I own a quaker parrot and she keeps plucking her feathers. I keep a few bells and toys in her cage for her to play with but she doesn't really use them. How can I stop her from plucking her feathers? I've heard that putting things like cardboard toilet paper rolls and paper cups and things like that would help...Is it safe though?
Lila
Favorite Answer
It is very probable that your quaker parrot is lonesome.
Quaker parrots are very sociable animals and, like other parrots, they often "adopt" their owner as their partner if they have no company of their own kind. Now, if the owner can't spare a lot of time to spend with the parrot playing and stroking him/her, the bird will, sooner or later, feel lonesome and neglected and start plucking his/her feathers (many other kinds of parrots do that, too).
Just giving your pet more toys such as cardboard rolls etc. will hardly eliminate the problem - you have seen that she is not really interested in her toys.
I urge you to either spend more time with her or consider giving her a mate of her own kind.
Good luck!
Anonymous
Your cockatiel probably got scared and/or bored while you were gone on vacation. (Who did you have taking care of her? Does this person actually know anything about birds?) If your cockatiel was left alone most of the time, she would have been grooming as a self-comforting behavior. As the alone time increased, so would the grooming until it turned into feather-plucking. If it became worse when you came home, it might be that you are unintentionally rewarding her for it - paying more attention to her when she's messing with her feathers. Try to praise her and pay attention to her when she's NOT fussing with her feathers -- could be difficult at first! Tell her she's a good bird when she's eating, or just sitting still - anything except messing with her feathers! (Or it could be that having you back is now a different kind of stress for her -- she had lots of peace and quiet when you were gone, now there's more noise and commotion with you home.) An avian vet would be best if you can find one. Try giving her small toys -- tie a couple of knots in a regular plastic drinking straw, give her a couple of water bottle caps, fold or knot some paper into shapes she can easily hold. Weave some strips of newspaper through the bars of her cage.
Zarzoorner
Many people don't realize why birds do pluck there feathers, bird plucking is caused mainly because of lack of nutrients in the diet,mostly protein, bird try to get the nutrient from its own feathers by sucking the end of the feathers, depend the size of your bird, to start, boiled eggs, or animal food containing high proteins,simple and easy fish oil are good , put couple of drop fish oil in to the seed mix, mix it well and keep it the fridge for 2 days let the oil to be absorbed in to the seeds than give it to your bird, you will have very happy bird.
As a 30 years bird breeder, never had that problem with my birds, thank God for this diet,
Yes! some people will tell you that the birds is a stress, well there is some truth in there, but mostly the problem comes from lack of nutrients,
I hope I been help to you.
?
Plucking can mean a number of things & it isn't curable until you find the cause for it.
This can be anything from boredom, incorrect diet, allergy, too much of a certain food type, inadequate cage size/toys etc, moulting & feather/itching itching, stress. This list can go on, but all you can & should do is take him to a GOOD avian vet to find out the cause first. Then you can go from there.
ksolaris
If your parrot is taking out her own feathers, that means that your parrot is stressed. Is her cage big enough for her to stretch her wings and move around in? Is there a way for her to exercise her muscles from time to time? Is she in an environment that's lighted 24/7 or always noisy? Are there kids in the house that keep tapping the sides of her cage or chasing her around the living room?
Stuff like that are often a factor with bird stress levels, so you have to watch out for that, too.
Meanwhile, make sure that she also gets proper nutrition, without having to give her the same type of food day in and day out. :)