Hi everyone. I would like your opinions on my situation. Below is a link to a thread about a grey I am looking into adopting.

I got to meet the Timneh

In a nutshell: There is a grey that was listed on Craigslist by a woman who initially bought her out of pity for her situation (hoarding). She was looking for a bird to use in her child education program on animals. The lady she bought him from had answered her wanted ad saying that the grey was great, blah, blah, blah. Well, she's not a good candidate for the program so the 2nd owner decided to go ahead and rehome her despite the worry that she wouldn't find the right type of new owner. She said she's already scared off a lot of people who emailed her. The grey is missing the end of some toes (no toenails, so she's clumsy) and her chest is completely downy, no real feathers. And again, she was removed from a hoarding situation 9 months ago where she was cage-bound.

My question is what would you do in my position. Should I have my head examined for wanting this poor bird? I know the feather problem could be permenant and it could be health related, but a vet may never be able to figure it out. Does anyone have experience with a plucker? I have yet to call and talk to my vet about it (I only met the grey yesterday evening) as I've been at school when they are open. Hopefully I will be able to talk to her tomorrow afternoon about this situation. In the meantime let me know what your thoughts are, I would really appreciate it.

Has anyone worked with a rehomed grey who plucks?

Do you own a grey who plucks?

Have you worked with rehomed grey that has had too significant of a problem?

I don't have any experience with a bird that plucks, but from what I've gathered from people who do- it's frustrating because you often can't "fix" it, but it doesn't make the bird any less loveable/deserving of love. If Ollie suddenly started plucking I wouldn't love her any less. Sure I'd be frustrated and I try everything possible to try to stop it, but often that just can't be done.

I don't blame you for wanting to bring this bird home. It sounds like the poor bird really needs a permanent home. Maybe some stability and love would reduce the feather picking.

Of course I think talking to your vet is a great idea, and a visit and tests are definitely in order. Sorry I can't be of more help!

Stephanie, I have no personal Grey or plucking experience, sorry. I do know Greys are a very sensitive bird but I feel with most rehomes, you will always be dealing with something. Whether it be plucking, feather destructive behavior, aggression, diet issues, fear, biting, screaming, etc. It's not often that these birds come from a pristine past. She has only had a taste of having decent quality care for the past 9 months. My positive thoughts would be that she will continue to improve and I know if you decide to bring her home you'll do all you can to help her adjust.

If it were me, I would take the bird. Having said that though I would also like to say that if you decide to bring Katy home and you don't see improvement despite your best efforts please don't beat yourself up over it. I have two rehomed birds here that have many issues that they deal with from their pasts. I try my hardest to give them the best that I know how to do, but I also remind myself daily that I accept them for what they are and not what I would like them to be.

I wish you all the best in your decision and want you to know that if you decide to bring Katy home that we'll all be here to support you and help you through the difficult times as well as all the good times and accomplishments that you achieve together.

I would definitely adopt her. With the right home, love and care she seems that she has huge potential to over come what's happened.

I have several birds that pluck, feather chew, excessively preen. I also have one that is a feather mutilator. I do not look at any of them any differently as I would a fully feathered bird. I've learned what sets off my mutilator and try to prevent things before they happen.

I have two greys that excessively preen, one actually is missing some feathers on his belly (very hard to tell) and also has a breathing problem (only breathes on one side, his cheeks puff out especially when he gets stressed). The other one is a "habit" that we are still working on, she has her good days and her bad.

I would say this poor little girl plucks because of her previous living condition. I would have her vet checked but I wouldn't put her through the stress of skin scrapings. Most likely her plucking is related to being cage bound, diet, stress, possibly toys (lack of). I find that putting several types of shredders in their cages helps. It can be trial and error on finding the right toys. Several of mine like to play with baby toys.

I've also had huge success with Feather In by Avitech. I spray all my fids twice daily but make sure that my pickers get good spray.

I'll PM you my phone number, feel free to call me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Here's Nicky, one of our rescues. Just from a change in diet, toys in his cage and some attention he's starting to get feathers. He's gotten even more this week


Ruben is an x-breeder who was kept in a CAG size cage with no toys and fed only bananas. He's now in a huge cage, lots of toys and a fed a variety of food. He still has his moments but he hand no chest feathers a year ago.



