Posted by featherface on January 24, 2003 at 09:14:17:
In Reply to: Excessive feather picking posted by mrsweo on January 22, 2003 at 19:24:27:
Some birds are pluckers. They do it because they may be ill, because they are stressed, or because they are bored. Some birds do it habitually.. for no reason. Taking the bird to the vet was an excellent decision. If they were my budgies, I would remove the plucked one and put him in a cage by himself, right next to the other cage (provided he is not ill), so that hes able to socialize without the danger from the other birds.
Offer him a bath in the morning, or a misting, if he will allow it. He should have at least 2-3 baths per week. Do it in a warm room of the home and make sure that you do it early so that he gets dried and doesnt catch a chill. You can go to a healthfood store and buy pure aloe vera with no added dyes or fragrance. Add a small amount to his bath/mist water daily. You can also rub the aloe on the bare, irritated skin to help it heal.
Flax seed is also wonderful for helping to grow healthy beautiful feathers. Cold Milled Flax is fine, or you can find flax on the stem at bird supply websites online.
If all else fails.. and you have exhausted all of these methods without results, You can try chamomile tea. You brew a cup of decaf chamomile tea as though you were going to drink it. Remove the bag/leaves and add a full quart (32 ounces) of water to that. Instead of water in the cage, use the tea for 2 weeks straight. Remove the water and use nothing but tea in its place for 2 weeks. Then put the water back in and give the tea in an extra dish every other day of the week. The days you have the tea in the cage, the bird will drink both water and tea. This is recommended by holistic vets for pluckers. I have been using it on my umbrella too with great results. As always, I recommend you consult your avian vet before trying the tea. Good luck with your little guy.
