Parrot belly feathers

[blackscell]

Hi,

Lately I have been noticing my African Grey her belly feathers are sticking out, is this a problem?
If so, what could it be?

[Pajarita]

It's hard to tell exactly what is going on from the picture... Sometimes, when a down feather is going to be dropped from molt, it sticks out a bit but it never lasts because it falls in a matter of hours so, if you have been seeing down feathers in her chest for a while and concentrated in a single spot, she might be beginning to pluck (the chest is one of the most commonly plucked areas -legs been another one).

[blackscell]

I wonder why she would be plucking, she is barely in
Her cage and gets alot of attention every day.

Her belly had always looked a bit ruffled but now it
Is very visible.

[ParrotsForLife]

I wonder why she would be plucking, she is barely in
Her cage and gets alot of attention every day.

Her belly had always looked a bit ruffled but now it
Is very visible.

I doubt shes plucking if she gets a lot of attention, I also have a Female and in the 8 years ive had her she has never showed any signs of depression or plucking and she joins in with all the family and featherd family though shes scared of the smaller birds.

[Wolf]

Finding the cause for a birds plucking can sometimes be fairly simple, but in many cases it can be very difficult to figure out why the bird begins to pluck. The very first step in trying to figure out why you bird is plucking ( if it is) is a medical examination to rule out parasites or other medical reasons such as an illness, from there it is a good idea to take a very close look at the birds daily diet so as to eliminate such obvious allergens as soy from the birds diet and then to continue on to look at your husbandry in terms of the birds lifestyle so that you can identify and eliminate things that may be causing your bird to stress. Sometimes the actual cause of a bird starting to pluck is not found as it could be related to how the bird was cared for while it was just a baby, during the imprinting, fledging and / or weaning processes. This can be even more difficult to discover when the bird is of a sensitive or nervous species such as an African Grey Parrot.

[Pajarita]

Yes, Wolf is right. Sometimes, it's because the bird is chronically high-strung due to a bad infancy (bad breeder, improper weaning, etc) BUT even in cases like this, one can do a lot to fix and/or prevent this from happening because there is always a trigger for the high stress... this could be that the bird is sexually frustrated... it could be that, although it gets a lot of attention, is not the 'right' kind of attention (grays, in particular, don't like 'busy' households or living with a number of people, they are one-person birds), sometimes it's the other pets in the house (some of them feel very threatened by other birds or get all bent out of shape by dogs or cats) so, why don't you tell us exactly what its life is like, who lives with him, what is his light schedule and daily routine, his diet, etc. and we might be able to identify the stressor that is causing it to pluck. Because, when it comes to plucking, you need to nip it in the bud as soon as it starts or it becomes a habit very hard to break.

[blackscell]

I don't think she is plucking, haven't seen her do it and she gets at least 8 hours attention a day, flies freely and hasn't showed any distress signs. Is still very playfully, and definitly not a one person bird. She likes everyone in the Household.

The only thing I can think of that has changed is the weather outside, and that it is pretty cold inside at home. Should the heater be turned on?

[ParrotsForLife]

I don't think she is plucking, haven't seen her do it and she gets at least 8 hours attention a day, flies freely and hasn't showed any distress signs. Is still very playfully, and definitly not a one person bird. She likes everyone in the Household.

The only thing I can think of that has changed is the weather outside, and that it is pretty cold inside at home. Should the heater be turned on?

The heating should always be on when its cold

[Pajarita]

I don't allow the temperature in the birdroom (or the rest of the house, for that matter) to get any lower than 65 F.

[Wolf]

My heat is set to come on between 65 and 67 F., depending on such things as the humidity and how strong the wind is blowing outside. I have always noted that if the wind is blowing hard outside in the winter that it makes the house colder and the same is true with a higher humidity. Well with the humidity, it might not actually be any colder but it always feels colder with the higher humidity.