#plucking ask

[flock-talk]

what are the typical ways to help alleviate itching in birds? i know in dogs it’s things like medicated baths or sprays, or even allergy medicine, but i’d imagine it’s a bit different for birds haha

Diet- foods that are rich in omegas to hydrate the skin, ample calcium and proteins to support the feather growth, anti-inflammatory foods can help too. General nutrition, making sure they have a good diet meeting their needs.

Steam - usually running a hot shower and bringing them in to the bathroom to sit in the humid room to hydrate the skin.

Baths- cold baths can help reduce inflammation and itchiness as well as hydrate the skin

Topical treatments- some folks swear by aloe but vets will also make medicated creams that can be rubbed in to the affected area to reduce itchiness if it’s a serious enough problem. Be wary of things you need to apply to their skin, if you get it on their feathers they may obsessively preen the area to remove the residue which could worsen the problem. Oftentimes they may be used in conjunction with cones/ sweaters.

Other medications - in more serious cases there may be oral medications or things like hormone injections that are used to resolve the deeper problems causing the inflammation and itchiness

[flock-talk]

how do you know the difference between plucked feathers and normal moulting

Some are easier to notice than others

For birds that pluck by chewing their feathers off and leaving the calamus in their skin the plucked feathers will be very tattered and lacking the calamus (the feather shaft that extends past the end of the filaments to enter the skin)

If the bird plucks “properly” by removing the entire feather from their skin then it’s harder to tell, sometimes the feather filaments will be more damaged from the excessive pulling but a lot of the time they may look identical to moulted feathers

The easiest way to tell if they’re plucking is either by observing their behaviour or checking their moult patterns. Parrots moult symmetrically so any feathers lost on the left of their body will be mirrored on the right as well. If there’s scruffiness occurring that isn’t symmetrical they’re likely plucking.

If you lightly blow their feathers up to expose their skin you should see a fluffy layer of down feathers, if you see a lot of straight skin, skin that looks red or irritated they’re likely plucking.

If you watch them preen and they’re spending a lot of time on one feather, chewing at the feather/ damaging the filaments, or spending a lot of time pulling at the base of the feather closest the skin they may be plucking. You may also notice them be frustrated, starting to preen then frantically getting mad at something or vocalizing in a sharp tone- that can suggest that the area is irritated and hurts which can be a sign of plucking.

[flock-talk]

sorry for not specifying he's a green cheek conure!! I've been checking his feathers and some seem tattered while others aren't so it's kind of hard for me know.. if they come out and be can get to them he likes to chew on them for some reason

Yeah then 5-6 months is the general average for a baby moult to be rolling around.  The best way to tell if they’re plucking is the symmetry since, as you mentioned, birds may go down and tear up the feathers after they’ve moulted out.  Feathers moult out symmetrically, whatever moults out on the right side of the body the same feather on the left side will moult out a day or few later to maintain their balance.  When they’re in a heavy moult it can be hard to tell if it’s symmetrical or not since it may be very patchy or scruffy looking but keeping track of main feathers like primaries or tail feathers usually better clarifies if it’s a moult or not.  Look for things like feathers broken in half, missing their calamus (the part of the shaft that goes in to the skin), or ones on the body that are still damaged.  If you’re finding those things there’s a higher chance it may be a plucking problem. You can also watch him preen, does he focus too much on one area, over preen, rough preening, tug at feathers, etc. With healthy preening a bird will be calmly running their beak down the length of a feather from the base to the tip, they may spend more time focusing on the base if a feather is loose or if they’re cracking a keratin sheathe and they will be preening all around their bodies. Pluckers may appear stressed or frantic when preening, nervously tugging at feathers, grabbing the ends of the feather, and obsessively focused on one part of the body.

[flock-talk]

Mooks been losing a bit of feathers recently, I don't think he's plucking as its mostly down feathers and he even has a down feather on his neck that's just hasn't fallen out. Another reason why I think he's just molting is that he has a couple spots on him that's kinda poofy, like you see some feather popping out but its only fluff from the bottoms. If it helps I could submit a feather, I just wanna make sure he's just molting, though he's only 3 months? Isn't it a bit early for field?

Just sounds like a moult, birds lose feathers year round and their true moults are affected by numerous factors and are commonly thrown off their regular course due to artificial light, inadequate UV light, irregular seasonal nutrients, or something wrong with their health.  Babies will moult out their down feathers fairly rapidly as they’re the oldest feathers, they’re baby feathers, they’re weak and they need to grow in their adult insulative feathers if they hope to survive the following months, the rest of the feathers would typically moult at around 6 months of age.

signs of plucking:

uneven, asymmetrical feather loss

over preening, obsession with preening

using force, spending a lot of time on one feather

removed feathers may be tattered, broken, missing half, and sometimes bloody

the bird may make squawks or cries

sporadic preening, sudden irritation, panicked preening

 visible down

[flock-talk]

Help!! My birb (parakeet) is starting to pluck her feathers. I'm nervous about something being wrong with her health and her cagemates picking up that behavior. Any advice? Also your birds are so adorable :) how's harness training going?

 http://flock-talk.tumblr.com/post/112253030773/1-i-just-rescued-two-cockatiels-and-one-is

http://flock-talk.tumblr.com/post/100017517753/hello-i-got-a-little-budgie-three-months-ago

Ensure the feathers are actually being plucked out, not pulled by cagemates or just moulting (looking for asymmetrical feather loss, broken feathers, tattered feathers, bullying in the cage)

Check that their diet is nutritionally complete

Make sure that this isn’t cause by stress, doesn’t get along with the cagemates, not enough space, something new happened recently and things like that

get a vet to run some tests to check for any underlying causes

Majority of the time plucking is a stress-induced behavioural problem, get a clean bill of health from the vet, then try to see if there’s anything environmentally causing the plucking.

and not much has changed with the harness training.