That's me throwing a tantrum because my Gypsy started plucking again...not that she ever really stopped, but she's picked up the pace again.

I'm at a loss as to what to do. I'm trying my best to keep up on things but my dear, the medical issues keep getting in the way. Just keeping up on basic cleaning and out time wears me out.

I swear she's doing it from boredom, yet I try to change things up as far as what she gets in her foot toys and dinner time. Routine is needed for me at this point so that I don't forget to do anything, so it's the little things I have to change. But even with those changes....she'll walk away and happily rip out a feather! It's making me nuts and I feel like I'm doing something wrong...I just don't know WHAT.

I've taken her to the vet (when this started) and he said it was hormonal. She gets eggs a couple times a week, but her basic diet is her mush with the sweet potato base, mixed veggies, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, beans. Hmmmm come to think of it there's no beans in the latest batch.
I put her to "bed" around 9 pm when it starts getting dark outside. They get up...well with me being off work...around 9-10. lol Once work starts we'll be back at 6-7am.

I've given her things to shred, which she does with fury, but I've noticed that no matter where the shreddable stuff is located, it ends up in the same corner on the bottom. Is she trying to make a nest there? Is shredding things encouraging her feather plucking (putting her in the midset to build a nest) or relieving it by giving her something else to focus on?

AND what does the clucking noise she makes mean?? Everyday when i pick her up, she puts her beak against my shoulder and makes a clucking sound. I want to show her more attention, but i was told if this is a hormonal issue that the attention will only encourage mating behavior, making this issue worse.

On one hand I'd love to ignore this all and just accept that i now have a plucking bird. On the other hand I want to fix the issue. Really, I want to fix the issue without stressing myself out.

I so feel your pain and your frustration. I have no advice to give since I know limited amounts about the eclectus, even though I own one. I'm going through the same thing with her....Molly.

I've altered her diet a little and went with what has been suggested, lower protien diet. I began covering her at night to see if it was a privacy issue. I leave a small amount of her cage covered during the day also. I give her out of cage time pretty much anytime she wants it when I'm home. All seems to be working, but slightly. Her feathers are coming back in, but with her recent showers I've noticed she has some major feathers coming in all over. I've documented this so I can pay attention this time next year.

I've also increased her showers and get her soaking wet. One other thing that I notice that works well and she'll leave her chest alone is when I have her outside with me. She watches everything around her instead of preening or plucking.

I've just got done purchasing a 6 and 1/2 foot tall cage for her. Yea, pretty big but lots of stuff for her to do, but haven't put it together for her yet.

I have a couple of toy suggestions for you that work great with her, but I'm not sure your asking for advice or suggestions on toys.

Hang in there. I'm with ya!

As long as you know her plucking is not medically induced, it seems a lot of her behavior is related to hormonal issues. As long as she's not trying to mate with your hand or another part of your body, I think it's ridiculous for anyone to 'not' cuddle or have their bird near them.

I would remove the rice and wheat pasta from her diet. I think she needs more showers, and it sounds like she could use more toys. Is she only getting foot toys in the evening? I've found eclectus to enjoy playing with many different textures and it's very easy to make your own foraging toys to give her something to do. Is she getting regular sunshine?

Grains, legumes, sprouts and fresh veggies and fruit are essentail for an optimal eclectus diet. I recently wrote an article about the eclectus diet and I'll be glad to send that to you. It's really only a guideline however, and I'd strongly sugges you joining feedingfeathers@yahoogroups.com It's free to register and they are extremely knowledgeable about diets, nutrition and feather plucking (including many suggestions to reduce or eliminate it).

You might want to look at cheepparrottoysntips@yahoogroups.com to learn how easy and fun it is to make your own toys.

Let us know how things go...
Sky

toy suggestions would be great....cheap cheap cheap ones. Money is really tight. So yes, money is an issue. I do buy then each a new toy or two about once a month and switch them between her and Harvey. I also try to make new ones with the pieces I have. She typically has no less that 7 toys in her cage (macaw size) at a time, along with a destroyable box/basket/bag of foot toys.

In the evenings they get about 3 hours of time out of their cage along with an hour to eat dinner. I'll remove the pasta from her diet, rice may be a bit trickier but I'll try. LOL There's 2-3 toys in each cage in the living room, 3 on her playstand, and more foot toys.

Try giving brown rice instead of white and look into 'spelt' pasta as opposed to wheat.
If you look thru the toy ideas on the cheepparrot site, you'll get lots of ideas. Many of those toys can be made from things we all have around the house.
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Originally Posted by Vega

toy suggestions would be great....cheap cheap cheap ones. Money is really tight. So yes, money is an issue. I do buy then each a new toy or two about once a month and switch them between her and Harvey. I also try to make new ones with the pieces I have. She typically has no less that 7 toys in her cage (macaw size) at a time, along with a destroyable box/basket/bag of foot toys.

In the evenings they get about 3 hours of time out of their cage along with an hour to eat dinner. I'll remove the pasta from her diet, rice may be a bit trickier but I'll try. LOL There's 2-3 toys in each cage in the living room, 3 on her playstand, and more foot toys.

This is my suggestion and my suggestion only and it's based on my experience and observing my ekkie. I don't know what kind of ekkie you have but mine is a S.I. A little more reserved from what I hear, but when she has a toy in her cage that she likes, move out of her way.

