by MFids on Thu May 24, 2007 3:26 pm
Things in the air can be issues... such as smoking, deodorents, nonstick pans, candles, oven cleaners or self cleaning ovens, new toasters/hair dryers.
Normally the best thing to do is to get a full blood panel to first ensure that he's not sick and to make sure he doesn't have any allergies... second is to evaluate your circumstances (and anything within the environment, or rather constant change of environment could have started this) and see if theres someting bothering him.
Some of the best ways to combat plucking is to have a large cage with LOTS of toys, wooden ones, acrylic, sisal, cotton, leather, beads, bells, etc. Things to chew on, things that make noise, and the like. Also, if you have any safe trees in the area, prune some of the branches and stick them straight in the cage! Leaves, bark and all! Some birds just LOVE destroying fresh branches!
Exercise. Flying for instance. If he's flighted encourage him to fly (That is if he hasnt' gone after his wings). If he's clipped or can't fly, hold him on your hand and jog about the house forcing him to flap, then praise him immediately afterwards.
Bathes. Give him daily bathes. If he has bare skin you can mix in some aloe vera juice into the water and spritz on him. Wet birds don't tend to pluck.
Sunlight. Pure sunlight. If you can take his cage outside, or if he has a harness he'll wear, take him outside as frequently as you can, at least 30-120 minutes at a time, supervised. If you can't do this, invest in a light that can give the beneficial vitamin D3. A tube light works better than a regular light bulb.
Tricks. If he has a favorite treat, teach him tricks... such as waving, dancing, turning in circles, basketball, etc. Keep him busy.
If you see that he's plucked himself, don't react. Simply ignore the fact that he's plucked. By reacting to the plucking you could encourage the plucking further. So rather than reacting that he has, treat him as if he was a fully feathered bird who hasn't been plucking at all.
I know the frusteration, as I have a cherry headed conure (and cockatiel) who mutilate. The conure Noel is pretty much reserved, doesn't play with toys less they can easily be destroyed (such as the Birdy Kabobs made out of yucca/cactus). She's very inactive as far as conures go, and pretty quiet too if she has all she wants. She's also a special needs bird, as she was attacked by a ferret some years ago. She was made slightly blind in one eye, and is pretty old so is now getting cataracts too. She can't fly, and she can't really grip either. She hates bathes but she tends to get them whether or not she wants one. Occasionally I do fly her, but it only lasts a few seconds at a time since she can't grip well. However, one thing that she ALWAYS loves is to be taken out to her apple tree so that she can chew on the leaves, the bark, the flowers, and even fruit when there is some!
Monica & Fids
"I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is willing to learn
from them."
