Caique Barbering/Overpreening

[Iholm5]

Hi all, hoping I can get some help. My caique Jack is somewhere between a year and a half and two years old and when we got him had nothing but gray downy feathers on his chest and belly. We adopted him anyway because he needed a family and not having perfect feathers didn't bother us. Over time, he grew back all his feathers on his chest and belly, but over the last few weeks he's reverted to what I believe is barbering or overpreening. He's not plucking as the feathers themselves are not pulled out by the shaft, but the 'feathery' part (I'm sorry if the terminology is wrong) was pulled off.

When we adopted him the shelter gave us his cuddle hut (one of those fuzzy triangle shaped ones) and we found it filled with the barbered bits of feather as if Jack was building a nest. We removed it to discourage the behavior.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this, or what we can do to help Jack grow his feathers back? My wife and I don't care how he looks, we love him to bits either was and we will NOT give him up or give up on him.

 

[Scott]

Barbering and overgrooming are loosely associated with plucking, though the latter is the most extreme and problematic aspect. One of my Goffins overgrooms and is very high-strung.

Frequent bathing and maintaining a reasonable humidity may help. A visit for a well-check with a certified avian vet might rule out various causes.

While optimized for plucking, this thread may give some ideas: http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/52217-plucking-search-answers.html