My quaker parrot is plucking his fethers?

Question

My quaker parrot is plucking his fethers i give him lots of attention and love but i dont hold him much because when i do he chews on my finger and if i have him on my sholder he chews od my ear and it really bothers me and now my birds chest, legs are bald and now he is plucking under and the top of his wings can anyone help

Answer 1

Hay, I think that your parrot is doing the same as mine did: He could be stressed. Do you have any other pets like a dog? That could cause the bird to be freaked out by the barking or something else. like a loud dishwasher or dryer. try to find something that makes alot of noise and stop using it for a few days. you might not want to but it can help figuring out the point of the problem.

Answer 2

Agree with the vet check to determine if it is physical.

Most bird plucking is emotional and a stress reliever.  Go to www.tellingtontouch.com and see if you can find a TTouch practitioner in your area.  They will be able to show you a few techniques with feathers and a few other things to help your bird to develop coping skills.  They will learn they can cope and not act out in strange or uncomfortable circumstances.

TTouch is a wonderful thing to learn.  There is a short video on working with parrots on a TTouch teachers webpage. www.spiritdog.com.  Can't remember where but it shows how to work with a parrot to help calm them.

Answer 3

Make sure his cage is large enough

Make sure he has plenty of toys (switch them around in his cage and  replace some old ones with new ones and keep switching them back and forth so they aren't the same ones all the time)

Make sure his cage is not too crowded by toys.

Have you moved his cage recently??  This can cause stress in some birds and they will start to pick feathers. He should bathe at least 4 times a week.  If he does not bathe, mist him with a spray bottle filled with warm water.  Do not spray the face.

What's his diet like??  He should have a good diet of pellets, not seeds.  And offer fruits and veggies several times a week.

Check for mites, and burrowing mites, or he could have a skin problem which would need to be treated by a vet.  Does he get enough sleep?? He should have 9 hours of undisturbed sleep in a darkened room with his cage covered.  Undisturbed means a room where there are no people, tv or radio.  Many people put their birds in a spare bedroom or other room.  Sleep deprivation can cause bad behavior and bad habits such as feather picking.

Have him checked at the vet.  Then go to the pet store and get a peacock feather.  These often help.  They will pick at it instead of their own feathers.  Other toys that have a "shredded" look to them can also help.  Foods like shredded carrots and green beans have also been known to help.  Please read my profile.

Answer 4

I owned my quaker for 14 years. I bought him from a breeder when he was just weaned. He started plucking his feathers at the 3 year mark. It was bad. He started under his wings and made himself bleed. I took him to the vet to have him checked out to make sure it was nothing internal. They  sent me home and showed me how to make a bird collar so he couldn't reach under his wing. I hated it. I was afraid he was going to fall off his pirch and break his neck. I took that off. The test came back negative for whatever thay ran on him. It was so long ago....all I know it cost me $300. Eventually, he quit plucking to the point of making himself bleed, but he continued to pull feathers out. He is completely bald on his chest and upper wings. I give him fresh fruit, paste, seeds, nuts...you name it. He has a 7 foot tall by 3 foot wide cage. He shares it with a sun conure (cannot seperate them). They are given weekly baths, and weekly outings (to the outside porch to watch the wild birds. I live in fl....wild quakers are around). I truly believe he wants a long life mate and is frustrated. I know he is male because he tried to mate with my conure. We both live with it now...as long as he does not bleed which he hasn't in years. His vocab is over 100 words.

Answer 5

He's either lacking social affection, which you say you give plenty but maybe it's not enough for him, or he needs to see a vet because something else is going on. It could be some sort of mite.

Answer 6

I have 3 quakers and one is a plucker. Quakers are prone to feather plucking and QMS (quaker mutilation syndrome). He has no missing feathers now because I bought him a spray called pluck no more, and preening toys.

The spray I don't use anymore...but it helped to stop it when he first started to pluck. It contains no alcohol so it doesn't dry out the skin- which can make birds pluck. You spray them 4 times a day until their feathers come back. The preening toys are made of thick white string that they can chew and preen on instead of themselves. Birds have an instinct to preen each other...thats what they do in the wild. If your bird has no one to preen- he may start to overpreen himself. This usually happens when they are tired and ready to go to sleep. So I hung Tiko's preening toys right near his perch that he sleeps on every night. He preens these instead of plucking his feathers. You can find some nice, cheaper preening toys on www.stanleysbirdtoycreations.com

My blue quaker- the plucker- used to chew on our ear and even pull out small hairs on our faces like eyelashes and eyebrows. If you make him step up and say "NO" when he does this..it will eventually make him realize that this is unacceptable behavior. Also with having a toy that he can preen helps decrease this behavior, it gives them something to preen so that when you are holding him he doesn't feel the excessive need to chew on you. Give him lots of toys like popsickle sticks and chinese finger traps, any little wooden toys that he can hold and destroy.

Answer 7

Some times when there is a illness they do this too, like worms or mites, have him checked by the vet to make sure he hasn`t picked up something. Do you let him bathe it could be dry skin if you have not misted or let him play in water. They need to bathe as much as 2 times a week.

Answer 8

Hi, I have 2 QPs.  I love the li'l devils!  A well bird visit with the vet is always advised.  Also:

1) It is molting time.  This makes a bird itch.  You can try giving him a bath or shower every other day.  Bathing helps soften pin feathers.  Pin feathers are what all birds have with new feathers, it is part of the sheath.  As the human, you can gently (!) squeeze them to break them but try not to pull on a pin feather b/c it IS sensitive.  Birds always molt a little bit but Spring and Fall are the main times of year for major molting.

2) I had 1 of my birds nearly right under an air vent and he didn't like it so he plucked his feathers.  It was also near a window, which might have scared him so I moved his cage further from the window and away from the vent and he quit plucking.

3)  Some QPs are prone to plucking.  Luckily mine haven't been.

4) As to holding him, this takes time and adjustment.  1 way to stop the biting, if he is on your hand, shake the hand he is on and say "be good".  He will soon learn that biting = being unbalanced.

5) birds preen their flockmates and you are 1 of his. In my unprofessional opinion, QP bites aren't really that bad, even if they break my skin.  Usually I did something wrong.

A book by Mattie Sue Atthan, published by Barrons might help you out.  I think the title is Care of the Quaker Parrot.

Good luck with your baby!

P. S. - - Quakers CAN have seeds but not as their main diet.  If they found it in the wild, they'd eat it.