Isolated Plucking Incident...... we hope!
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 8:48 am
Sooooooo, I think now I get to stop saying I never had any first hand plucking experience.
On August 6th several things happened at once:
*Houseguests came to stay for a few days
*One of them spent a LOT of time next to Rocky's cage
*I changed the Food
*I stopped using the computer in Rocky's room in the middle of the night
*All our normal domestic routines were interrupted
That same week, not sure which day, (houseguests are *SO DISRUPTIVE*) Rocky produced a *PILE OF FEATHERS UNDER HIS SLEEPING PERCH*. I had super cleaned the cage early on the 6th so I noticed them, but I didn't really notice which day. Regardless, he made a pile of feathers big enough for me to say "*WOW, THAT'S A LOT OF FEATHERS*." I guess I'm pretty dumb, because that's as far as I thought. There's something going on in our family that brought relatives in town and sucked up all my time. There was no time for anything but tossing food into the cage and running out the door for the best part of a week.
On August 20th I cleaned up the pile of feathers (which had not changed since the day after it was made) and pulled the grate to wash.
One of my houseguests came back, but this time did not spent time in Rocky's room. Two days later I was servicing the cage and I noticed Rocky looks really tattered and his head seems to be a mess of heavy molting. Suddenly I realized he has a *BARE SPOT* with pin feathers at the back of his neck, just below the pink ring. This spot is no molting, for sure. It's quite a small patch, being a small area of the bird, and the exposed area of skin is probably no larger than one of my smaller fingernails.
Of course, as soon as this picture came into focus, I was really quite worried. I fussed over whether he could actually reach that spot to pluck, but since it is on the neck, not the head, I concluded he could. I reviewed recent events and told my relative to stay away from the bird. Sinbad is kind enough to raise a big alarm if my relative loiters in the area, so this is easy to monitor. I have to stress my relative is not unkind to the birds, although he is a little bit dense about standing right in front of Sinbad when he is clearly upset by it.
Being me, I pulled out my bird log book and started collecting the feathers from the cage at intervals and taping them in there with notes about their location and time of the collections. I logged this for 48 hours and came to the conclusion that Rocky had a one (or possibly two consecutive) plucking session while my relatives were staying here, and is now growing the feathers back in, and molting at the same time. The molting seems a little suspicious, as he had molted in July and already put down the tail feathers. But, as molts go, it had been a little light, so maybe this is more of the same. Maybe, too, it is a stress induced molt. I will let time tell me, if he throws down his tail feathers again.
Of course, now I'm paranoid that the recent domestic stress may have allowed him to succumb to any PBFD he might have been carrying but not suffering until now. Wouldn't be me if I didn't look for trouble. So, time will tell there as well.
*A note about the sucking up...... As soon as I suspected Rocky might have plucked himself, I started sucking up and overcompensating. Instead of presenting his foods in rotation, I worried he might not be consuming enough and I offered all the foods, enough for a small flock, all at once. I confess; I panicked. I also offered a dish of foot toys and high value treats right next to the sleeping perch, in case he got an urge to mess with something in the night. I fed him safflower seeds by hand until he would not eat any more. (Did that several times, actually.) I made him a special dish of warm, soaked grains for comfort food. Rocky responded to all this guilt-ridden spoiling with grace. He ate his treat bonanza and went about his business. He really *is* perfect!
So, that's our story of a horrifying isolated plucking incident. From now on I expect I will be quite protective of my bird when people come over to stay. I can't be sure which disruption was too much for Rocky, or perhaps it was the combination. It's reasonable to expect he will be handled with (figurative) kid gloves for a while. This is the first time he has faced such a clear threat with me and I imagine it will take me some time to get over the scare.
On August 6th several things happened at once:
*Houseguests came to stay for a few days
*One of them spent a LOT of time next to Rocky's cage
*I changed the Food
*I stopped using the computer in Rocky's room in the middle of the night
*All our normal domestic routines were interrupted
That same week, not sure which day, (houseguests are *SO DISRUPTIVE*) Rocky produced a *PILE OF FEATHERS UNDER HIS SLEEPING PERCH*. I had super cleaned the cage early on the 6th so I noticed them, but I didn't really notice which day. Regardless, he made a pile of feathers big enough for me to say "*WOW, THAT'S A LOT OF FEATHERS*." I guess I'm pretty dumb, because that's as far as I thought. There's something going on in our family that brought relatives in town and sucked up all my time. There was no time for anything but tossing food into the cage and running out the door for the best part of a week.
On August 20th I cleaned up the pile of feathers (which had not changed since the day after it was made) and pulled the grate to wash.
One of my houseguests came back, but this time did not spent time in Rocky's room. Two days later I was servicing the cage and I noticed Rocky looks really tattered and his head seems to be a mess of heavy molting. Suddenly I realized he has a *BARE SPOT* with pin feathers at the back of his neck, just below the pink ring. This spot is no molting, for sure. It's quite a small patch, being a small area of the bird, and the exposed area of skin is probably no larger than one of my smaller fingernails.
Of course, as soon as this picture came into focus, I was really quite worried. I fussed over whether he could actually reach that spot to pluck, but since it is on the neck, not the head, I concluded he could. I reviewed recent events and told my relative to stay away from the bird. Sinbad is kind enough to raise a big alarm if my relative loiters in the area, so this is easy to monitor. I have to stress my relative is not unkind to the birds, although he is a little bit dense about standing right in front of Sinbad when he is clearly upset by it.
Being me, I pulled out my bird log book and started collecting the feathers from the cage at intervals and taping them in there with notes about their location and time of the collections. I logged this for 48 hours and came to the conclusion that Rocky had a one (or possibly two consecutive) plucking session while my relatives were staying here, and is now growing the feathers back in, and molting at the same time. The molting seems a little suspicious, as he had molted in July and already put down the tail feathers. But, as molts go, it had been a little light, so maybe this is more of the same. Maybe, too, it is a stress induced molt. I will let time tell me, if he throws down his tail feathers again.
Of course, now I'm paranoid that the recent domestic stress may have allowed him to succumb to any PBFD he might have been carrying but not suffering until now. Wouldn't be me if I didn't look for trouble. So, time will tell there as well.
*A note about the sucking up...... As soon as I suspected Rocky might have plucked himself, I started sucking up and overcompensating. Instead of presenting his foods in rotation, I worried he might not be consuming enough and I offered all the foods, enough for a small flock, all at once. I confess; I panicked. I also offered a dish of foot toys and high value treats right next to the sleeping perch, in case he got an urge to mess with something in the night. I fed him safflower seeds by hand until he would not eat any more. (Did that several times, actually.) I made him a special dish of warm, soaked grains for comfort food. Rocky responded to all this guilt-ridden spoiling with grace. He ate his treat bonanza and went about his business. He really *is* perfect!
So, that's our story of a horrifying isolated plucking incident. From now on I expect I will be quite protective of my bird when people come over to stay. I can't be sure which disruption was too much for Rocky, or perhaps it was the combination. It's reasonable to expect he will be handled with (figurative) kid gloves for a while. This is the first time he has faced such a clear threat with me and I imagine it will take me some time to get over the scare.