hi can anybody tell me what would cause my blue and gold macaw to pluck his feathers

Hi JAWBREAKER, Welcome to Parrot Chatter.

There can be many reasons for plucking; diet, health, boredom, hormonal, habit, environment, nerves, etc.

Can you tell us a little bit about your B&G?

Here's some articles that may help;

http://www.petparrot.com/ParrotCarePlucking.htm

http://www.petparrots101.com/feather-plucking.asp

http://www.theparrotsocietyuk.org/genarticle20.shtml

This is an excellent article written by Dr. Susan Clubb;

Feather Damaging Behavior - FDB
An in-depth look at feather picking and plucking parrots
By Susan Clubb

http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-beha...aging-behavior

my blue and gold macaw is about five years old his cage is about five foot by three foot and it is only recent he has started plucking his feathers. i also own a african grey parrot wich he is almost two but he is fine.

have you made any recent changes in his cage location or diet? does he get a lot of out of cage time? does he have plenty of toys to chew on? you might want to try consulting your avian vet, too.

If you haven't made any recent changes to his diet or environment and being that this is a recent change in behavior, I agree with Emily that a check up with your AV would be in order. You may also want to give him more frequent showers and check that there's enough humidity in the home.

no we havent made any changes to his cage or his diet. also we give him plenty of showers and he's got plenty of toys to play with. also he gets let out of his cage regulaly

i would definitely get him to the vet as soon as you can, then. this is something you want to stop early on before it progresses.

I agree. Not saying that they all stop as suddenly as they start but I have had two instances of sudden feather damaging behavior and both were medically related and stopped as soon as I got the cause under control.

ok thanks for your help