Pulling out flight feathers

[katiea]

I have a pair of rescue tiels and one of them, Padme, plucks. She’s been to the vet & isn’t 100% healthy but nothing that would cause the plucking. She was half clipped when I got her and I evened out the clip to help her balance to make it better. She still can’t balance as well as the other tiel but I’ve been giving her time to adjust and leaving her alone. But today she stretched out her wings and she’s been pulling out all the flight feathers on the half clipped side, unless I completely butcher the other wing it’s very uneven. I have experience with plucking but not with flight feathers, what can I do to help her balance or get her to stop pulling out her flights? I’ve never used cones but is that something I should consider? I’ve also been thinking about getting her the medicine my green cheek used to be on when he plucked, he was going through a molt and pulling out the feathers surrounding pin feathers. I can’t remenber what it’s called because he hasn’t needed it the past couple years but it worked very well for him, should I call the vet to ask about that for her?

 

[chris-md]

My Ekkie barbera (I assume that’s what your tile is doing, as opposed to plucking, bloodily ripping out the feathers, he’s chewing them off), and last winter barbered his flight feathers. That was painful, since we had been working on flight recall training.

There are two possible responses here and it depends on WHY this is happening.

1. This is a direct result of the wing clipping. Some birds don’t do well with that, and have been known to respond in this fashion. You kinda have to sit tight, and keep an eye on it.

2. This is simply an extension of the regular barbering. Address the barbering and the rest will self correct.

I wouldn’t consider medicine right now because you don’t KNOW what’s causing the barbering. Throwing random medicine at the problem gets expensive. Address issues at home first: mental stimulation, foraging, trick training.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Great input, as usual, Chris.
Here's some reading we offer.
http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/52217-plucking-search-answers.html
Is your vet a Certified Avian Vet? If not, and you'd like to find one, here's a link.
http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
Regular vets often "wing it" with birds, although some are very caring and talented.

Thank you for rescuing these birds, and being so active and vigilant!

 

[katiea]

I’ve been using plucking as an umbrella term for her behavior, she plucks, barbers, and mutilates. She’s only pulling out the flight feathers on the wing she was clipped, so it could just be a reaction to being clipped. I don’t know much about her past so I don’t know how long she was half clipped. She has foraging toys but she has yet to use them, she is very big on other toys though. She plays with toys more than any of my other birds, I switch out her toys somewhat often to keep her entertained. I haven’t started any training with her, she still doesn’t know how to step up well. I don’t usually go straight to medicine and that wasn’t my plan, I just was curious if it was even an option since I had so much success with it with my other bird. My vet is a certified avian vet. Padme is healthy besides malnutrition, which causes bald patches. She’s already eating my diet now so that will get better. I called another vet for a second opinion, I don’t want another hour or more drive until she settles in more so it was over the phone but he reccomended a humidifier.