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Feather Plucking in Birds…Causes and Cures
The health problem that is becoming more and more common in pet and aviary birds is feather plucking or feather loss. If caught early this problem can be overcome without too much stress on the bird or yourself. Firstly we need to identify the reason behind the feather plucking. The most common reasons behind feather plucking in parrots are:
- Psittacosis
- Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease
- Dietary insufficiencies
- Boredom
Lets tackle them one by one. Firstly psittacosis. Psittacosis is a bacterial infection parrots get that presents itself like a cold. Having said this the majority of parrots carry this bacteria with ever showing any symptoms of having the disease and they live and breed perfectly fine. To eliminate this as a possible reason for the feather plucking a simple faecal or blood test can be performed by your avian vet. If your parrot does have Psittacosis, don’t fear, it is quite easy to treat. An antibiotic, Doxycycline, needs to be diluted in their drinking water for a period of 45 days. Alternatively they can be given a series of injections, but speak to your avian vet about this and they will prescribe the best option for your parrot.
Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease is a disease that can affect any species of parrot, however some species seem to be more susceptible than others. At the top of this list would be Corellas and Lorikeets. This disease generally starts at a fairly young age, starting with the primary wing feather “breaking” off and not regrowing properly. This leaves the bird flightless. It also affects their beak, which starts to become very brittle and breaks very easily. Unfortunately at this time there is no treatment for this disease and it is contagious so if you have other parrots it would be a good idea to quarantine the affected birds. Your avian vet can do a blood test and confirm whether your bird has this disease.
The third reason which is probably the most common reason is a dietary insufficiency. This is especially true in breeds like galahs and corellas where they are fed solely a seed diet consisting mainly of sunflower seed. The first thing to do in this case would be to correct the diet. To start with cut the amount of seed you feed them down to an amount that will only last half a day. Then add a container of fruit and vegies (No lettuce or avocado) and a container of Vetafarm Parrot Pellets. The idea of this is after they have finished their seed they are going to start to get hungry. This will encourage them to start eating the vegies and parrot pellets which are full of nutrition that they may be lacking. Over the next few weeks slowly reduce the amount of seed and increase the amount of Parrot pellets until the parrot pellets make up about 80% of their diet with seed and the vegies making up the other 20%. Lastly a multivitamin supplement such as Vetafarm Soluvet Plus can be diluted in their drinking water once a week. This will ensure they are kept in top health at all times. This should correct any dietary insufficiencies, now you just need to break the habit.
In order to break the habit of plucking you need to keep them busy so they don’t get bored. This can be harder than it sounds, especially in a small cage. In large aviaries it can be quite simple. To start with give them lots to play with, tree branches, gum nuts, banksia cones, fresh bark covered tree limbs, and plenty of toys. Most of these can be sourced fairly easily. When selecting and toys keep in mind the size of the bird and the power of its beak.
You can also break their food up into portions and hide it throughout the cage so they have to go looking for it. This stimulates natural behaviour and uses up a lot of their time. And while they are searching for their food or playing with their toys, branches and nuts they are not plucking.
As a last resort you can get “collars” for around their neck which stop them from having access to their feathers and therefore stop them from plucking. These work well to beak the habit, like a patch for smoking.
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