Expert: Maggie - 4/11/2006

Question
We have a African grey (Smokey) and an umbrella cockatoo ("and the" Bandit) now for about 15 years. They are the love of our lives. A question about the cockatoo. It seems Bandit has picked his front clean by himself. When we first moved, we thought it was stress from the move. It now seems he gets some feathers on the front, but either pulls them out or they fall out. Other than that, he's healthy, eating fruits, veggies, and seeds. Knowing that cockatoos like to nibble on trees, I have placed pieces of 1 x 2 pine furring strips (always dry and always clean) into his cage for the past four or so years. He munches on these, taking about 2 days to finish each one. I have never thought that might cause a problem until I realized his feathers weren't filling out his front. He is not stressed anymore, he comes out on my finger easily, very affectionate to me. I have added Nekton vitamins with a supplement for feather growing to his diet.
Might you think that Pine is not the wood of choice to let him chew on? As I said, it is very clean pine, no preservatives of any kind.

Thanks,

Answer
Hi,

Here is a list of the most common reasons for feather plucking (in no particular order):

1) Stress
2) Disease
3) Poor nutrition (a primarily or all seed diet is VERY bad for birds)
4) Boredom
5) Sexual frustration or hormones
6) Not enough baths (too low of humidity)

Plucking can also become a habit (so, it might have been stress that initially triggered the plucking, but now your cockatoo continues to pluck out of habit). So even if you make sure that all of the above reasons are not applicable to your bird's situation... he might *potentially* still pluck her feathers. It is very unlikely that your bird's feathers are not growing or that they don't have the potential to grow back. A vet might advise the use of a collar to break the habit, or continue to try to distract your bird with lots of different toys (of different materials) and chew things (like bird-safe woods). Pine (as long as it hasn't been sprayed with any pestisides and is clean) is safe for birds to chew on.

For stress- just make sure that your bird is in a peaceful environment and doesn't have lots of loud noises around her all the time. Make sure that she isn't being housed in a round cage (round cages can actually make a bird feel disoriented because they don¡¦t' have any corners to retreat to if needed).  Make sure she is getting at least 10 hours (preferably 11 or 12 hours) of sleep each and every night. If she is not getting this- you can cover her cage at 8 at night (give or take an hour) and then uncover her cage at 7 or 8 in the morning. This will help keep her cage dark (if you use a dark towel to cover her cage with) and will help her get more sleep each night. Just basically use common sense and make sure that she is comfortable in her surroundings.

For Disease- you would have to see an avian vet about this one. If your cockatoo has not been seen by an avian vet since this plucking has started, you should get him to a vet for a complete exam and chek-up. You can find an avian vet in your area at any of the following websites:

http://www.birdsnways.com/articles/abvpvets.htm

www.aav.org

or

http://www.birdsnways.com/birds/vets.htm

For Nutrition- Make sure your bird is on a healthy, well-rounded and varied diet. Seeds are not that great for birds. They are ok as treats, but don't let them exceed more than 10% of your bird's daily intake of food. Pellets, rice, beans and whole grains should make up the base diet for your bird (around 70 to 80%) and then fruits and veggies should make up about 20 to 30%.  Here is a website I have that will go into more details about a good parrot diet:

http://www.geocities.com/pionusparrots/ProperParrotDiet.html   

For Boredom- Make sure your bird has lots of toys! :) I usually recommend at least 3 toys (more if your cage is larger) and rotating these toys with "new" toys every couple of weeks. Let¡¦s say you have 6 toys in total. You keep 3 toys in the cage. Then after one week, rotate those toys out and the other three toys in. Then next week, do the same thing over again. You can get creative with this and shape it to fit your needs. You can add toys to this mix throughout your bird's life and also throw away toys that have become too old or damaged. I know some people only give their bird one toy, but they change that toy everyday (so the bird has a new toys 7 days a week!) :) Other people (like me) have 6 to 10 toys in their birds' large cages and only rotate these toys every few weeks.  It is up to you... but just make sure that your lovebird doesn't have the same toy(s) month after month. Also- getting out of cage time and companionship is very important for a bird's well being.  I recommend at least an hour (preferably two or more hours) out of cage time for a lovebird.  This should be given on a free-standing play stand or table top play gym. Here is a link to a website all about out of cage time for your bird:

http://www.geocities.com/Conures123/PlayTime.html

For Hormones or Sexual Frustration- This does NOT mean that you should put your bird into a breeding program!!! Sometimes birds will begin to pluck their own feathers out of sexual frustration because they have bonded so strongly with their human companion. This also doesn¡¦t mean that they necessarily need an avian companion. For this section (or if this is the reason you suspect why your bird is plucking) I would talk to an avian vet or a professional behavioral consultant. They would have more information in this area than I would.

For Bathing- It is recommended by professionals to bathe your bird as often as she would like.  All birds need to bathe to maintain good feather quality. Some birds who don¡¦t get baths on a regular basis or who don¡¦t get enough humidity in their environment will get dry, itchy skin. This can cause birds to chew their feathers or even pluck them out entirely.  There are a couple of different ways to bathe a bird¡K and different birds will prefer different ways. It is recommended to bathe your bird at least once a week. But if it is an un-enjoyable experience for your bird¡K. Maybe every other week would be better until she gets used to it and learns that bath time can be one of life¡¦s greatest joys! ƒº Here is a link to an article all about bathing your bird:

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww63eii.htm

If you have any other questions/concerns¡K here is a link to an excellent article that Companion Parrot Quarterly (an excellent parrot magazine) has about feather-destructive behavior:

http://www.companionparrot.com/Basics%20of%20Featherpicking.htm

I hope this helps.

-Maggie