Feather Plucking in Parrots

One of the most unfortunate sights one can ever see in the world is a pet bird with a pluckng habit. My own cockateil, purchased as an older bird from a yard sale when I was in 6^th grade, came to me with this problem. Any time she is left in the cage for more than 2 days at a whack, she starts ripping out her tail feathers and playing with them one by one. Unfortunately, once the behavior starts it's like nail biting in humans—depending on the length of time it's been doing it and other factors, it's really difficult to get a bird to stop.

But how does it start? Sometimes it is the result of a nutrition deficiency caused by the all-seed diet many bird owners give to their bird—lacking proper vitamins, the bird's skin gets itchy and dry, so it overgrooms. Soon it plucks the feathers entire from its rough grooming, which becomes a habit. Other times, it is the result of emotional disturbance caused by too many solitary hours in a cage. It's not only a way of getting attention, it's a self-destructive behavior that can provide entertainment to an unstimulated bird. My own bird uses her feathers as a musical instrument, running back and forth in her cage dragging it across the bars. If you take it away, she plucks another and repeats the behavior. Not all find the feather a toy. Some will go further than the feathers and rip off skin. There have been cases of parrots where they've died from self-inflicted injuries.

How likely a parrot will turn to plucking as an outlet to release stress depends on the bird, but some species are much more likely than others. It has been cited in most places the African greys are the most likely to feather pluck. African Greys are among the most intelligent of parrot species, the most notable individual being Alex, who was shown to have the intelligence of a 5 year old with the emotional development of a 2 year old. African Greys are really sensitive to their environment, and are highly neophobic and easily stressed. Smaller, less intelligent psitticines (parrots and parrotlike birds) such as parakeets and lovebirds are much less likely to show plucking behavior In fact, I've been really into bird behavior for years and have never heard or read of a parakeet that plucks.

Unfortunately because of the habit nature of this behavior, the best cure is prevention. Feeding a bird a diet rich in vitamins by providing a nutritious staple (pelleted food being much better than seed) and a constant varied supply of fresh vegetables is one way of eliminating the nutritional type of plucking. Providing the bird with a large variety of toys that are rotated often and hours of one on one time daily with their owners is the best way to prevent this behavior from starting. Once the behavior starts it's very difficult to diagnose the cause and treat it. Plucking is the symptom of a problem in the environment and not of the bird; it's really too bad more people buying birds don't realize this because feather-plucking is among the top causes for birds to be surrendered to shelters or given away for free on Criagslist.

For further reading:

For more information on African Greys:
An African Grey
The people that run this site also run a forum and can provide more practical information than any other place I've seen.

The Alex Studies By Irene Pepperberg Harvard University Press 2002
By the sceintist that works with Alex, it gives a nice overview of African Greys but focuses more on the training techniques used with him compared to traditional science. I highly recommend.

The Gabriel Foundation

The largest bird rescue in America. They are open to the public, take in hundreds of neglected birds year round from all over the US. They have a lot of practical experience with birds and also a lot of professional staff on hand. They write many articles on bird behavior and rehabilitation.

Michelle Vigeant