My adopted macaw is plucking feathers. How can I help before the vet?

Your veterinarian or an experienced avian veterinarian can examine and diagnose mites or infection (bacterial or fungal). Once medical causes have been ruled out, you can focus on behavioral causes such as boredom or anxiety. A warm bath or misting can promote healthy plumage. Rearranging her cage and play top can provide welcome changes. Keep a variety of toys and rotate them to keep her engaged and interested.

Feather plucking is often associated with boredom, or other issues within their environment, but the cause of this problem is not always known and highly debated amongst avian experts. Making sure he is not bored is a good first step. One good way to keep your bird busy is by making them work for their food. Birds in the wild spend most of their time foraging for food. Instead of just putting food in their bowl, you can hide it, or put it in puzzle toys that require them to do some work to get the food out. I fed my parrot almost exclusively this way. Other enrichment options include putting a mirror in the cage and putting him in other environments. It's best to give your parrot as much possible space that you can to let her fly and roam around. You may consider getting perches or other cages for different rooms, or outside. If you can afford to have a flight cage built, this would be even better. Below is a link to some more information about enrichment ideas: http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ It's also good to make sure he is getting enough sleep. This is best achieved by keeping the bird in a dark room during sleep time. Birds should have 12 hours of sleep a night, so don't feel bad about putting him in a dark room for that amount of time. Diet is also very important. He should eat mostly a formulated pellet diet like zupreem. Make sure he is not eating a seed, or nut based diet as these are too fatty and can cause issues leading to feather loss. For more information about diet, read the article at the link below. https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/species/pacific-parrotlet/ Lastly, make sure he is bathing regularly. Dry feathers can itch, break and cause them to pluck. It's good to put a bird bath in the cage as much as possible (once a day would be best). I hope that helps and he gets better soon.

Monitor him for excessive preening or feather picking. If you see either. Have him examined by your veterinarian or an experienced avian veterinarian to diagnose the underlying cause. In the meantime, clean and sanitize the cage, bowls, toys and perches. Discard anything that cannot be sanitized. Bathe or mist him with warm water to promote preening and healthy plumage. Feed a balanced diet including a commercial pelleted diet, fortified seed mix and fresh fruits, greens and vegetables. You can also feed cooked rice, beans and plain pastas in small amounts.

The rest of the shaft should be removed to allow a new feather to grow in. Removal will also prevent bleeding if it gets knocked again. Have your veterinarian or an experienced avian vet remove it if you have no experience doing this. Any ointment you apply will likely be removed, and possibly ingested, by Madeline during preening so this is not recommended. A balanced diet and regular bathing or misting with warm water will promote healthy skin and plumage. An exam with your veterinarian to diagnose any infection would be recommended.

Thanks for reaching out about Bangaram and including a photo. Psittacine Feather Destructive Behavior is common in parrots, but the difficulty is acquiring a cause. Stress/behavior is common a nd can consist of breeding, nutritional or environmental stressors. Diseases can also lead to pulling feathers including infectious diseases (viral, bacterial), metabolic disorders (liver, renal), skin diseases and others. A veterinary visit is recommended to assess and try to determine a cause. Diet and husbandry practices need to be reviewed with a veterinarian experienced with birds. Some diagnostic tests will probably be recommended and necessary to come to a conclusion. There is no topical medication that is going to cure or even stabilize this condition. Good luck.

Poor Precious! The first step to growing her feathers back is to figure out the underlying cause behind why she plucked them and to change it. Health issues such as parasites, malnutrition, infections, illness, etc can cause feather plucking and loss, so scheduling a vet visit first is a good first step to make sure any underlying health issues are treated and she is healthy enough to regrow her feathers. Boredom and stress can cause excessive feather plucking. Making sure she is in a clean (the bottom of that cage need a scrub!) and stress-free environment away from other pets or people that may harass her is best. Adding in enrichment such as toys she can chew on or play with, a play pen she can climb and stretch on, or spending time playing and interacting together can help with boredom. In some cases, the feather plucking becomes a habit and needs to be stopped with the use of an Elizabethan (cone) collar or flight-suit to protect the body from being plucked. Feather regrowth takes time, so even with these changes it may be several months before you see them start to grow back in. However, keeping up with enrichment and health issues can help ensure they have a chance to come back.

Make sure she has a balanced diet consisting of a pelleted diet, a fortified seed mix and small amount of fresh greens, fruits and vegetables. Provide a mineral block and/or cuttlebone. You can provide a birdbath or mist her with warm water a couple times a week to promote preening and healthy plumage.