Here are a couple of quick and easy toys I would suggest for her. Take plastic cockatail straws and tie them tight in the middle with a plastic, electrical zip tie. When the zip tie is pulled tight, the cockatail straws splay out like a star burst. I would suggest hanging 3 of these in her cage in different, harder to reach spots. Hang one by her perch. Hang the other two away from a perch, in an area a little more challenging for her to get to. It will take her more time to destroy the toys. The electrical zip ties can be purchased at Home Depot in a large canister for $6.50 for about 700. The cockatail straws, well, where ever you would find those in your area. Here I go to a restaurant supply store. You have to use cocktail straws and not the large ones. The large ones will not splay in a star burst.

Molly, my ekkie LOVES uncooked pasta noodles. I take the cardboard beer coasters you get at a restaurant or bar, drill a hole in the middle and string them onto a rope. In between each coaster I string in a piece of the pinwheel pasta. What this does is encourage your bird to have to work at chewing away the cardboard coasters in order to get to the pasta in the middle which she LOVES to crunch! Hours and hours of entertainment not spent pulling her feathers out.

Hows that to start?

If I place a macaw sized toy in Molly's cage, she simply wouldn't touch it. It's way too big and too tough for her softer beak to chew through. Foot toys? No interest. From what I've read about other people's ekkies, they are not usually into holding anything with their feet including toys or food. Now that's just for the most part and just what I've heard. 7 toys in her cage at one time, I think that's great. But another suggestion I would have is rotate at least one out daily. 2 or 3 if you can. I know this sounds like a lot but once you get about 20 toys built up in a pile, switching 2-3 out a day is easy as cake.

What do you think so far?

Wow those are awsome toy ideas! I'm crafty, but coming up with the cheap ideas...I'm awful at.

I too spent $30 on a macaw sized toy. Only to find is was much too big nad too busy for my little girl. I'm still working on getting the thing apart so I can at least use the pieces.

The thing that saves me is that the ekkies like the smaller sized toys. Makes trading things between her and my conure (that's pretty big for a conure lol) much easier.

Sweet Potatoes have been implicated in pluckers so I'd stop them right away. I'd focus on dark leafy greens, veggies some lower protein grains (not quinoa) and some fruit. I'd lower the protein and vitamin e [nuts] especially in an Ekkie. If she is getting animal proteins like meats I'd stop that.

I dont know her whole diet but I'd watch the nuts, no peanuts and I'd get rid of flax in any form and soy.

I'd give cool soaking wet baths with nothing in the water and I'd use distilled. Not under showers to prevent her aspirating water.

Watch the air purifiers NO ionizers and make sure it doesnt have any moldy possible areas same with humidifiers.

But MOST important (sorry) I'd go back to following a strict natural daylight schedule including dawn and dusk. Normally you'd think getting a longer night is a preventative but not really in this case. She's not sleeping until 9--10 am. So she is sitting there from 6 till 10 waiting. And no artifcial lighting after 3 pm. All year long.

Breeding season is "over" around July 15 and they will all start getting "better" as they enter molting season the end of summer....but with a wacky schedule her hormones wont be right and this can be contributing to the problem.

Plucking is an endorphin release and a complex issue but doing all the normal things to rule out typical stuff is really necessary, IMO.

Yes I remember this bird from the other site, she nests down on the "bottom" of things, too, right? I remember something about a shoebox maybe that was next to her cage?

Shredding is normal but I'd also:

Move her cage around to many different areas
Change up all the inside different things and swap like, food with water
No stroking feet, beaks, backs or butts,
No hiding in dark areas like drawers, kickplates of kitchens etc
No hiding behind pillows or in your clothing

You want to convey this isnt a "secure nest".

If she likes the conure put her close to him. You have dogs, too, right? Maybe if she can watch them she'll get distracted.

You dont have to accept you have a plucker and that's that, I agree with you. You never know what will work eventually. But you can usually see a trigger maybe when she relapses.

You dont have to stop giving her attention. But you have to make it NON SEXUAL attention. Like psychologically healthy things....flying is number one IMO.

Flying to various places for enrichment, playing different "games", visiting different rooms, checking out the fridge, climbing up and down boings, ropes etc, going outside in a travel cage to get sun, participating in food prep, foraging, playing hide and seek....all non sexual enrichment. Recall training would be good if she's a velcro bird.

I really dont agree with too much "cuddling" of parrots. Eventually they will be sexually frustrated how could they NOT be? Procreation is a biological imperative and they are wild animals to boot.

Yes it's not their fault they live alone with humans (if they do)....but overcompensating that with tricking their minds to look at us as mates is really not good especially long term. So that's why I was hoping the conure would help. Did the conure stop plucking?

Vega I realize with health issues you can't maybe do all these things but these are alot of the things that I hope can help her.

wow, I have read before that sweet potatos and flax were both good for plucking? I'm not argueing as I don't have the experiance to do so........ I am really curious though. So far I don't have a problem with plucking here but I certainly want all the fire power I can get just i case.

Originally Posted by Cindy215

I'd give cool soaking wet baths with nothing in the water and I'd use distilled.

Cindy, I'm curious as to why you recommend distilled water. Distilled is the most purified water, but because it is so purified, it lacks any minerals. And it has excess hydrogens from being so purified, which makes it more acidic.

Or am I reading your post wrong - are you saying only to BATHE them using distilled water? But most parrots preen after a bath, so would the acidity and lack of minerals cause a problem when they ingest the distilled water during preening?