I get emails regularly from people having issues with their birds that have started plucking their feathers out. We have also recieved many parrots here are PASO that come in varying degrees of plucking.

It is a very common problem with birds and probably as many causes as there are pluckers!

There are some known issues that can cause plucking and some birds can be helped. However there are those that continue to pluck although everything has been tried. I am going to try and cover as much information as I can here to help those that can be helped as well as my own personal thoughts on those that can’t be helped.

If your bird recently started to pluck, the first thing to do is have the bird vet checked to determine if any health issues are causing the plucking. Sometimes treatment alone can help.

The next step would be to determine to the best of your ability the whens, hows, wheres and whys the plucking may have started in the first place. If you can determine this then changes in that environment may help.

Some reasons birds plucks (this is only a partial list):

• Diet
• Lack of Toys
• Allergies
• Too Small of a cage
• Illness
• Change in environment
• Boredom
• Stress
• Something added to the area that may appear scary to the bird
• New Baby/person in home
• Vitamin Deficiency
• Change in routine
• New furniture/changes in the environment
• New Bird in the home
• Someone in the home teasing the bird
• Loss of mate/favorte person
• Lack of Sleep
• Extended alone time
• One bird plucking another (usually breeders)
• Hormones
• Parasites
• Thyroid
• Lack of Bathing

As you can see the list is large and still incomplete but these things should be looked at and considered when trying to determine the reason your bird may be plucking.

The best way to work with this list is to determine if any of these things have happened or are happening and then make any appropriate changes where possible. If the bird continues to pluck, move on to something else until all options have been exhausted.

Once a bird does pluck, it can very easily turn into a habit. Habits are difficult to break but not impossible. Some times a change in environment is enough to stop the plucking. Providing preening toys can also help. Preening toys are a toy that can simulate a feather or simulate the feeling they would get by plucking their feathers. Toys made of string, straws, newspaper etc. make good preening toys and the birds can pull, snip and shred them which should help to preoccupy them and keep them away from their own feathers.

I should also point out here that there are a couple different types of plucking:

Snipping/Barbering – is where the bird would chew or remove pieces of the feather. In my experience I see this as more common in hormonal plucking but can be anything else also. You can tell a snipper as the feather ends would be v-shaped where the bird has bitten off the piece of feather. Some birds snip until all the feather is removed. Some only snip the ends of the feathers.

Plucking – Some birds will suddenly become totally bald at a moments notice. Some pluck certain areas only ie neck, back, legs, breast or under the wing. Some only pluck to the down leaving the downy feathers. Some pluck to total baldness.

Mutilating – This is the extreme end of plucking when the bird actually chews at their skin causing lesions and bleeding. It should not be confused with chewing a blood feather where a sign of blood can be seen.

Before we go on to how to stop feather plucking I feel that I would like to add my own personal two cents here as I do not believe in treating birds in the manners listed below for several reasons (with the exception of mutilating). First what I feel is more important is to find the cause. In the event that all options are exhausted and no cause can be found, I feel it is more important to make sure the bird is happy, healthy, eating well and is well adjusted. I personally feel that as long as those issues are met the feathers may return on their own. If not as long as the birds is happy and healthy and birds physical appearance is very far down on my list of important issues.

Some people just can’t deal with having a bird that does not look perfect. I would like to say that a bird can be both happy and bald!

Care for pluckers

There are several options that can be used for plucking birds but each does come with their own set of dangers. The trauma experienced by wearing these appliances can be even more detrimental than having a plucking bird.

Collars

Collars are sometimes used to treat feather pluckers by placing the collar around the birds neck which stops them from reaching the feathers thus stopping the plucking. However birds do tend to become depressed while in their collars. Some have been known to get high fevers as well. Another thing that should be watched for are ingrown feathers. If the collars are not removed for periods of time the feathers can become ingrown causing pain and infections. Birds in collars must be watched carefully to ensure they are eating and can still move around without difficulty.

Another form of collar would be a sock with the toes cut out that would be placed around the neck. This would be much easier on the bird but also has its concerns. Watch that the sock is always loose around the neck and that any loose threads are removed. Socks that get wet tend to tighten so care must be taken to ensure that it is always loose. Some of the pulled threads can also tighen the sock around the neck so great care should be taken to ensure this does not happen. Ingrown hairs are another concern as is making sure the bird does not get caught on something that could cause strangulation

Vests/Flight Suites – Bird vests/flight suits are something that have also been tried. The problem with manufactured vests are the birds inability to defecate. The excrement is caught in the suit requiring regular cleaning and then cleaning of the birds vent. Again concerns of ingrown hairs unless the flight suit removed regularly.

Pluck No More – is a product by King’s Cages. We have not had any success with this product but have heard of others that have. One word of advice, make sure to follow the instructions exactly as the bottle asks including the use of distilled water.

The stress level of the bird wearing any of the above items will be much greater as it is not natural for them to wear anything over their feathers or be restricted.

We have had about a 70% success rate in helping pluckers over come their problems just by changes in their environment, ensure proper dietary care and lots of out of cage time.