Pepper Allergy?

[riddick07]

Monster plucked on me again when he was out yesterday. I had been feeding and he took a bite out of one of the pepper harrison pellets that one of the other birds is on. I think it was about an hour later that I looked up from my reading and it looked like a bird had exploded underneath the new hanging boing. He had plucked about half the feathers on his belly in that short time. The only thing different had been that bite of pepper Harrison and he has not been acting differently lately.

When thinking back on diet changes... it is around the time that I caged him with Monkey that he stopped eating TOPs and soon after stopped plucking. I thought it was being caged with Monkey and being flighted that stopped the plucking but now I'm thinking it was the pellets. Both TOPs and Harrisons Pepper have pepper in them. Roudybush the pellet he is currently on does not have that ingredient. I also stopped feeding the el paso nutriberries which also have pepper in them awhile ago now.....so now I'm thinking he has allergies to peppers or it irritates him someway....

Has anyone heard of this kind of allergy in parrots?

 

[RavensGryf]

Never heard of it, but based on what you said it sounds like you may be right. Makes sense to me anyway. Just make sure he doesn't get his little beak on any more pepper and see what happens. It sure seems like the pepper has something to do with it. Good luck Victoria... Sorry this has happened.

 

[riddick07]

I hope that is what it is....easily avoidable It is just the only thing I can think of to cause him to pluck that much in such a short amount of time without having any indicators that he was going to start plucking!

 

[RavensGryf]

Because it started suddenly, it sounds like something is irritating him. I know it could be frustrating. I can imagine

 

[PetoftheDay]

I know when I have some food allergy reactions, my gut hurts (they are technically intolerances) so if I were a bird, plucking might happen!

Do read ingredient lists for everything!!!

 

[Kalidasa]

I actually stopped feeding Harrison's pepper pellets because my conure would start itching right away, preening in between mouthfuls. I attributed it to the copious amount of spicy dust which is created when he bites into them. He still ate them however. But he doesn't do that with any other pellet, so I switched to Caitec oven bites.
I also wondered if he was purposefully preening pepper flavoring into his feathers...my budgies like to preen crushed mint into their feathers, so I thought it was the same thing.
I didn't factor in an allergy. But either way, I didn't like how he would preen furiously while eating.
If yours plucked after eating the stuff, and doesn't do it with other pellets, than maybe he does have an allergy...or a sensitivity to one of the ingredients in the pellet. That must have been shocking!