12 year IRN vetran

[Mimi-petstylist]

My Male Taj came to me from a petstore I worked at. He came in as a hand fed baby and I fell instantly in love with him. After his first year he decided he wasnt going to subject himself to being touched, but loves to hang out on the back of my chair or my computer table. A couple of years after Taj came home, I heard about a female in another petstore who was so emotionally messed up that she had become not only a plucker but a self mutilator. Of course I went in and took her home and they offered her as an adoption rather than a purchase - desperate to get her out of the sick room and into a home that could care for her.

For 2 years she only wanted to kill my male and while she finally stopped ripping her skin off and even allowed her down to come in, she will not allow her main feathers to come back. Every moult the itching drives her crazy and she still pulls out her lovely blue feathers. Finally I was able to house the pair together, and while she does not 'love' him, she seems to tolerate him much more. The only time she seems to enjoy his company is the spring, but his early lessons at the end of her beak have stayed with him, and while he is happy to flirt and feed her, he never actually gets up the nerve to breed. No problem for me, it means I dont have to worry about hard boiling her eggs to ensure they dont hatch (I have no desire to stress about babies).

[ellieelectrons]

Hi and welcome.

I'm glad you were able to rescue her and give her a good home.

I was just wondering did you ever have her avian vet-checked to rule out any health/disease issues that could be causing the plucking? From what you are saying it sounds like it's more a behavioural issue but it's definitely worth checking.

Ellie.