Self Mutilation?!

[andrea.faerie]

So.. I posted awhile ago about lucy fracturing the shafts of her feathers. It's just on her wings around her clipped feathers. I never suspected it could be mutilation but the place I got her from said it very well may be self mutilation and they'll do everything they can to help me remedy the problem... but Lucy is acting completely and totally normal! she lets me play with her wings and tickle her sides and she plays and snuggles and does everything just as she's always done. I just don't know. I'm concerned that it may affect her molt? maybe the time of year? I have no clue!

here's a feather

and here's the wing

I just don't know... Am I being overly concerned? I'm going to take her to get looked at as soon as I can. She hasn't hit a full molt yet, but she's only 6 months old. She's got a fairly consistent diet of seeds (no sunflower) and she gets fruits (mainly apples) and veggies (romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumber, peppers) every day! What am I doing wrong?

 

[melinda]

At 6 months old and already doing feather destructive behavoirs i would get her to a vet asap. She might have a infection of some kind. Does she get pellets? What type of veggys and fruit does she get? How much out of cage time does she get? How often does she get a bath? I know lots of questons but your answers will help everyone understand what is going on.

 

[andrea.faerie]

That's the thing, I don't know if this is self mutilation or if she accidentally hit her wings on her cage bars and did this while she was playing rough.

--I'm weaning her off a seed diet that she was on when I got her onto a mixture or zupreem and roudybush, she's being stubborn about it.
--She gets apples, a variety of peppers, kale, romaine lettuce, carrots, green beans, and cucumbers.
--She gets at least 6 hours out of her cage a day. She is also in a well lit environment when it's sunny.
--She gets a bath daily if not twice daily.

Unfortunately, the vet I believed specialized in birds failed to tell me the bird he specialized in were farm game like chickens and geese. He led me to believe he'd worked with parrots since I've had Lucy (since early july). I refuse to see him anymore so I'm currently looking for a proper vet. I'm aware it may be an infection of some kind, I just don't know how she may have gotten one. I'm taking her to get it looked at this weekend by a professional aviculturalist, if she thinks it's serious and she can't help she's going to refer me to a spe******t vet.

 

[MikeyTN]

It's more like feather destruction! Part of the reason I don't like clipping!!!! Clipping can cause this! Boredom, frustration, surrounding change, etc. all can be a factor as well. I can't really tell by the looks of the pic, it almost looks like he's barbering his feathers as well.

 

[suebee]

those are how nuts feathers look, but she is flighted

she did this last yr, molted got a fab coat on her an is starting again, most annoyin, but i ignore this as i was told by a breeder nut was prob in season last yr and true to breeeders words, she's starting again same time this yr
but i think your lucy be to young for this

anyway, if its same as nut's habit, she just clips bits of feather of now an again till she's got fluffy patches by end of winter, molts an looks feathered

i did manage to come across some pheasant feathers that i boiled and trimmed, nut seems to be quite entertained by this 1 giant feather in her cage, she kinda preens it, but has not clipped it when doin so??

there is avicalm, but i cannot seem to get it in the uk and alot of ppl have said its good from the forum, but see what the vet say's and good luck lucy!

 

[andrea.faerie]

Thanks suebee, I'll look into it.
I dont think she's bored and I always play with her when I'm home and nothing in her surroundings have changed at all. The girl I've been talking to said she thinks it may be that Lu's having a little issue with the climate and her skin and all, she said it could be that she just needs a little help with a supplement or something. I'm taking her in this weekend to get evaluated by momma jean (she's been doing this stuff for over 30 years) and she'll tell me if it's something only a vet can help with or if she can whip me up something to help Lucy. But like I said, she's not acting weird and it's only her wings, not her entire body.

As far as clipping, I'm not sure if I'll clip her again but it's for her safety since I live in a small apartment and I'd rather not lose her if she managed to get out the door. I also take her outside and to my office where I work on occasion so I'd rather be able to catch her and not have her fall into a printing press. Clipping isn't for everyone but it's a choice I made for everyone's safety until I'm sure she'll come when called and won't venture far.

 

[andrea.faerie]

I just ordered some avicalm, hopefully it'll be here next week. $22 for 4 oz, OUCH! I hope it works!!

 

[suebee]

well fingers crossed, when i was looking into avicalm the main ingredient, is also used for other animals and its found in white tea

nut loves to drink tea from my mug!

 

[MikeyTN]

Good luck with it! Do let us know the result.

 

[andrea.faerie]

I will for sure! I just can't believe it's self mutilation... at least not on purpose! she's not acting strangely. I'm hoping it's just a change in the weather. I moved her cage to a sunny spot in the room before I left for class today so I'm hoping that made her feel better if she's upset or anything! and I cleaned the cages today so hopefully that'll help... hmm I'm just completely baffled! Bleu is also currently going through a molt so maybe monkey see monkey do? he's preening like crazy to get the little downy feathers and he's shed quite a few (positive it's a molt and not plucking ) I'm now more curious as to what's caused all this than concerned since she's eating like a little piggy as always and being a butthead when I leave the room like usual haha

 

[mcw009]

I have a feather-chewer as well. A lot of resources I've come across seem to suggest malnutrition as a main cause of plucking/chewing. Perhaps since her main diet is seeds, that's your problem. Especially since she's still developing.

