaten when they go through a molt, none of them, that I am aware of, get any bald spots from molting.
Yes feather plucking can be a symptom of not getting enough attention over a period of time, but it can also be the result of not enough mental and physical stimulation, again over a period of time. Stress either extremely intense or over a long time is another possible reason and then there are also medical reasons for feather plucking that need to be eliminated before one decides that this is a behavioral issue. Sometimes a bird will pluck because of a food allergy as well so you must also take a close look at their diet as well.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Molting or Feather plucking

Postby Canadian senegal » Thu Sep 22, 2016 10:14 am

Thank you for your reply.
I'm not sure what could be cwuaeong the plucking as his diet has not changed and he is in better conditions now than ever. Absolutely nothing in his life has changed aside from the new apartment. But he is very used to moving...
I'm going to try some things and see if it fixes anything.
Thank you.
Canadian senegal
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal parrot
Flight: No

Re: Molting or Feather plucking

Postby Pajarita » Thu Sep 22, 2016 11:04 am

Going by your description, he is, most definitely, plucking. Now, at four years of age, he has reached the age when they become sexually active so, if you have been keeping him at a human light schedule instead of a solar one and free-feeding him pellets, I would venture the guess that he is sexually frustrated so you need to, VERY objectively (none of the: "I love him and he loves me" stuff - I am talking about quantifiable conditions), re-evaluate your husbandry.

Also, when people say that parrots pluck because they lack attention, different people understand different things... As I mentioned before, love is not the issue, it is the actual day to day care. Does he spend, at the very least, 4 to 5 hours out-of-cage? 3 hours of one-on-one? Is he clipped or fully flighted? Does he have a good quality full spectrum light in the room where his cage is? Is he on steady, never changing (no weekends, no vacations, no holidays, no sleeping in, etc), daily routines?

Now, I don't mean to make you feel bad - one does what one can but you are wrong if you think that he is 'used to moving'. No parrot gets used to moving or any other type of drastic change. NONE. Nature did not hard-wired them for change - what nature did hard-wired them for was not to show when they are upset or sick so just because the bird eats, drinks, poops and doesn't resort to screaming or biting hard, it doesn't mean he is not stressed out - and plucking is a sure sign of stress.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Molting or Feather plucking

Postby Wolf » Thu Sep 22, 2016 6:34 pm

While recent changes can indeed cause enough stress in a parrot to result in the bird plucking its feathers out, most of the time, the act of plucking is the culmination of a long process, Even if the cause is medical, with the exception of certain illnesses or mites, it still takes time to build up to the point of plucking. Indeed there is also quite a bit of evidence that sometimes the initial cause of some birds plucking is due to things that happened years earlier when it was still just a baby and or during the weaning process.

In most cases of food allergies that lead to feather plucking, it takes a long time for the bird to become sensitive enough to the results of the allergy to begin to pluck and then the bird usually plucks directly over the organ that is reacting the strongest to the allergens. Soy and soy products are often one of the main food items that is fed to our birds that produces this type of allergic reaction as well as causing some reproductive issues in parrots to such a degree that Australia is considering banning its use in animal foods, especially in foods intended for parrots and other birds.

Parrots are photoperiodic, which means that light is one of the main things that controls their breeding cycles. The weather is also one of the primary triggers for reproduction in parrots as is the availability of high value food items. By high value food items, I am referring to foods that are rich in proteins, fats and carbohydrates. This is because these high value foods are required to sustain the energy expenditure of the parents in raising their young as well as being require for the rapid growth that occurs in the baby birds.

In regards to feather plucking behavior, the high level of protein is the major concern as the sexual hormones produced during the breeding cycle are made from the proteins and as long as they remain high the birds endocrine system continues to produce these hormones and does not quit the breeding cycle. The reason that this is a problem is that the birds gonads or sexual organs are internal and start off as very small ( about the size of a pea in a bird the size of an African Grey Parrot), but during breeding the grow up to 100 times their resting state and as long as the birds body is producing high levels of sexual hormones these organs continue to grow and grow. Eventually, sometimes it may take several years, they grow so large that they begin pressing against other organs in the birds body, causing intense pain that keeps increasing due to the inflammation and pressure on these other organs. Not to mention the probable interference in the functioning of some of these organs, When the pain becomes great enough the bird begins to pluck feathers from over the painful area and will even start mutilating its own body in the attempt to relieve some of the pain until the bird can not tolerate even the slightest touch on its body and reacts constantly by aggressive biting. Imagine your gonads clamped in a vise which is slowly tightened and you can get the picture.

These are all causes of feather plucking behavior that I have read about in my Avian medical books and they take time to develop into feather plucking. Also any type of stress can eventually result in this type of behavior and it is for this reason that with feather plucking that the first step is to rule out any medical cause for the behavior and then proceed to the lifestyle that the bird is living is to discover and start eliminating the various stresses that may be contributing to this behavior. It is also because of these various stresses that once the bird has begun to pluck its feathers that it is so difficult to bring under control and just as hard to maintain it under control.

I hope that this will help you to understand the causes of feather destructive behaviors as well as the scope of what one must become aware of if this is to be controlled.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes


Return to Health, Nutrition & Diet

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 16 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store