Will feathers ever grow back?

[cannon_farms]

I purchased a Goffin Cockatoo a couple weeks ago, its been 15 years since I have had birds (mine where stolen in a home robbery) but never one with an issue.
Shes been as bald from what I have seen both on the chest and back, has only two feathers on each wing that are normal length, all her tail feathers are intact, I would almost say her wings look like a wing clip gone horribly wrong but in the wrong direction.
Shes now covered with down, and new down is coming into place to almost cover her, her chest and back bone are still bald with no sign of new growth.

She doesnt pluck anymore however if she finds a normal feather shed she loves to play with it, I have even gave her a chicken feather (we have chickens) in hopes she wouldnt pull her own at first but its not been an issue.

I have a feeling that she will never feather but will keep the down which doesnt matter to us, wed love her if she was naked as long as she was happy, shes quite entertaining and loves half the human household members, the other half we just wont go there..lol..

Quick back story, shes assumed to be 6 years old, when I got her she didnt have any real toys and finding some shes not scared of has been a challenge, and she was on cockatiel food so its a slow intro to bigger bird food and fresh veggies/fruits.

 

[MikeyTN]

Bad diet, boredom, and probably unsocialized. Those are some of the things contribute to feather plucking. By putting her on a better diet and proper care, she may grow them back over time. I would not suggest in giving her feathers to chew on, that's a bad habit to break! There's a lot of members on here use 100% pure aloe juice from health food stores to mix with water and spray them with it. I have also find full spectrum lighting helps them as well. Plus string toys! Good luck!

Welcome to the forum and thank you for adopting this poor bird!

 

[cannon_farms]

I gave her the feather thinking that if she had one to play with she wouldnt play with her own, she really doesnt chew them but likes to do the typical throw it over her shoulder to catch them under her leg. I have since supplemented it with zoopreem pellet food that she hates to eat but loves to play with .
Im really hoping to get her off the junk food and onto a good food but so far I am not happy with the mega pet store feed as they are full of sunflower seeds and way to pricey for being junk.
I have aloe juice oddly enough, never thought to use it on her, can you elaborate on the mix ration?
She oddly for a cockatoo doesnt have much dander and her skin is quite smooth, I have yet to notice any dander. I plan on posting a picture of her just as soon as my daughter gets home and tells me where she put the camera.

 

[Spiritbird]

The water/aloe mix. ratios are in this article. good luck!
http://prettybirds.net/Featherdestruction.htm

 

[Pedro]

http://www.breederschoiceseeds.com.au/assets/images/soaked-seed.pdf

A link to sprout seeds & benefits of feeding it to your bird. As well as that sprouted sunflower is a very good source of protein. I feed my parrots sprouted & soaked seed mixes everyday.

I know I have read about the benefits of the Aloe mix & a lot of people swear by it BUT i have read it isn't a good idea to spray on skin, from memory i think it may have a drying effect on parrots skin. I have found with all my birds a daily shower or hose down it the best treatment for any feather condition. I would never use it on my birds because i can't see that it is any better than plain old water.

HolisticBird and HolisticBirds

There are many reasons for feather plucking as Mikey has already mentioned. Aloe Spray will not stop feather plucking once established. Seems to me a good place to start is her diet. There is also a supplement i have heard is very good & a few friends of mine has had great success with using it. Google Avicalm & Featheriffic. I have seen the results of a bad featherplucker before & after pics & you wouldn't know it's the same bird.

 

[cannon_farms]

Shes made a great bit of progress this week, slowly shes starting to act like a bird should. I have to get her the smaller bird toys like for a conure because everything else is to scary but shes torn up two toys, learned that she loves banana and her favorite is cantaloupe. She also figured out Zupreem pellets where good for something besides playing over the shoulder catch. My camera was broke when I found it so I ordered another off ebay that came last night so I will post pictures later today. It looks like shes trying to regrow wing feathers. I have yet to find a feather or a piece of down in the bottom of her cage or anywhere for that matter so I guess that tells the story...

 

[MikeyTN]

Another thing to remember, wing clipping can contribute to feather destruction!!! The main reason why I don't clip. Only time I ever clip is during training, but I let them grow back during the molt. I did not clip my too during training cause she had feather destruction problems but she's much better now! Only the tip of her crown gets torn, I take that over what she was doing when I first saw her in poor condition. Took a long time for her to grow those feathers back but she's happier then ever. She wasn't hard to train either as she was eager to learn.

 

[cannon_farms]

Ok, here she is finally, shes actually pretty hard to get a photo of, she really wanting to "play" with the camera. Found out shes an AC/DC fan tv was playing you shook me all night long and she went crazy dancing.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/100_2011.jpg

[/IMG]

 

[cannon_farms]

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/100_2029.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/100_2034.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/100_2035.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/100_2030.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/100_2010.jpg

 

[cannon_farms]

sorry I cant figure out how to make them post like normal pictures, some one feel free to enlighten me.
Just incase your up for some non bird cuteness, this is where the other part of me lies,
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/100_1885.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/100_1906.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/deskidsncritters/009-1.jpg

 

[MikeyTN]

On top of your reply window have a little picture button, looks like a palm tree in sunset or something. Copy and paste your link there.

 

[MikeyTN]

 

[cannon_farms]

when I tried that it came up with a red box, let me have another go at it since it seemed to work just fine for you.

Ok, this apparently takes a different code than the other 2 forums Im on, weird they are the same softwear.

 

[merlinsmom13]

Omg, I love pygmy goats, I had a black & white one, a long time ago. It was popular on our horse show circuit to have a p goat on a leash. Do yours climb on cars? Pull clothes from the line? They are like parrots on the hoof.

 

[merlinsmom13]

Your girl is still beautiful, she looks very happy to have a new home!!

 

[cannon_farms]

Her chest and back where almost completely plucked when I got her, but nothing has grown back past what you can see hence my concern if down or feathers will ever grow back.
Im getting her bigger cage soon, not that she stays in it. As you can see we move it in the evenings to the wall so that drafts are not an issue and in the day she can sun through the back kitchen door, she loves watching the chickens and goats.

 

[cannon_farms]

Omg, I love pygmy goats, I had a black & white one, a long time ago. It was popular on our horse show circuit to have a p goat on a leash. Do yours climb on cars? Pull clothes from the line? They are like parrots on the hoof.

These are actually Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats, yes the little black and sliver one is soo bad about getting on the cars, and jumping out of any fence, she gives the meaning to bottle bratt, but shes my hope in the show ring during this season and maybe one of the boys.
They have not thankfully pulled clothes off the line, that is their guardians job

 

[cgarratt]

How did it turn out? I adopted (well, he picked me) a Goffin with almost no feathers.. It's been about 6 weeks and he has grown a lot of fluff but still seems to be plucking a little. There is definite progress but i wondered about supplements to help.

I believe the cause of stress has been remedied so it is just habit now. He is quite comfortable is his new home with zero sign of distress or fear of the other animals. He is 16 years old with an amazing personality and a great vocabulary. He might just be too enthusiastic when preening - he's recently taken to preening my young female Timneh and once in a while plucks a little hard.

Thanks!

 

[MCockatoo]

Boy, she really is a plucker. About 10 years ago, I came home from work and saw all this blood over my Cockatoos cage and pannicked. Upon closer inspection he had plucked his feathers off of his chest and was creating an open wound about the size of a quarter. I immediately called the Vet and brought him in. I was told we could try an e-collar which we did but it lasted about 30 seconds before he ripped that off. My husband ended up making a collar out of PVC. Which did work but we ended up making tons of modicfications to it.