Any hope for a habit plucker? Parrotlet woes.

[Folkeye]

Okay, Jacky my parrotlet is going to be 4 years old in Feb. He's a habitual feather picker and will bite them off at the base. Sometimes he lets a few grow back, then he remembers how much he loves to pluck them.

I'm going to guess it started due to a bad trimming about 2 years ago. He screamed in a way I never heard him scream before, and after that, pick pick pick. He stopped a while, then I took him to the vet and she handled him...instant pluck again. So figured it was being handled after that that'd get him going. But it was too late I guess.

I still hold some minor hope for him but need more suggestions. I've done all I possibly can, outside a collar, which of course won't help if the root cause isn't fixed. He's got plenty of toys and preening options in his cage. I've tried to keep him busy with foraging goodies, but he's just not interested. If I make him work, he plucks (brat). His skin is good and it's not too dry. I recently bought him a UV lamp to give him some light since he gets little to none. He doesn't mind it but it hasn't helped. He gets lots of out of cage time and attention, he'll even pick while getting attention.... anything else I could do?

 

[ShellyBorg]

Have you had blood work done to make sure there is no under lying health issues?

 

[Folkeye]

No blood work has been done on him. The vet always says doing bloodwork on a small bird is fairly dangerous to them. So I don't know what to think on that one.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Are you going to a certified avian vet, or a vet who just see's birds? A experienced avian vet can take blood easy from a small bird. You want to make sure it's not a health issue causing this.

What type of toys do you have? Rosie is a plucker, and I've been able to decrease her plucking a lot since her early days with me. A few things that help her are

Making sure the skin doesn't get dry, this is especially true in winter when the heater is turned on. And toys that keep her distracted. Rosie loves eucalyptus that she can spend hours pealing the bark off. Planet pleasure have a lot of good toys for pluckers too, I love their toys.

 

[MikeyTN]

You said the vet handled him to cause the plucking, do you not handle him??? My nutritionist have a parrotlet and he have a horrible plucking issue. When she went on vacation with her husband, she had someone bird sit that interact with the parrotlet on a daily basis, bathing him playing with him everything. He started to grow back his feathers and stopped plucking. Sometimes they just need some TLC and lots of interaction to help them out.

 

[Folkeye]

The vet did not cause his plucking. There's a small local store which I've been going to for years that specializes in birds and reptiles usually did all my trimming (and up until that once, I've never had a problem). He was mishandled pretty bad during the trimming, and within a week he bit off his feathers. I took him to the vet to get him checked out the first time he plucked since I had no idea what he was doing or why.

Oh he gets plenty of handling by me on a daily basis, he's my baby (basically when I'm home, he's out of his cage). Lots of TLC, some good scritches, kisses and preening the head pinfeathers. What I meant by handling was getting restrained for an exam or held to trim feathers/nails. That does him in.

The vet is a certified avian vet, and maybe I'll ask her more about blood draws then. Last check, his skin was good, lungs good, weight good... so that's positive at least.

As for toys to keep him busy, that's another problem all together. He doesn't really like to play with toys at all. He used to, but then just kind of stopped (not because of the bad trim). I still try a nice variety in hopes one will make him happy. He's got natural wood perches, and some rope ones (plus a boing). Doesn't seem interested in chewing bark. The only interest he has in chewing is holes in a t-shirt and shoes....as long as they're on the human. Give him something just like it, he ignores it. He'll chase some of those plastic cat-toy balls around the counter, and he'll even forage in a small bowl on the counter (just not in the cage). His absolutely favorite thing to chew on is a key ring type hook on a 3 ringed rope toy. It's just that metal circle you slide keys on and he loves sticking his beak in between the metal and prying at it. So far it hasn't had any ill affects on his beak so I've just keep him supervised while out (the toy isn't in his cage). He's got toys of soft leather and beads, soft cotton rope, sisal rope, a bunch of bark pieces on a chain which he'll occasionally pick at. Tried colorful plastic hanging toys that have a lot of movement and make noise, not so popular with him.

I know distracting him is good, but he's smarter than that.

The only good thing about trying the toys is whatever he doesn't find much interest in, I can try with the budgie. She's easier to please thankfully. And she's got feathers to spare. I keep threatening Jacky that I'm going to glue her feathers on him.

 

[MonicaMc]

You started a thread about it previously....

http://www.parrotforums.com/others/24552-stress-feather-chewing-parrotlet.html


I do understand that blood work can be hard on such a little bird.... and I'll counter and say that my bourke parakeet that currently weighs 35 grams (her healthy, young weight was 44 grams) has had blood work done on her and she's even gone through surgery!!! (blood work was done prior to her surgery to try and make sure there would be no complications with putting her through surgery) I also spoke with someone who had a hysterectomy done on a finch!

The vets statement is not valid.




Can you give us a rundown on diet? And post a picture of cage setup?


And have you considered getting your parrotlet a parrotlet friend?

 

[Folkeye]

Ack, sorry about that. Forgot I posted!

