my dilemma with Zoey

06-23-2008, 11:30 AM

I've been worried as to whether or not Zoey may be plucking/barbering this year. It could all very well be a big bad molt. Its just that it has been going on and on and on.
I think it was February when I took Zoey and Sophie in for a flight trim and the guy wasn't quite up to speed. Bottom line Sophie and Zoey both left a little sore. In fact that was the night Zoey laid over on her side and slept for 3 hours on my chest. Poor baby had a hurt foot from the nail clip.
Not long after that she got real raggedy real fast. First I noticed the feathers missing under the wings (bad trim?)
Maybe being next to Sophie made her nervous so I moved her cage. Then I started to notice her chest and legs missing feathers.
All this time though feathers have been falling out as in a regular molt. I give her head scritches and a few little head feathers fall out. Many pin feathers. These are the first set of pics I took a couple weeks ago.

06-23-2008, 11:31 AM

and these are the pictures I took yesterday.

06-23-2008, 12:26 PM

Did you take her to the Vet?
When I got Libby, she had the same thing on the tip (shoulder) of her wings and no hair on the lower part of her leg. She is still like that after seven years.

06-23-2008, 12:29 PM

Theres no spots on her head like that? It appears to be only places she can reach. Tough call. She still beautiful though. Maybe a little Avian Trio might help her out.

06-23-2008, 12:32 PM

Oops...forgot to include this link.

Birds Online - Health and diseases - Feather loss due to a shock

This is the case with Libby as she was there when her two companion birds were shot to death with a shotgun. (first owners ex.)

06-23-2008, 02:15 PM

Jim, if she has never lost feathers in this fashion before I would definitely think something is going on. It doesn't look like a regular molt to me. Her chest is still pretty bare even after a few weeks. The Green Wings get a bit patchy and raggedy looking during a molt as compared to the other Macaws. So a few patches on GW's during a molt would not be alarming, but they don't ever look as bare as Zoey does.

I can't be certain but I think I see a little barbering on her back, but I don't see any barbered feathers on her chest nor under the wing.

It may be time for a vet visit. If it were me I would get a check up to be sure everything looks good. Blood panel (usually a protein electrophoresis is done also) along with Zinc & Lead and fecal. When Kita had high Zinc levels she was bare under her wings and the inside of her legs.

06-23-2008, 02:31 PM

...still thinking about this. Have you done any major diet change with Zoey? Does she get any dried fruit with sulfates in it?

06-23-2008, 02:55 PM

she hasn't had a diet change at all. I'm giving a couple more weeks as her personality has returned to normal, from her grumpy molt personality, last week. Which is normal for her when she molts.

As for her diet though, the last month I lessened to almost none te nuts she eats. I noticed before that that was what she mostly eating of her dry mix.

06-23-2008, 03:01 PM

When I look at the front photos in order of date - I see that the bare patch on her right side is almost orange again. Maybe she's really having a problem with that clip & the wings are bothering her? - hence the all around look to the fall out. I do see pins on her head tho. Didn't Bea say that it wasn't normal for clumps of feathers to come out?

Either a Vet visit or a diet rethink?? - maybe another Vet too, if they did the clip. Regarding the diet, might be she needs something to take her mind off the feathers & on to something new?? - just an idea.

06-23-2008, 03:15 PM

She needs the nuts Jim. Id give her some walnuts to get her oils going again.