Help!!! My African Grey is pulling his feathers, what should I do??

Question

Okay he gets TONS of attentions, but he is still pulling his feathers. Someone told me that it might be a vitamin deficiency but I wanted some more opinions. What does everyone think??

Answer 1

once they pluck it can be a bad habit comparable to people who can't stop biting their finger nails. Nutrition of course is also very important this is why it is recommended that parrots are on pellets as the main staple of their diet as this is formulated to provide all nutritional requirements where a seed only diet fails to provide much of anything other than fat. They also now make vest that a bird can safely wear and you can spray extra sour bitter apple on it, also there is a product called pluck no more that people swear by!!! links to these products provided under source!

Answer 2

He is not happy, and pulling out his feathers can be serious. He could possibly need a lot of things, more/new toys, different foods (fruits, vegetables, pastas), he also could need help with grooming.

Food to try are: grapes, oranges, bananas, melons, alfalfa sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower.

Toys can be simple to extravagant. Does he get to come outside his cage? If not, consider doing this. If you allow him to fly, its good exercise. You can also build perches or place branches for him to walk and perch on. Try buying some new toys, or making some of your own. Don't give them all to him at once, but rotate his toys so he doesn't get bored with the same ones day in and out.

As with grooming, get a new bottle sprayer and fill it with room temperature water. Lightly mist him. If he is afraid of it, try in light doses daily. Leave the bottle out where he can see it, so he can get used to it.

Answer 3

My Cockatiel did this and for him, it was two reasons. one,  he just left his siblings and was lonesome.  2  we had a different colored wall that we put the cage in front of.  We gave him a lot of attention, but that didn't help.  What we ended up doing was putting a white Pillow case behind his cage, and he stopped pulling feathers, as he felt all secure and safe again.  A few months later, we bought him a buddy to share the cage with too.  turned out that the male buddy...was a female, and that made him real happy  lol.