Plucking or preening???

[Annabeljoy]

My GCC Rudy is almost 1 year old, he has free roam during the day and only eats and sleeps in his cage. I change his toys over weekly and I am always buying new treats and toys for him. He has been moulting recently and has many new pin feathers however I came home from work today and there is a pile of feathers on my bed (underneath the curtain pole he likes to sit on) and I just wondered if I should be concerned about the number of feathers? There are many in the bottom of his cage too. Is this a normal amount to lose? I cannot see any bald patches, I just worry so much about plucking and never want him to be bored!

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you and Rudy, thanks for joining!

The feather images don't look too alarming, can you upload pics of larger feathers that may have fallen out and especially overall "body" images? Do you notice Rudy picking the pin feathers before fully developed? This is likely his first molt and may be especially intense. You are certainly providing him much freedom and means of occupying his time!

Check out this terrific article discussing plucking. Hopefully you'll never confront the issue, but may give you a balanced perspective. http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/52217-plucking-search-answers.html

 

[noodles123]

Sometimes birds will also lose a lot of small feathers in a moult, but you should never see bald spots or a ton of feathers coming from just one area. Similarly, look at where the feathers are coming from. If they are unreachable, it's unlikely plucking.
When preening, are you watching him pull these out and drop them, or are you just finding them?


How long was he on your bed/in that spot before you took that picture?