CAG Chewing Tail Feathers!

[Pajarita]

I LOVE her name! It comes from Quetzacoatl, the plumed serpent god, creator of the world and mankind and god of intelligence, science, learning, etc.

Don't use that lamp. It's no good, the Ktemp is way too high. You need to get one that has a CRI as close to 100 as possible (no lower than 93) and a Ktemp between 5000 and 5500 and put it in the ceiling fixture (try Dr. Mercola's FS bulbs).

The gloop stays out all day long along with the raw produce. Look in the diet section and you will find several recipes for gloop but, if I were you, I would start with a simple one made out of only VERY lightly cooked whole grains and no veggies until she starts eating them -then and only then start adding veggies.

Also, I forgot to ask you. Do you have young children or a very busy household? Because grays are stressed out by hullabaloo, they need quiet households. You should take her to the vet but I doubt the problem is physical... with grays, 99.999% of the time, plucking is from stress.

[NandaTheFae]

I LOVE her name! It comes from Quetzacoatl, the plumed serpent god, creator of the world and mankind and god of intelligence, science, learning, etc.

Don't use that lamp. It's no good, the Ktemp is way too high. You need to get one that has a CRI as close to 100 as possible (no lower than 93) and a Ktemp between 5000 and 5500 and put it in the ceiling fixture (try Dr. Mercola's FS bulbs).

The gloop stays out all day long along with the raw produce. Look in the diet section and you will find several recipes for gloop but, if I were you, I would start with a simple one made out of only VERY lightly cooked whole grains and no veggies until she starts eating them -then and only then start adding veggies.

Also, I forgot to ask you. Do you have young children or a very busy household? Because grays are stressed out by hullabaloo, they need quiet households. You should take her to the vet but I doubt the problem is physical... with grays, 99.999% of the time, plucking is from stress.

Okay, I'll look into replacing that lamp asap. Hopefully incoming Christmas money will help the sting of all these expenses.

Gotcha, thanks for the tip on the gloop. I plan to give it a try today after the vet visit.

Nope. It's usually pretty quiet around here with just her and I while my partner works 12 hour shifts. I've been wrecking my brain trying to figure out if anything changed or happened since this came on so fast out of nowhere! I just can't fathom what it could have been.

I'm hopeful the change in diet will help and I'm going to do my best to find or make some toys she'll actually bat an eye at. As for the vet, it'll just depend on what I can afford as far as testing goes.

[Bird woman]

Let us know what the vet says BW

[NandaTheFae]

Update: The vet seemed confident that the odds of her barbering being due to a physical problem are slim. She's a good weight and looks healthy otherwise. She recommended getting a humidifier and mentioned a spray they use to have with aloe Vera in it that was discontinued. We found another spray that sounds similar, Avivera Aloe Vera spray, does anyone have any experience using this? She also recommended giving her doses of Benadryl to help with any itching or discomfort that may be causing her to chew her feathers off. She confirmed that she isn't plucking the entire feathers out, just breaking them off.

[Bird woman]

I personally don't spray or bath my birds in anything but water. I know there are some that use aloe but I give them all a good spray everyday and a good bath 2 or 3 times a week. I have tons of plants in my house and run a pretty good size waterfall inside that keeps the humidity up. Did you try the baby food yet? BW

[NandaTheFae]

I personally don't spray or bath my birds in anything but water. I know there are some that use aloe but I give them all a good spray everyday and a good bath 2 or 3 times a week. I have tons of plants in my house and run a pretty good size waterfall inside that keeps the humidity up. Did you try the baby food yet? BW

Ahh, I see. I'm hopeful that a humidifier with help if the issue is that she's feeling itchy from dry skin. I guess we'll see. I'm going out to get one today and plan to also get the baby food, some new grains, and some new perches for her. I'm also looking into DIY foraging toys to see if I can make something for her. It's just getting her to actually play with them that's the hard part!

[Bird woman]

Get a good spray bottle too so you can gently mist them every day,just a fine mist over there heads so it doesn't scare them. Also Remember humidifiers need the water to be kept clean so's not to be putting bacteria in the air just like my indoor water falls and the spray bottles also birds cannot be put to bed wet. BW

[Pajarita]

I know of very few grays that like to be misted (mine HATE it!) so, if she doesn't like it, don't do it because it will only make things worse (it will stress her out and the most important thing with birds suffering from feather mutilation is to avoid ALL stress). Neither of my birds play with any toys so, if yours doesn't, don't worry too much about it (mine don't pluck). The most important thing with grays is to be there for them all the time (and I mean this in a literal way meaning physically there not just emotionally), to follow a strict schedule of routines (so everyday is exactly the same as the day before, no weekends, no vacations, no sick days - every day of the year needs to be the same), to give them a good diet and keep them at a solar schedule. I've had 6 grays under my care, one of them came to me almost catatonic and completely plucked (she had feathers only on her head and would not take a step to get closer to the food or water, that's how bad she was!) and she got better to the point that she only had a small naked spot to the side of her chest that she kept on plucking and she was climbing, flying and interacting normally just be doing what I told you - but it took years to get her to that point.

[Bird woman]

My grey loves bath time but that could be from being around all the cockatoos playing and getting excited about the prospects of a water fight. everyone joins in when the party gets started .BW