feather picking

Question
Hello!!

I have two very young birds. One a 6 month old cinnamon green cheeked conure (Cricket), and a 4 month old hahn's macaw (Chloe). We purchased Cricket first, and had her for about a month or so before we got Chloe. They get along okay--will share a food bowl but prefer not to, pretty much respect eachothers' personal space unless one is feeling particularly cheekey. For the most part both birds are very easygoing and accepting of new people and places, which i attribute to their age and luck. However, we've begun to worry about feather picking. The other day, I looked over and Cricket had removed a tail feather. A week later we had to take an extended road trip (6 hours) with the birds. We had a death in the family and had no one to watch the birds while we drove home for the funeral. They were fine in the car, eating, playing, chattering and napping. Our travel cages are almost big enough to permanently house the birds, and are decked out with toys and rope perches (these seem to absorb road vibrations really well). We stayed with family near to where the funeral services were,and left the birds there wile we attended the funeral and wake for the day. When we came home and there were more feathers in the bottom of her cage than we're used to seeing (maybe 15). This family member informed us that all the feathers seemed to come from Cricket's chest, and when I looked I thought I could see an area where the feathers seemed thinner than the rest. She does have a lot of new feathers coming in on her head, but I don't see them anywhere else. I'm wondering if this could be feather picking, or a normal partial molt. And most importantly, how would I recognize picking so that I can stop it  before it gets out of control? Chloe seems to be just fine, albeit very happy to be back in her regular cage.They both get lots of veggies, nuts, fruits, pellets, eggs and home cooked birdie bread treats.

Answer
Hi, Kathleen,

Sometimes it's difficult to ascertain a normal molt from feather plucking.  You have to look at the situation overall, time of year, etc.

I wouldn't be concerned about the one tail feather that was removed.  Often times a bird will remove a feather that is about to come out anyway as a result of the molt because the feather can be irritating to the bird.  All birds preen themselves (and other birds if other birds are present and they get along).  Birds should spend a good part of their day preening because their feathers have to be in tip-top shape for them to be able to fly.  So when you see your bird preening, don't assume the bird is plucking its feathers.  You'll need to know the difference.  

Even though your birds seemed to do just fine on the trip, they could actually have been stressed out and probably were.  This can result in feather plucking.  Feather plucking can be a medical condition, can be diet related, or can result from psycholigical reasons (stress).  Since she has a lot of new feathers coming in on her head, she is most likely in a molt.  You may not know she has lost feathers on other parts of her body until you see the new pin feathers coming in (the feather shafts are white and look like straw or toothpicks coming in).  When a bird plucks it's feathers, they will normally leave a bare spot.  During a molt, you will not see a bare spot, as molting is a process that takes about 4-6 weeks and is gradual.  Molting does not result in bare spots.  Molting in and of itself is very stressful for a bird because it takes nearly all a bird's energy to replace their feathers.  Add a molt on top of the road trip, and you probably have a very stressed out bird!  

I recommend you give it some time, watch Cricket to see if you can determine if she is in a molt or, in fact, plucking herself.  During a molt, a bird might lose 2-3 feathers per day (some birds less, some more, just depends on how severe the molt is, etc.).  A bird that hasn't molted by a certain time (about beginning of Oct, and depending on where you live), can go into a severe molt where they lose a lot of feathers quickly.  Some birds that are on eggs/have babies will hold off on a molt until they no longer can (a bird doesn't usually molt and have eggs/offspring at the same time because of the amount of stress involved).  Keep in mind that she may be under a lot of stress right now.  Try to keep her calm and keep activity around her minimal until stress is under control.  Don't make any changes to stress her out even more, i.e., keep things as normal as possible.  If your birds don't bathe regularly, you might want to give them a dish of water to bathe in or spray mist them very gently.  This encourages preening.

Chrys