I think my parrotlet would eat another parrotlet, so he's a single bird. The budgie has her own cage about 8 feet or so from his so they can see each other/ hear eachother. He doesn't take too kindly to her, but won't stop at anything to go in her cage to look for food. So he's got to be supervised.

Diet: He's got a 50/50 of seed (Volkmann Parrotlet) and Roudybush pellets. I don't think he eats the the pellets in the cage, only when they're out on the counter does he find them interesting. His favorite veggie is Kale and carrots. I do give him broccoli/cauliflower/zuchini/ fruit when he'll accept it...

I can get a picture of his new cage arrangement, just did it yesterday. Not entirely excited about it but will see how he does. I can get a picture of it.

 

[Hawkeye]

I know what you mean when you talk of your bird plucking after a wing and nail trim. My Hyacinth has plucked himself after every wing trim so far. There have been 2. He never plucked or anything like that until the trim. The person I use has been trimming for over 30 years. I took Bentley to the vet to see if something else might be going on because when I go him at 3 months old he was very sick. I had to medicate him for 14 days and wait 14 days to recheck him. His test came back positive again so we had to medicate him another 14 days and wait again. Thank God he came back clean. My vet has had me check him every 6 months to make sure he's still clean. So far we have had a clean bill of health. Took him last week for the plucking issue. I never expected him to start plucking over a trim. When I had him chipped yes, but he didn't pluck. It wasn't until he had his trim. Go figure. He has plenty of toys to play with and his diet is the best, so I know there aren't any issues there. If you get this figured out let me know.

 

[MonicaMc]

A picture would be nice.


Hawkeye, that's not all too uncommon. The clipped ends of feathers can rub up annoyingly against a birds side, which may result in plucking. Birds may become frustrated when their wings don't "sit" right or because their long feathers are no longer long... and it's frustrating that they can't fully preen their flight feathers as they should be able to.

My recommendation is to look into another kind of clipping or don't clip at all.

 

[Folkeye]

I actually haven't had Jacky clipped at all in a long while, he's a scary good flier. But that still doesn't stop the picking. He'll be out, happy as can be and only happier when he habit picks. I ordered a few new perch options today so I'll probably rearrange once again when they come. I like to use both the natural wood and rope options.

I'll still get a picture of what I have in the meantime and any suggestions on more a more stimulating environment would be welcome.

Here's the picker in question, will get the cage tonight. The shot isn't super recent but it's accurate, plus or minus a blue feather on his chest. He looks out for blood, but it's actually strawberry leftover that he destroyed.


Jacky_plucker by notrufus, on Flickr

 

[MonicaMc]

You may get some ideas on enrichment from this website.

Parrot Enrichment


I might suggest trying a diet of sprouted seeds and fresh/cooked foods. No more dry seeds, no more pellets. At least, temporarily.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/23367-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html


I would definitely recommend a mash kind of diet.... 1 part healthy legumes cooked/sprouted to 2 parts healthy grains cooked/sprouted (or could easily substitute quinoa over both), and mix that 1:1 with a mixed variety of vegetables (some leafy, some green, some yellow, some red, some orange, some hot, etc). Mix in a small amount of berries or exotic fruits into this mixture. Chop everything extremely small and mix it together.

Since you are feeding a small flock, a lot would go a long ways!!! I would recommend getting those tiny ice cube trays that have the soft bottoms (like these) and filling the trays up with the mash. Then freeze. Once frozen, pop out and place into zip lock freezer bags or glass jars.


Take out as many as needed!




http://www.mickaboo.com/newsletter/...22/newsletter_3Q2012_veggieGrainMixRecipe.pdf

 

[Folkeye]

Okay, this is where the cage stands for now (will be working with it again when I get the new perch/swing).


Jacky_Cage1 by notrufus, on Flickr

I want to take out the boing, at least for a little while, it usually lives in the very center but it's been taking up a lot of room and I think Jacky'll be okay with a different type of rope swing. Ordered a triangular rope swing which I can adjust the length of chain if needed and a fun looking natural wood perch to try.

I'm not a master of getting a cage perfect but over the years some of the arrangements are better than others. This one isn't a favorite.

Outside of fruits/veggies I've never worked with sprouted seed of any sort. Will have to look into it.

 

[MonicaMc]

Looks like a good cage!


You could use smaller food dishes and place several around the cage, Put a tiny amount of food into each dish so he has to go around to each one to get food.

You can place small objects/foot toys into the dishes to make it harder to get at the food.

You can place paper or white paper towels over the dishes and put a tiny hole in the top, forcing him to tear through the paper to get at his food.

You can provide him with pine cones.


If you can get your hands on some unsalted pistachio shells, you can put these into the food dishes to help "cover" the food up and make him forage a little for his food. Likewise, you can also use some clean pebbles that are large enough that he can't eat but he can pick up or move them around.


Even with his plucked body, he's still gorgeous!


