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Hi guys,

Those of you who know me know that I have been fighting a useless battle with my male BH caique and trying to keep him from chewing off his feathers. Most of it I believe is nervousness, fear and those dumb old hormones. The last couple of weeks I have been keeping his cage half covered all day. They were doing some roofing across the street and I didn't want all the workers to upset him along with the noise of the shingles getting thrown on the roof and the noise.

Anyway, I noticed a little change in his behavior. He had started to knaw on his leg again and so I thought keeping him covered a little might make him feel a little safer and secure. He has tons of new feathers coming in - beautiful white chest feathers that I haven't seen in years. His back is nearly fully feathered and some coming in on his legs too. I am hoping that this may be helping him and if so, I am so sorry I didn't figure it out sooner. I also have been tucking him in at 8:30 - 9:00 and going to my bedroom to play with Peanut on my bed. I think the combination of more sleep and being covered are helping him.

That's great news Linda! Isn't it amazing how a few things can come into play and make all the difference in the world? I put the boys to bed at 7pm every night except the weekends where they can stay up a little later because I let them sleep in to make sure they get their 11-12 hours.
I hope this is the start of something that really helps the little bugger. We just never know what goes on inside those handsome heads do we?
a

That's great that there's improvement! I'll keep my fingers crossed that it just keeps getting better for the little one.

Hi Linda,

Thank you for the update. That's great news! Please keep us updated - it's always good to hear what works. How long has it been since you started covering the cage?

You might remember that my BHC Jamie started chewing off her flight feathers (that were clipped) in the spring. We don't really know why because she is healthy - but I think it is a combination of hormones and me having to work overtime during tax season.

Anyway, she is doing great now! The flight feathers grew back in nicely (there is only a couple missing on one side) - but otherwise her feathers are in great shape right now. I let her be fully flighted so that she would not be irritated by the clipped feathers.

I bought a condo so I am moving in 3 weeks. Hopefully the extra stress of packing and moving will not be a cause of anorther plucking episode...

Give a kiss to Chili on his nice new feathers


Kate

Hi Kate,

It has only been about 2 weeks but normally this time of year is when he starts to chew them off and I associated it with cooler days and the furnace being on, which makes the air drier. Also the leaves are off the tree's which make the windows open to the wild world and beyond.

I hope that this positive change continues.