Hello all. I just got home from meeting the Timneh Grey. Her name is Katy and she's a pretty quiet little girl. Unfortunately she is either a plucker or something is wrong medically as her chest feathers are all down. The rest of her body is fine and in good feather. She wouldn't come over to me, which was fine, I just wanted to meet her and see how she reacted to me. She actually started to roost on the table and preen while I was sitting there.

Ok, I got a little bit more background on her today talking with her current owner (2nd owner). The 2nd owner stated today that she posted an ad on Craigs list to find a bird for her educational program. A woman (original owner) responded and told her what a great bird Katy was so the 2nd owner went ahead and drove a good long distance to see her. She was shocked when she got there that Katy was only one in around 50 birds in this womans house. She was very upset that the woman had lied about Katy's condition (downy chest), but out of pity she went ahead and bought her and brought her home. She has had Katy for 9 months now and Katy will step up, but is reluctant to do so while inside her cage (she still will, just not enthusiastic). My guess is that the orig. owner never let her out of the cage, so she became cage-bound.

The 2nd owner has worked with animals for quite a while (hence her educational program), and decided to try and find her a home where she would get more attention. She has two other birds, a pionus (who's actually quite loud believe it or not) and a quaker who she uses in her programs and feels guilty that she's always leaving Katy at home while the other two get to go out all the time and get much more interaction. She was reluctant for a long time to look for a new home because Katy is missing the ends of 3-4 toes with no toenails. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to find a person who was willing to take Katy's needs into consideration and would turn around and sell her again. I believe the woman completely, and she is very nice and really wants what is best for Katy. She will be taking quite a big loss if she sells Katy to me for $400, but she still said that her adoption fee is negotiable, she just wants a good home for her.

I told her that I wanted to put a call in to my vet tomorrow and see what they recommended as far as bringing her straight to the vet, or letting her settle into her new home in quarrantine for a while before driving her to the vet. The third option is me taking her to the vet straight from the owners home and then bringing her back afterward to the place she knows, then later bring her to my home. I'll see what they recommend and go from there. I'm still not even rock solid on bringing her home. I'm going to see what the vet says about her overall appearance as I describe it.

Ok, let me know what you think. Anything and everything is welcome.

bumping this up for Stephanie. I posted to her similar thread here: Should I adopt feather plucked?

I think taking in a bird that is plucking would be a challenge and one that only you would need to determine if you have the time, desire, patience, and money. Some of our members have done this successfully, not only for greys but other species as well.

My hope is that others will post here and assist.

Stephanie, I'm not sure which way is best. The circumstances I dealt with were a bit different in that both my birds were living in wretched conditions so I knew once I removed them, they would never be returned no matter the outcome of the vet check.

You seem to be dealing with a person that really cares about the bird and she's in good living conditions. I think if I were in your shoes, I would ask this person to take Katy to the vet. Given her demure personality this may be the least stressful on her as she would be with someone she knows. You could meet the owner at the vet's office so you know exactly what's being done and discussed. Then make arrangements to pick Katy up a day or so later if you decide that you want her.