Soaked vs Sprouted Seeds | Best Bird Food Ever

 

[Folkeye]

Yeah, foraging is something he seems to love...except when provided to him! I have those hanging plastic cups with food that he has to dangle for, he doesn't mind that. As of this weekend I put that small rafia filled plastic dish w/ seeds on the bottom of his cage. He LOVES digging through it when its out of the cage on the counter, so I'm hoping he'll do the same and dig for seed while in the cage. He refuses to chew through anything, except any shirt have on. If he sees something he has to work for, he'll move on to the easier object, or get frustrated and pick himself. Still working on that one.

As for the food dishes in general, I have a bunch of those generic plastic colorful dishes with the metal hooks on the back. He's in love with them, so he tends to regurgitate to them more than eat out of them. He's uh, easily turned on by many objects so I have to be careful so he doesn't get his hormones raging too badly. He's always been that way though. Even if offering a new food by hand for him to try, if it's appealing.... it's better to be affectionate with it than eat it. He's an interesting one.

 

[SpotsandSally]

Just wondering, have you ever tried getting a female parrotlet for him? Sounds like he has hormone issues more then anything. I noticed you said he's more of a 1 bird, but would you be willing to try and see? Do you know for a fact if your budgie is a female? Have you ever seen him interact with any other birds?
He's very beautiful, and I hope he stops plucking, he'd be even more beautiful !

 

[ParrotsParrotsParrots]

About the blood draw, I would be leery about letting any vet who is not comfortable drawing blood on a small bird draw blood on a small bird.

However, just because one vet can not do it does not mean that another one can not. It never hurts to seek a second opinion to a a problem that is still ongoing. Like every doctor, every vet has a different skill set and range of knowledge.

I had parrotlets for a number of years and I did have blood work done. I was dealing with a critically sick bird and the goal was to build him up and stabilize him before drawing blood (sadly he just went downhill).

In another case, one of my parrotlets an issue but was pretty much strong and healthy. In this case, my vet took enough blood to do half a blood panel and the next week took a little more to run the other half of the panel. So this vet was being extra cautious but still was able to do the blood work.

If you live in an area where you can get a second opinion that is what I would do.

Best wishes! Nakid birdies are awesome too

 

[Folkeye]

Just wondering, have you ever tried getting a female parrotlet for him? Sounds like he has hormone issues more then anything. I noticed you said he's more of a 1 bird, but would you be willing to try and see? Do you know for a fact if your budgie is a female? Have you ever seen him interact with any other birds?
He's very beautiful, and I hope he stops plucking, he'd be even more beautiful !

The budgie is a girl, pretty sure of that due to attitude and color of her cere (goes brown when all moody and light whitish blue when she's not so moody).

I personally don't want a second parrotlet at this time. Considering he's 3.5 years old and really been an only child (with an annoying roomate the last year he'd eat for lunch if you ask him) he might have the same aggressive tendencies towards another of his species even. Parrotlets aren't the most agreeable birds, there's a better chance if they're brought up together. Also, currently having 2 birds in the small apartment is enough. I always wondered if I let him breed, would I be able to have my pet back? Colorwise he'd have nice chicks, he's a blue split yellow. And even bigger of a question, would it help him?

 

[SpotsandSally]

Just wondering, have you ever tried getting a female parrotlet for him? Sounds like he has hormone issues more then anything. I noticed you said he's more of a 1 bird, but would you be willing to try and see? Do you know for a fact if your budgie is a female? Have you ever seen him interact with any other birds?
He's very beautiful, and I hope he stops plucking, he'd be even more beautiful !

The budgie is a girl, pretty sure of that due to attitude and color of her cere (goes brown when all moody and light whitish blue when she's not so moody).

I personally don't want a second parrotlet at this time. Considering he's 3.5 years old and really been an only child (with an annoying roomate the last year he'd eat for lunch if you ask him) he might have the same aggressive tendencies towards another of his species even. Parrotlets aren't the most agreeable birds, there's a better chance if they're brought up together. Also, currently having 2 birds in the small apartment is enough. I always wondered if I let him breed, would I be able to have my pet back? Colorwise he'd have nice chicks, he's a blue split yellow. And even bigger of a question, would it help him?

Completely understand. I've never had a parrotlet, but I've heard they've got lots of personality.
I really feel for you, and hope you end up fixing his plucking. It just seems/sounds like he's hormone-over dosed. He's very pretty, even despite his plucked feathers

 

[ParrotsParrotsParrots]

I personally don't want a second parrotlet at this time. Considering he's 3.5 years old and really been an only child (with an annoying roomate the last year he'd eat for lunch if you ask him) he might have the same aggressive tendencies towards another of his species even. And even bigger of a question, would it help him?

You would just have to try it if you wanted to know if it would help the plucking. Almost definately if he bonded with a mate (especially if that mate did not bond with you first) he would not want anything to do with you. Parrotlets are notorious for being uninterested in their people if they bond with a mate. If something happens to the mate they are often interested in people again.

It definately not a sure bet...

On the other hand as you mention he might not bond with a mate at all. So again its far from a sure bet...

Plucker or not. I love me some parrotlet !