Feather Plucking – Treatments and Tortures

Feather plucking is a very common problem in parrots. I have not found a species yet that has not had some pluckers in their midst. There are certain species that are more prone to plucking than others but it is quite a common problem in captive parrots.

Having worked with many many feather pluckers, we have learned quite a lot over the years. Most birds will feather up with a change to a new environment alone. Most plucking issues that are behavioural related are due to boredom, stress and hormones. Medical issues are a different situation and of course the bird would need to be tested and treated to determine if the issue is medical or behavioural.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your parrot is to change its environment. Even within your own home. If he is kept in the family room, try moving him to the kitchen and see if you notice a difference after a couple of months. Change his toys as well at this time. This alone can usually solve the problem. The plucking started for a reason which is causing some sort of stress to your bird. First try increasing his baths, playtime and out of cage time. Try to determine the cause of the plucking. Was something new introduced to the home. A baby? A dog? Even the paint on the walls! Something is causing stress. See if it is something we can change that will help the parrot overcome the plucking. If not it may be time to consider placing him with a friend or giving him up to a new home as sad at that may be but as a last resort if you feel your parrot is just not happy or fearful in your surroundings.

Those that are plucked to the down and not bald have the best chance of recovering their feathers on their own without the use of collars, medications or nasty surgeries. Those that are bald have less success in becoming feathered. This is usually due to damaged follicles.

Different treatments options include:

Antidepressants – As with most medical professions, doctors, including vets are trained to use medications and surgeries to cure problems. They don’t tend to be well versed in the behavioural aspect of parrot care and their needs. We have had many birds come in using antidepressants for feather plucking and everyone of them has been removed from the use. All but one has feathered up completely. The only one who did not was totally bald with the exception of her head. She does have new growth and has maintained a tail and wing feathers for several years now. All without the use of anything other than behaviour changes.

Collars – I refuse to collar a bird unless it is a mutilator. I feel that they add to depression and believe that even a bald bird can be a happy, healthy pet if their needs are being met. The habit of feather plucking can be much like a human that bites their nails. It does form a habit and habits can be hard to break. Does that mean that the bird can not be bald AND happy? I have seen birds become very ill from the use of collars and become depressed. I have also seen birds develop fevers from the use of collars. I have never seen a bird stop plucking because a collar was used. As soon as the bird gets upset again or hormonal, they tend to pull their feathers out all over again, creating a viscious cycle.

Surgeries – I can’t for the life of me think why anyone would want to torture a bird in such a manner. To painfully pull out a birds feathers to see if new ones will grow in! This surgery has been know to kill birds, cause phobias, excruciating pain for weeks after the surgery, not to mention the high cost of such a surgery! Anytime we put a bird under anesthesia it is taking a great risk in losing its life. More than likely the bird would have feathered up on its own had behaviour changes been made or enough time given to allow for those changes to take effect. Our worst case of phobia was caused by this same surgery that the owners had tried in hopes of helping their beloved pet. To top it off the surgery was unsuccessful. The bird continued to pluck and was now an extreme phobic due to the surgery. He was not phobic prior to the surgery. Many people who have been here know Gulliver and have seen the dramatic changes in him and know he is fully feathered now and that is strictly due to behaviour modification. His phobia’s are also mostly under control. He has maintained his feathers for over 6 years now. I have heard several sad stories from people that lost their birds including a hyacinthe macaw because of this unnecessary surgery! It is a shame that vetrinarians would use this as a means of curing feather plucking as the bird most likely would have feathered up without it given a change in environment and behaviours. The only time this surgery would be necessary would be for ingrown or malformed feathers or broken blood feathers.

I just did a count of all the parrots that are here today that were plucking their feathers when they arrived here. We have 10 parrots that all arrived here as feather pluckers to varying degrees and 7 of those are now fully feathered without the use of drugs, collars or surgery. All have maintained their feathers and have not reverted to plucking again. Some for several years now! The three that are not feathered are all completely bald and have been diagnosed with follicle damage. Two of the three have more feathers now than when they arrived and have maintained their feathers for several years now. These numbers have been much greater over the years. We have also had the same success with 4 mutilators we have worked with. Three have stopped mutilating completely and have regrown their feathers with only one that continued to mutilate. He was adopted by a vet.

I do hope that this can help you make proper choices for you parrot without putting undo hardship on your bird where the results can be achieved through patience, understanding and observation. If you have a plucker and would like additional advice, please feel free to write me.