Hopefully someone can pinpoint the issue, but the cause of plucking/chewing can seem mysterious. Plus, once they start for whatever reason, it can become habit, so even if you fix the initial problem, you might not stop the feather destruction, at least entirely.

Good luck.

 

[andrea.faerie]

Well we're on the right track so far! Tomorrow the avicalm will be here so I'll start using that right away. I've read nothing but good things about it, I may give some to bleu as well just to see how well he takes to it. Lucy has finally converted over to pellets! she ignores the seeds and goes straight for her mini roudybush Now i can finally use safflower seeds for training. We're working on changing her flock call as well, it's going pretty well I must say, she's only screeched 3 times today and the rest she calls "PEEP PEEP!" and i call peep peep back to her. She's also got shake down pat and learning to wave I think it's ok to feel a little confident right now haha

 

[Remy]

I'd get her off seeds, ASAP, since there is not a lot of nutrition in them! Will she eat pellets if there is no other food available? Puck likes seeds, but I just put pellets in his bowl instead of seeds, and he just started eating it, no weaning needed. It'll also help her defend herself if she does have an infection. I have Puck on Harrison's High Potency to make sure he gets as much nutrition as he can! If she won't eat pellets, maybe you could sprinkle something high-nutrition on her foods, like Spirulina (totally safe and lots of nutrition, it's in Harrison's).

I've been in a tired and in bad mood a lot lately and went to the doctor for some blood work and it turned out I have an infection!

I've had a lot of birds and never seen them do that to a feather... it's probably her own doing. :'-(

 

[andrea.faerie]

I'd get her off seeds, ASAP, since there is not a lot of nutrition in them! Will she eat pellets if there is no other food available? Puck likes seeds, but I just put pellets in his bowl instead of seeds, and he just started eating it, no weaning needed. It'll also help her defend herself if she does have an infection. I have Puck on Harrison's High Potency to make sure he gets as much nutrition as he can! If she won't eat pellets, maybe you could sprinkle something high-nutrition on her foods, like Spirulina (totally safe and lots of nutrition, it's in Harrison's).

I've been in a tired and in bad mood a lot lately and went to the doctor for some blood work and it turned out I have an infection!

I've had a lot of birds and never seen them do that to a feather... it's probably her own doing. :'-(

In my above post I she made the choice for pellets today with seed in her cage, she chose the pellets and has been eating them all day long! I've got her on Roudybush since a few members here suggested it to be a healthy diet. I'm so excited about that, I've been trying to get her off seed since I got her. She DOES get fresh fruit and veggies DAILY so I know I'm ok on that. I ordered avicalm and it's supposed to be here tomorrow and that's packed with all kinds of good stuff. It's just so strange, I don't know why she would do this! unless when she got clipped, the boy that did it's hand slipped or something and damaged her feathers... she's been preening, but not a whole lot, no more than usual...

 

[Remy]

I'd get her off seeds, ASAP, since there is not a lot of nutrition in them! Will she eat pellets if there is no other food available? Puck likes seeds, but I just put pellets in his bowl instead of seeds, and he just started eating it, no weaning needed. It'll also help her defend herself if she does have an infection. I have Puck on Harrison's High Potency to make sure he gets as much nutrition as he can! If she won't eat pellets, maybe you could sprinkle something high-nutrition on her foods, like Spirulina (totally safe and lots of nutrition, it's in Harrison's).

I've been in a tired and in bad mood a lot lately and went to the doctor for some blood work and it turned out I have an infection!

I've had a lot of birds and never seen them do that to a feather... it's probably her own doing. :'-(

In my above post I she made the choice for pellets today with seed in her cage, she chose the pellets and has been eating them all day long! I've got her on Roudybush since a few members here suggested it to be a healthy diet. I'm so excited about that, I've been trying to get her off seed since I got her. She DOES get fresh fruit and veggies DAILY so I know I'm ok on that. I ordered avicalm and it's supposed to be here tomorrow and that's packed with all kinds of good stuff. It's just so strange, I don't know why she would do this! unless when she got clipped, the boy that did it's hand slipped or something and damaged her feathers... she's been preening, but not a whole lot, no more than usual...

Hooray! My vet liked Roudybush too, but I wanted something organic, plus they make the High Potency one.

It sounds like you're taking good care of her. What about toys? Does she get enough sun? Puck's been getting irate lately because my lighting sucks (getting remedied soon).

 

[andrea.faerie]

She's getting plenty of sun now, I moved her in front of the window (no draft, took care of that ) and she gets new toys all the time I make them out of random things i find around the house haha I think it may have just been an accident or something? Maybe she didn't mean to do it... there's no more broken feathers since I found those so maybe she just preened too hard or something. I noticed she does have a new tail feather growing in though! Perhaps she's just itchy

 

[Remy]

That's good news! :-D

I've found a few feathers on the ground. Puck is starting to molt! I am saving all the feathers I find in a jar. lol.

 

[andrea.faerie]

I am too! Bleu is in full molt mode! I keep picking up feather haha I have a little basket for them haha I've got a bunch, I'm thinking about making a parrot feather rose!