Tail feather chewing!

[MrSquak]

Hey everybody, I have a just about 1 year old Alex parrot named tango, who is a great little bird with some strange feathers. I posted before about how he also has yellow patches on his wings above the red ones.

The reason I post now is because his tail feathers don't always grow in very well and then he chews on them until they fall off. He's not a bored bird, he spends a lot of time out of the cage with us every day (he loves to play hide and go seek) and has lots of toys to play with, but he just won't let his tail feathers really grow in.

Tango is a great flyer and chases us all around the house when we try and hide so the tail isn't an issue for flight or anything and as long it's not a symptom of some kind of underlying problem I won't hold it against him!

He stated doing this about 6 months ago about through about 2 growth cycles where he's sprouted a tail and lost it. Poor bird!

 

[LoveMyParrots]

Is he a pure alexandrine? I never heard or seen a alex that have yellow patches on their wings.

I heard that parrots eat their feathers when they need more calcium. Does he eat seed or pellet? And does he have any cuttlebone in his cage?

 

[weco]

You need to discuss this with an avian vet...he may have a feather follicle that produces feathers similar to ingrown hairs in humans. If this is the case, the follicle can be removed/cauterized. If these abnormal feathers bother him enough that he is removing them & a solution is not arrived at, it might cause him to pluck other feathers.

While birds' tail feathers are unique, in that they are designed to easily come out, a bird pulling them out may be getting a cheap high from an endorphin rush.....caused by pain associated with the feather pulling/plucking.