Young African Grey picking her feathers

[Graycee]

My African Gray Graycee is 6 months old as of October 14th. She was born on April 14th. I've had her since May 25th. At the end of August, we moved to a new townhouse. Grayce had her own room at our previous house. Her room was fuly wallpapered with disney characters on the wall. I always let her out of her cage to explore her room. With this recent move - I decided to keep Graycee in the family room located beside the kitchen as it would provide the most interaction with us. We live in a two story townhouse and placing her upstairs in the bedroom would only alienate her. She seemed fine for the month of September. However, abouth three weeks ago, I noticed that she had been picking at her feathers on her foot. I left on a trip to NY for the weekend and when I came back it didn't seem to progress any further. But by the middle of the week, she started picking at her butt area and tummy section. I bought a sleeping cage for her and placed her in a separate room at nights so she could get undisturbed sleep. This seemed to work but she has continued to pluck her feathers. I also noticed that she will pluck a feather and spend time playing with it. I've bought her more toys and alternated her old toys. She used to love walking on the floor. She would spend a great deal of time exploring. We have tile in the family room at the new house. I don't think she likes walking on the tile because she spends a grat deal of time on the top of her cage now (she never did this before at the old house). Also, I think she might be missing me because she sees me early in the morning before I go to work and then I spend time with her between 7pm to 8pm. I try to place her in bed by 8pm because I get her up at 6:45in the morning. I took her to the vet and they gave her a clean bill of health. I recently purchased some natural supplements at petmedicine.com. They said that it would help with the feather picking. She also doesn't eat a lot. She's more interested in playing. The vet said that she is too skinny. She might be watching her weight because she is so dainty and proper(LOL). She also hates bathing or spraying. She screams at the top of her lungs whenever I try. She is spoilt. Also, she ignores me for the rest of the day whenever I give her a bath. I think she's mad at me but she comes around after a few hours. I try to bathe her once a week because she's molting and I think that she is itchy and this contributes to her picking. She seems happy but I wish that she wouldn't pluck her feathers. What can I do to help her? I think that she might be stressed because of all the things that I just listed.

[Maggie-]

Yes. Unfortunately, she had to adjust to too many things at once. In the future, when you change homes, talk to her about it. Take her over to the new house at stages of putting it together. I do not mean when you are moving around big pieces of furniture and so on, but doing small things that will not scare her. Show her her room. Talk about it and get VERY excited. This would have made an easier transition. Then you would need to have the cage there already before she moves in.

Now, watch her a lot now. Is there anything in the room that makes her nervous? If so, see what you can do to change it. Is she comfortable in the part of the room you have her? Think about putting little scatter rugs along the tile floor. Maybe this will make her more relaxed about being on the floor.

When you leave town, even for a weekend.....PLEASE make sure someone she trusts is with her. Let her know you are leaving and when will be back. Talk to her on the phone from a distance. Not setting up a Grey correctly to handle your leaving town can cause feather picking and phobias, JUST in itself. This is very important because if you do not prepare her, she may think she is being abandoned. That, in addition to a new house, is a lot for a Grey to handle at once.

If you want to fatten her, give her some pureed butternut squash or sweet potato. I have a recipe and discussion on this in my book.

If you have not purchased my book, PLEASE do so. It will help you in some of these areas. It is African Grey Parrots: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual. An autographed copy is sold in the Grey Place section of this site. Or you can get it off Amazon.com or most bird stores.

With the picking, please do not focus on it. You may want to do a Google search on feather picking toys but be careful to make sure the toys are safe. There is a product called cotton candy that they push for feather picking greys but the birds can get tangled in the toy if playing hard....and a few have gotten hung. So, PLEASE be very vigilant about the safety. Don't get that product, if it is still on the market.

If anyone has ideas about stopping picking, please chime in!

GREY'T Blessings,
Maggie-

PS: But the other issues are as important. The more secure she feels, the less tendency she will have to pick.

[Graycee]

Thanks for your response. Yes, I purchased your book when I got her. I've read it from cover to cover. I purchased some other books as well. I will continue to watch her. I try to ignore her feather picking and I don't make a big deal about it. I've asked her to stop doing it. Hopefully she will. I don't want her to get the wrong message and take my concern as a way of gettting attention so I try to remain calm around her and only express my concerns when she's not present. I've bought her new toys and placed them with the old ones so that she can get used to them. I intend to get up a bit earlier so that I can spend more time with her before I go to work. I'll keep you posted.

[Maggie]

A strength of these guys is HOW telepathic they are. For that reason, you need to try to block your mind about thinking about the feather picking, even away from her. If you are concerned, she will pick up on that telepathically. She may not completely understand what the issue is. She will pick up that something is wrong and start feeling insecure. So, please try to block away your feelings.

Asking her to quit does not work. It only brings it to focus and gives her incorrect attention.

Try the toys. If she starts hurting herself (ie...pulling out feather shafts and/or causing self to bleed, then you need to do more drastic measures like a collar or something). But for now, focus on the toys and extra positive attention when she is not picking.

GREY'T Blessings,
Maggie-

PS: There is a feather picking email group on Yahoo if you want to try something like that too for ideas. You should be able to Google it.