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Alrighty need some advice... Lola grew in a few flight feathers and the one on her left wing is all chewed up that you cant even see it anymore. She hasnt touched the one on her right wing. Now I just noticed shes chewing some white feathers on her neck just under the yellow on her cheeks. She's not plucking, Just chewing off bits of feather. She has plenty of chew/destroy toys in her cage and on her playgym. She doesnt have mites, and I bathe her PLUS she takes baths by herself in her bowl. Should I up the baths during the week?? She hates getting bathed..screams like I'm killing her. Does anyone else's birds do this?? Is it overpreening or what? This is a new thing... she doesnt do it constantly. She goes thru stages....

So what should I do???

I wish that I could help, Michelle, but after only 3 years as a fid owner, I have not come up wih this problem. Do you suppose that they make anything that is harmless but tastes horrible that you can put on their feathers? Also, you might want to check with your vet to make sure that it is not a medical problem.

Michellle,
When my husband and I were both travelling alot this past spring, Sparky started clipping his breast feathers. It took me a bit to figure out that he wasn't plucking but clipping them off just above his skin. The vet and I both figured it was stress and age (he was just coming up on two years old). We went with lots of baths and distraction as a fix and it worked. He still gets two baths a day on a soaking washcloth. Sometimes he gets soaked and others he just washes his face and feet. We try to make sure he gets really drenched once a week. We also made and hid a bunch of forraging toys around his cage whenever we left him alone. little dixie cups work great. Just put a small piece of a favorite treat in and fold or crumple the top closed. Between all the extra work to preen and dry off and hunting for goodies, he didn't have time to clip his feathers. I don't know if he will do it again this spring because of hormones but hopefully Mika will keep him too busy and of course we will not be travelling so much.
Good luck with Lola.
- Sandy

Sandy,

She's not clipping them off the shaft at all...shes actually preening and then preening too hard and taking little bits of feathers off! It's weird and she hasn't done it since the day I posted. I just cleaned her cage and gave her a bath. and she hasnt been chewing her wing feather either. Some days she has an obsessive streak and then once she's over it, the chewing stops. She has never plucked, thank God. Just over preens at times.

But thanks for the imput!

here's a pic I took just now of Lola.... shes back at chewing...


see how shes chewing the feathers right under her chin??? It's driving me nuts!

My BHC does it too. It's in the exact same area and also on her legs. We have to collar her sometimes to stop the routine.

Hi Michelle,

I am sorry to hear about Lola's feather chewing

Jamie has never done any feather-destructive behaviour in the crop area but she did chew on her flight feathers last spring. It was similar to what you described - missing parts on a feather (it looked like a stick in some places). Then she also started to chew the feathers off. I would come home and they would be sometimes hanging off her, half broken off. She usually chewed them 1/2 way up or quite close to the shaft.

Jamie's vet thought it's either hormonal or boredom. We did quite a few tests but nothing came up. She did receive a few Lupron (hormone) injections and I really tried to work hard on creating foraging activities for her. The Dixie cups filled with treat (as Sandy described) work really great. Jamie gets 4 cups (doubled up so that it takes longer to get in) per day filled with various little treats. She also has a shallow dish full of big plastic beads and little treats hidden among the beads. She also has a puzzle dish with a tiny treat and a foraging toy for sticking kale in. I just have to make sure that all the treats are tiny so that she eats her other food. But she really seems to enjoy it and it seems to keep her off the chewing (well, at least from May till now...). Jamie does get at least 5 showers per week and I would recommend increasing the number of Lola's showers. If nothing else, she will have to spend time preening and will get occupied for a while.

One thing came to my mind when I saw Lola's picture. Could she have a crop infection or a slight burn??? I know that she is not a baby but it's just so close to her crop... Just maybe something to consider...



Kate

Thanks Kate. I'll be making a vet appointment very soon. I haven't given her anything hot so it's not a crop burn. But it's funny, b/c I dunno if she does the chewing during the day...I'm at school and shes as a ton of chew and destroy toys....I can see the stuff she chews on b/c it's at the bottom of the cage and the toy is mangled! lol But when she's out on her play gym...she sometimes chews her feathers and when she's perching on me, she'll sometimes chew. It's making her look like a rag-a-muffin!! But I'll more than likely be taking her to the vet soon. Thx for the imput, kate and everyone else who repsonded!

Lola has a vet appointment for next week. I'm sure it's not medical... more than likely behavioral.. she did this same feather chewing with her tail last year. It was all ragged, I trimmed it and she never touched it again. Since then she has gotten new feathers and she hasnt touched those. She's just a little obsessive girl! Boy oh boy...

That's good Michelle. It's always nice to rule medical problems out just in case....


Kate