HELP! Quaker bird plucking her feathers???

Question

O.k so I have 2 quaker parakeets: a male and a female.

the female (named Cookie) is plucking her feathers (in between her wings near the tail). It kinda worries me because she has no feathes in that little spot. But she has these weird green pointy things my mom thinks it's probably because new feathers are gonna grow. But she keeps on scracthing.

Theres this website where I subscribed and weekly i receive emails with tips for my birds. It says that it might be because of some odor or scent (my mom uses alot of incense).

Cookie is a year old (since time she was born in may of '07)

She and Pipo (male one) having having s*x and I thought it might be that females pluck their feathers so they can lay eggs. It happened to my female budgie parakeet, but I didnt know it could happen to quakers. also i do give them ALOT of attention (i treat them like babies). They shower regulary like once a week or sometimes every 2 or three weeks. HELP what can i do about this??? why does she do that

Answer 1

I have a 3 year old quaker, and had the same problem. My quaker jsut grew out of it, with daily baths, and "disipline".

The disipline was just when I saw her plucking, I would give her a little tap on the beak with my index finger. And whenever I saw her not plucking, I would give her a few kernels of frozen corn "her favorite"

Also, we went to the vet, and they gave us a very mild anti fungul agent which we put into her bathing spray bottle.

Good luck.

Answer 2

You really may need to see the vet.  More times than not when quakers pluck there is a medical reason. It is often a bacterial infection.

The "green pointy things" are pin feathers - they are new feathers growing in.

Try misting her with water and a little aloe vera juice added to help soothe her skin a little. You can do this about every other day.  

The fact that she is plucking near her tail leads me to think she has a bacterial or yeast infection - watch her closely because by the time birds show signs of being sick it is usually too late to help them.

For more info on quakers visit - www.quakerparrots.com/forum