Why do some parrots pluck out their own feathers. Someone told me it had nothing to do with them being anxious or stressed - it had more to do with genetics???
Feather loss could be due to illness, feather mites, or the bird is just plain bored and has been plucking feathers for entertainment.
Moved from ATMB.
Every book I have ever read has said that if you parrot is plucking it is likely because he is bored and not mentally challanged. (This assumes that the loss is not because of illness.) If he is actually plucking, it is a sign that he is not happy. Find him stimulating toys and spend much more time with him.
Entire conferences are held by the Association of Avian Veterinarians devoted to this topic.
I visited a parrot sanctuary and the owner told me that he believes ‘plucking’ is a genetic trait. In the wild, parrots are not nomadic. Plucking is a recessive trait and is passed on when there is inbreeding - the affected birds begin plucking by about 5 or 6 if/when they are mating. The progeny die because 1) they are not appealing to potential mates and 2) they die from some sort of exposure related illness. Is there any scientific evidence for this theory???
Not that I have ever seen, and I have read a ton of literature on the topic of self mutilation in avians. There are, of course, diseases such as Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease where etiology is viral. The vast majority of birds who self mutilate are eventually assigned a “behaviour” diagnosis. Some respond well to medication, some do not.
Most researchers agree that in the wild, birds do not have the time to preen to excess. Any that do, die. This makes the idea that the problem has some genetic basis attractive. Scientific evidence is lacking, however.
I challenge the “inbreeding” theory of the cause for feather plucking. If it were a recessive gene being expressed in captive bred populations it would have been rare to unknown thirty years ago, when almost all caged parrots were wild caught.
Was plucking observed in captive parrots 30 years ago? Or is this a newer phenomonen since so many birds are being inbred?
My current Blue-Fronted Amazon is 22 years old, and he was wild caught. He is not my first parrot. This is to establish some level of confidence in my information.
Feather plucking has been known in caged birds since we started caging them. It could be caused by dietary deficiencies, skin infections, allergies, or non-disease behavioural problems. (I’m pretty convinced that most plucking cockatoos do so because they are emotionally unstable.)
I cannot immediately find a cite online, but my copy of “Bird Owner’s Home Health and Care Handbook” (First edition, first printing 1984) has a rather extensive section on feather picking. It was not a new phenomenon 22 years ago, and not new 30 years before that.