He's plucking! Please help!

[Sheeji]

My 15 month old African grey has started plucking. This must have gone on for a while at least 2 months. As he's our first we thought he's molting and over preening but 2 days ago we were visisted by a group of kids who were loud and Leo felt nervous And as soon as we got them to leave, play in another part of the house and Leo was left alone he plucked so badly there are bald patches and blood in several places and he keeps picking at it.
The vet says it's behavioural and there is no sign of an illness.
I have read a lot about it online but please I need practical tips that have worked with others.
I wish he would stop hurting himself. I feel physically hurt myself. Its my fault.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I'm so sorry to hear this. You must be besides yourself. Here, please have a look at this thread, it contains FANTASTIC information: http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/52217-plucking-search-answers.html

 

[Birdman666]

Don't blame yourself. He's a CAG. CAG'S and Toos tend to be pluckers. They're on the neurotic side.

A couple of things you can do off the top of my head:

1. Increase brain work. (Puzzle toys, forraging, etc.)

2. Give him at least two preening toys he can transfer his overpreening obscession to. In fact, if you have some of his pristine molted feathers, wash those in the sink, and make toys out of those.

3. If it's nervous fear/based then gradually increasing his structure to desensitize him to new things can help immensely. OUT AND ABOUT TRAINING MIGHT HELP. Sometimes, it does the opposite, however, it can stress them more and make it worse. This is a gradual test thing, to see how he does with it.

 

[Gillis]

I'm so sorry, Sheeji! It must be very painful for you to see him plucking, I know it is for me when I see Paco pluck. If it's any help (I am new at this) I have noticed that he plucks when he is either nervous (how it started 15+ years ago) or bored (it has now become a habit). He has been transitioning into my home so he's been experiencing a lot of new things, like your bird experienced the loud kids. I find that if I recognize his fearfulness and talk sweetly to him and remove him from whatever makes him afraid he tends to stop. If he's doing it out of boredom (he is a perch potato who doesn't want to play with toys) then I try to stimulate him in some way by moving him to a different location or giving him a new food to try. He LOVES watching out the windows and will happily do this for hours.

If your boy has been plucking already, maybe try to find out exactly why. Is there something about his situation he's not happy with? Does he need more out of cage time, more things to do, or maybe he just needs more of a routine so he knows exactly what to expect from day to day, then gradually adjust him to new things.

 

[Sheeji]

Thanks for the support guys. Now thinking back I can blame a few things that may have triggered this
1. Up until now he was used to having me with him during the day while kids were at school and their dad at work. I would carry him room to room and talk while I worked, we had breakfast together and during summer with everyone home he wasn't getting any undivided attention
2. We were sleeping in most days and if we moved him for breakfast at the usual time, to his day cage which is pretty big with plenty of toys he was still left alone until we woke up.
3. We went on holiday for 10 days. My husband was here to care for him but at work during the day
4. We moved his play gym from the center of the house to another site and built a bigger one there, he gets more sunlight here but I think he was happier in the old spot where everyone spoke to him as they went past.

 

[Sheeji]

Birdman, he has plenty of toys and a play area we make foraging toys for him out of egg cartons, kitchen rolls and tissue boxes but lately he stopped wanting to climb so much and wasn't even chewing on wood as usual
As far as his feathers he breaks them and it's because I never saw any neatly plucked out feathers (or bald spots) that we thought it was just a molt that's taking long. I don't know if that's important

 

[Birdman666]

4. We moved his play gym from the center of the house to another site and built a bigger one there, he gets more sunlight here but I think he was happier in the old spot where everyone spoke to him as they went past.

THAT is something I would look at as my AH-HAH moment.

If he doesn't like change, or he's used to seeing the comings and goings of the entire household, and suddenly can't anymore...

If he is somewhere where he suddenly feels isolated and vulnerable...

They start to worry. Worry leads to other neurotic behaviors, plucking sometimes being one of them.

It's a guess.

 

[Sheeji]

Yeah could be the playgym move but I'm thinking I won't move it back just yet. I'm just trying to make the new spot more interesting for him. By hiding foraging toys, I have my breakfast/ tea out there with him and not leaving him alone there and it's not in a totally isolated part of the house. rest of the time on the day cage which is still in the middle of the house.
We got a humidifier and air purifier
Only leaving him alone after a mist or shower
Lots of cuddles
Training everyday.
Strict bedtime, wake up routine
We haven't noticed any missing feathers or seen him preening for past two days. He's back to destroying wood again. Yaaay!
Lets hope for the best.

 

[Sheeji]

How would I know when he's stopped? I see no feathers on the cage floor, no more bald spots but his neck and chest has been covered in furry feathers not the normal feathers. It took us a while to be sure it is plucking. I might have been in denial. There were too many feathers some mornings and I just kept saying "he's molting" how can I be sure?