Rosey came in with Nicky, she is an extreme case and were working with her daily. Like Nicky she had no toys and only on a seed diet. She devours food and loves her toys.



BamBam my excessive preener. This is one of her 'good' months.


Budgie is my success story. He's a scarlet macaw that was kept in a tiel size cage with no toys and a seed diet. He had severe feather damage and mutilation. He's feathers were so bad we couldn't work with him for several months. Because he had no tail feathers he also couldn't balance.

Here is is when we first got him a year ago...



This is him at the end of the summer

He may not be perfect looking but he needs perfect love which I know you could give him. My Gipper (tag) came from a bad situation and had not been out of this tiny cage for years. He didn't feather pluck, but I can't imagine why. I was bloodied for weeks but eventually he started to trust me and we became the best of friends. He was my best friend. I will never get over losing him and would I do it again? In a heartbeat. You should too! You won't regret it! He needs you!

As long as you can love him even if he continues to pluck then go for it.I have 5 here in various stages of plucked and 2 more that because of their previous homes will never be feathered properly and wouldn't trade any one of them for a fully feathered version.

Jeanne
Reuben looks exactly like my senegal Sunshine's chest. What type of food did you add to his diet? Sunshine has a large cage & plenty of toys but does not play with them. How can I get her interested in her toys? I rotate them frequently but it still doesn't matter. HELP PLEASE!

Sunshine I started a thread over in the Welcome Forum so we can all meet you and talk a bit about Sunshine's plucking.

This link will take you there; http://www.parrotchatter.com/f63/hi-...tml#post122637

It's very, very rare that a chronic plucking Grey will stop because even when it was a medical condition that triggered the behavior, it becomes a habit after a while and continues after the bird is made healthy. Grays, I think, are more difficult to stop from plucking than other birds and, the longer they've been doing it, the longer it will take to correct if it can ever be corrected.

I've had two success cases (Paca and Pretty Bird, a quaker and an Amazon), two partial successes (EmmyLou, lovebird, self-mutilator and plucker and Coco, U2, plucker and barberer -EmmyLou stopped mutilating and reduced her plucking but continued working at a ring around her neck until she died -Coco, I am still workin on, she doesn't pluck any longer but continues to barber her wing primaries to little stubs but I still have hope for her) and two failures (Nina, CAG and Romeo, Red Sided ekkie -these two continue to this day) although Nina has allowed all her feathers to grow except for a patch on her chest so I guess she could be considered a partial success, also.

Trying to reverse this bad habit is a lot of work and very, very frustrating BUT the good news is: They don't care! It's only humans that place a high value in physical beauty, animals couldn't care less. Plucking birds might not look as 'perfect' as we would want them to but they can be perfect inside and they can have a good life even if they never stop.

My Nina and Romeo have recently bonded and they are very happy together even though he now plucks her head (he is an over-preener) so she ended up with a naked hole in her chest and a bald head to boot -LOL

My personal opinion: one should adopt the bird that needs us the most at the time. Plumage is just a nice wrapping on the package but it's the package that holds the gift. But don't commit yourself to something that you won't be able to follow through. It would be a disservice to any bird but particularly to a bird that has had such a terrible life and deserves to find a forever home that can take proper care of it. If you are going to school and have any kind of a social life, a parrot (plucking or perfect) is not the right pet for you. They are very time-consuming, work-intensive and expensive animals to keep healthy and happy.

This is just such a good point. As long as there is no medical problem extant, or the medical problem that started the behavior has been addressed, probably the most important thing that we as owners can do is to give them acceptance, and love them for who they are. Birds (and most animals for that matter) can be extremely sensitive to our moods, and we can inadvertently make the problem worse by worrying and obsessing about correcting it. It can be difficult because everyone wants a physically 'beautiful' bird, and it takes some diplomatic skill to explain to visitors and the like that no, the bird is not abused, the bird is not sick, the bird is fine. Just happens to have a behavioral condition that compels them to get rid of those feathers.