Cockatiels and plucking

Question
QUESTION: WOW are you hard to catch!  I have asked you questions before about Buddy, my friend's cockatiel that I now have since they went into a nursing home.  last summer, I noticed bald spots under his wings and other areas.  I didn't think much of it until the feathers started growing in, then I realized he was probably plucking.  he seemed to have stopped for a while, then, I started working from home in December, and now have 2 jobs that I work from home.  I was not able to spend much time with him, and he started plucking...I would hear little chirps of pain from him...I know that once they start, they usually won't stop, but what can I do to break this habit...I think it is a relatively new habit because of the major stress he has had in the last year.  he now spends several hours in the office with me during the day, on his playpen, on my chair, on my shoulder.  he likes his head scratched and we have a routine with that.  He is about nine years old, spent 8 years strictly in a cage before I got him, and has learned to walk down the ladders on his playpen/yard (I was excited about that one!)  He knows when he sees one of my ferrets to not fly off his perch, and is generally a happy bird now, unless there is too much activity going on.  He has started playing with some toys, but usually when he is trying to get my attention...ie ringing his bell, or when he is mad, then he will peck at his toys.  I am still trying new things.  also, from what I read, cockatiels don't usually like fruit, but he likes black cherries and blueberries...are these okay to let him have once in awhile?  I reference the Cockatiels magazine all the time...this is where I found the website and you...last time, you said I was the first one to mention finding you in that magazine.  any ideas you can give me Chrys would be great...oh, usually my 4 ferrets are caged when Buddy is out, but in the morning, it overlaps...
Louise

ANSWER: Hi, Louise,

I work overtime during the week, so I don't get online much during the week.  I've also had many health issues this winter.  In addition, my dad just passed away and I'm estate executor, so I've not been able to answer questions.  

I recommend you keep the ferrets and the bird separate.  The ferrets are enemies to the tiel.  The tiel is most likely scared/stressed out living with the ferrets, particularly when they are out at the same time.  Your bird may know to not fly off his perch when the ferrets are out, but the bird doesn't know if/when the ferrets might get him!  If the plucking started when changes were made to the bird's routine, this is most likely the reason.  A 9-year old bird is used to certain routines.  When these routines are broken, plucking can begin.  You need to get back to the original routines.  It's OK to change routines, but this needs to be done gradually, not all at once.  Birds get stressed out when changes are made too quickly.  

Birds get used to whatever is offered them.  Tiels do like fruit, but it depends on several things.  For example, your bird may not like fruit if you say give the bird a piece of an apple.  However, if you shred this apple into other soft food, your tiel will eat it.  Sometimes I mix applesauce into my bird's soft food mix.  Your bird may not eat a grape for example because it can't fit the grape into its mouth.  You have to offer foods in a manner in which the bird can eat it.  Tiels usually don't hold foods in their feet to eat, so any food(s) provided in a dish have to be a size their can nibble on/eat with their beaks.  Too big and they won't touch it.  Also, birds won't eat foods they don't recognize as being food, so you just have to keep offering every day.  

Yes, you can give the cherries and the blueberries, every day if you wish.  However, try a variety of foods, such as cooked brown rice with veggies mixed in, corn bread, other whole grain/multi grain breads, dry sugarless healthy cereals like Grape Nuts and the like.  

www.birdchannel.com is a good website, too.  Check out www.drsfostersmith.com.  They not only sell a good variety of bird stuffs, but their catalogs contain many helpful articles on how to feed/care for birds.  I receive the catalogs just for the information in them, in addition to the variety of items they offer and their prices are good.

Chrys

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry to hear you are having a rough winter, and my condolences.  Every time I thought to ask you a question, you were not available, so I just keep checking!  I cannot go back to Buddy's original routine he had with his previous owners, but what I can do, is keep as close to what I have been doing as possible.  Obviously, I cannot take him out into the unheated enclosure for 4-6 hours a day in Northeast Ohio winters, so now that I am home all day, I have been trying to be with him as much as possible.  He does like Cheerios, I never thought of Grape-Nuts and I do cut his fruit up into tiny pieces, as I did realize they don't use their feet to eat.  I have tried rice, cornbread and a pumpkin bird bread recipe I found...he squawks at them and literally runs away!  I think the plucking started around the time I got him, if not before, and stopped when he got use to his new place and being out of his cage all the time, and started up again when the weather kept him from going outside and my schedule with him changed.
thanks for the tips

Answer
Hi again, Louise,

It could be that the change in the amount of time you are together has resulted in this changed behavior, but being with him is good, just a change!  Does his environment have enough humidity?  Does he bathe?  If he is overweight, his plucking could be the result of fatty deposits under the skin causing him to itch.  You can see these fatty deposits by looking at the skin and if you see yellow areas under the skin, these are fatty deposits.  Sometimes, spray misting a bird in these areas using water with aloe mixed in helps stop the plucking.  Most plucking, if not a medical condition, is psychological.  Difficulty is finding the psychological problem.  I still think the ferrets have a lot to do with your bird's behavior.  Even though my parrots are used to my cats and have lived with cats all their lives, when one of the cats goes into the bird room, they freak!

Birds won't eat food they don't recognize as food.  Just keep trying!  Offer fresh, soft foods every day.  Also, some tiels just don't like fruit pieces.  Try shredding veggies, like carrots, zuchinni, sweet potatoes...things like this....into cooked brown rice.  Also, take away any seed when offering other foods.  If seed is available at the same time, birds will always choose the seed.  You might also try getting your bird on pelleted food.  A bird's diet affects everything about the bird.

Chrys