feather chewing/molting

[Brandy]

Milly is in the middle of a very serious molt right now and shes losing feathers left, right and center,,,,,no biggie, this is normal

howver if she can get to one of the dropped feathers or if she gets to a molted feather,,she will grab it and chew on it,,,when its all chewed up, she throws it back on the cage/playstand bottom,,at first i didnt really think anything of it,,until i was talking to a bird friend/breeder and she said that i shouldnt allow Milly to chew on them, if Milly finds comfort in chewing on molted feather she may find comfort in chewing her own feathers,,,so now when i see her with one, i take it from her and usually give her something else to chew on

HOWEVER,,,this morning, she was chewing on a feather,,i went and got a nutriberry and exchanged the feather for the berry,,,but then i got thinking,,,well this cant be good,,shes going to think whenever she chews on a feather,,it gets Mom over here giving me attention

So my question,,,should I just let her chew on the molted feathers?? or should I take them??

[Shirley]

Holly chews on her molted feathers -- not that she goes and picks them up, she can't get to the floor of her cage, but if she manages to have one as it comes out, she chews on it. She's done that for three years. She's never ever barbered or feather-picked.

But -- I'm not going to offer an answer to your question, either.

[Brandy]

Shirley,,,Milly cant reach them through her grate but something the bigger ones will lay on top of the grate or stick to a toy on the way down,,lol

[Shirley]

Same with Holly -- and she'll pick one up and chew on it or play with it then, but she doesn't pull one out of herself just to chew it.

[Ellen K. Cook, DVM]

The first time I saw Shelby chewing a molted feather, I nearly had a heart attack :eek: I am so paranoid about feather destructive behavior in 'toos (and grays). Now I don't worry, but I do take the feather away if I catch her chewing on one.

I would recommend taking the molted feather away from Millie, with no emotion, no fuss and no substitions for chewing (you are right-Millie might perceive the nutriberry as a reward for chewing her molted feather).

When they are in a heavy molt, it helps to provide more acceptable preening and chewing things for our parrots. A particular favorite of Merlin and Shelby is a strip of velcro. You can buy velcro in a roll and then cut off a 6-8" strip-they love to "preen" that velcro :D And lots of branches and leafy veggies to chew up are always in demand!

[Brandy]

okay,

Thanks Dr. C

she right now had loads of shreddables that she has been busy destroying, Ive also been giving her lots of extra showers

Milly has to be the strangest bird though,,she will NOT preen when shes wet, she just sits there and drips dry,,,she will not preen until shes completly dry

she doesnt really eat lettuce or any leafy veggies for that matter unless they are cut up very small,,maybe I should hang some leafy lettuce on her new playgym and she may possibly eat it,,*crosses fingers*

[Brandy]

ohhhhh,,I never thought of velcro before,,,great idea

[Jim]

Hi

Both my boys will play with feathers that have come out. Teo being the more likely one if it's on to the floor, no grate, and hull it up to a perch and play with/explore it.

Like you Brandy I was concerned. Here is what I came up with after much thought and discussion. I made a list of all known things that can lead to feather abuse. Medical, diet and behavioral. The medical and diet were the easy ones, as far as I knew they were fine and ate a good diet so they were scratched off the list. The behavior took some deeper exploring and thought. Were they bored, did they have enough toys or things to do, were they stressed, had there been resent changes, things like that. I didn't think so and scratched them. I ask myself - now what? What I came up with and believe me this is not a fact or something I take any responsibility for to determine the outcome. Based on what I knew about my birds, I observed best I could if they were obsessed with the feather or would they give it up when offered a different toy, stimulus, reward, reinforcement, pick the word that works best. My conclusion with my birds was it was simply playing/exploring. They had no problem giving up the feather and moving on the something else. So for me I don't worry about it.

Dr C, I was told that there is calcium in the shaft that they may be getting or need. They do at times split the shaft and tounge it. Is this true?

[Brandy]

that makes perfect sense Jim

and yes Milly drops it immediately as soon as she sees me coming and doesnt give it another look,,and it doesnt have to be just the big feathers, she will do it to the small grey ones as well,,,she doesnt chew on the little white down feathers though

so by the sounds of it it must be quite normal for parrots to 'explore' their molted feathers? I just never heard anyone ever mention it so i thought maybe it was the beginning of feather destruction

[Shirley]

The feathers are protein, not calcium, I believe. Bones are calcium. Feathers are more the keratin/finger nail material, I believe.

I take Holly's away, too, now, and give her something else to chew. She never obsesses or looks for another feather.

Now... here's the worrisome thing... Katrina Kitty's FAVORITE thing to roll on and hold in her paws and chew on are Tucker's feathers! She finds them under the flight cage and plays forever with them! But, they don't make her any more aggressive toward the cage than she normally is.

[jimleasure]

i've never had a 'picker'. all of the birds i have or had seem to play with(chew on) dropped feathers. i didn't fuss with them until i cleaned the cage and just took them out. i'm not sure if my guys ever related that those were their feathers or if they just 'fiddled' with them kind of like a child putting something (building block or whatever) to it's mouth mindlessly.

jim leasure

[Jim]

Here's my 'thoughts' on this if, we have checked off the medical and diet and are wondering if it's behavioral. When both reinforcers, the toy (for instance) and the feather are present, I know if they choose the toy, the toy is the more reinforcing stimulus. If I remove the feather I don't know if the toy is more reinforcing than the feather. I know it goes way deeper than this, really I do:) this is but one test. Hence, if a commonly known/used reinforcer, like a toy that can be in the cage, does *not* cause them to give up the feather, I would think I have a problem. I would assume from this test that the feather is very very reinforcing to them and that could be a real problem.

Hey, just my thoughts.:scratchch

Shirley, Not there of course, but I would think the kitty is simply in Haven that she has found all these feathers to play with. From what you have said I don't see where being more aggressive would be part of the equation. Maybe I'm missing something.

[Shirley]

The cat loves to play with the feathers, but it doesn't seem to make her want to "eat the birds" more.

Holly seems to like to play with a feather as much as any "stick" she finds. She drops it from boredom as she does any toy.

I find both behaviors to be pretty benign, imo.

I told Troy, if he wanted the ultimate cat toy, just tie a bunch of 'tiel feathers to a long stick and wiggle it for Katrina. She'd love it!

[Ellen K. Cook, DVM]

Good discussion,all! Jim, feathers don't have any significant amounts of calcium. I think they split the shafts because its what parrots do-take stuff apart ;)

I know what you mean about Katrina-my Rottie loves to chew up those big flight and tail feathers and it makes me nervous. Like, is she getting a taste of cockatoo? Serioulsy, she has been taught birds are sacred and when she sees Merlin on the floor she runs the other way. Not from anything I have done, but Merlin has administered some impressive beak punishment to poor Jessie :eek:

And feathers DO make the best cat toys, Shirley. People pay good money for feathered cat toys. Hmmmm, maybe that's an idea for all these molted feathers floating around here :roflmao2:

[Ginny]

Ok guys here you go..... don't let those birds chew the feathers they are worth lots of money. :dance:



http://cgi.ebay.com/11-RARE-HYACINTH-MACAW-PARROT-BIRD-TAIL-FEATHERS_W0QQitemZ110007990601QQihZ001QQcategoryZ4 1199QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I have so many feathers from the girls.....I have thought about selling them. :idea:

Do you guys think I can retire? :beerchug:

[Shirley]

There you go, Ginny! You put this all in perspective! :agree: :funny:

[Ginny]

I guess I should be serious...


I have to agree with the rest if it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal to the bird then it probably isn't. Both of my birds act like they hate the feathers that fall out of them. They don't want anything to do with them. So I guess I am not much help.

But on the other hand I have tons of molted feathers that are in GREAT shape. I have thought about selling them. There are people that make Beautiful crafts out of them. Maybe I could trade them some feathers for a craft.

[Ginny]

There you go, Ginny! You put this all in perspective! :agree: :funny:

I just hope I didn't offend anyone but I do think it is a great idea. If I had an ebay account I think I would try to sell some. Mark has so many of them in zip lock bags......For what???????? :doh:

[Shirley]

Well, Ginny, remember the bird portraits painted on the feathers that we saw? I have the paints... got them over a year ago... and I have a load of feathers... someday I'm going to actually paint our birds' portraits on their feathers. If it comes out nicely, I'll let you know and paint yours, too! :) So save a few of your feathers.

[Ginny]

Well, Ginny, remember the bird portraits painted on the feathers that we saw? I have the paints... got them over a year ago... and I have a load of feathers... someday I'm going to actually paint our birds' portraits on their feathers. If it comes out nicely, I'll let you know and paint yours, too! :) So save a few of your feathers.

Oh ya I forgot all about them. I know I couldn't do that. You have to have a tiny brush and a steady hand, oh and talent... (that I am sure I don't have). But I know you would do a great job.

[Shirley]

Well, don't know, but going to try. I have all the oil brushes from ages ago... tiny ones, too.:emot-danc

[Ginny]

Well, don't know, but going to try. I have all the oil brushes from ages ago... tiny ones, too.:emot-danc

I can't wait to see them.

[Shirley]

OK... after I edit these current weddings, I'll have to get motivated... :highfive:

[Brandy]

yes Shirley,,,GET MOTIVATED,,lol

I would LOVE to see this ,,it sounds amazing

[parrotgirl]

Bucc will chew on his moulted feather, well he will preen it for ages then when its looking its best he lets it go. He has never plucked, he just likes nice preened feathers on the bottom of the cage or floor. lol.


Shirley, can't wait to see these pictures. :funny:

You have to have a tiny brush and a steady hand, oh and talent.

that lets me out then, I don't have the steady hand, and even if I did I certainly don't have the talent. :funny: