If you notice an excessive amount of feather loss or patchy feather loss, your parrot may be plucking them. If you have a bird that is plucking please email [email protected] with some details. It's not because of molting. For about a week now she is losing her feather on her chest. Preening is the natural process of grooming and caring for feathers and birds can spend hours a day preening. The skin is very sore looking. Feather plucking in birds is a common behavioural disorder commonly seen in captive parrots which chew, bite or pluck their own feathers with their beaks, resulting in damage to the feathers and occasionally the skin. What is feather plucking? Especially if it's smooth skin which means no feathers grow there. Keeping the air in your home moist in the winter is important too. That's incorrect about the plucking or barbering. When the feathers are intact at the bottom of the cage with the entire shaft or the tips of the feather, it could mean that your bird is molting. Is My Bird Molting or Plucking? You can watch it over the patches if you're worried. He will always lose feathers and grow more, but once or twice a year he will go through a heavy molt … That said, it doesn't look like plucking or barbering. It looks very tender on the patch without feathers. In the wild, they use plucked feathers to line their nests during the breeding season. These bald patches get irritated from the roost bars at night from the lack of feathers in these spots on the skin. Help for a bird that plucks their feathers or a heavy molt This method has been known to stop plucking and additionally prevent permanant follicle damage. I have hens that have bald chests during the summer just before a molt that are red with scabs. The bare patches on the belly/breast are no doubt from plucking her own feathers when she lays her eggs. You should be able to distinguish a bird molting from destructive behavior, which is feather plucking. One way to tell if your birds feather loss is due to molting is to watch how it manipulates or preens its feathers. You can absolutely see it in a bird that young. Keep in mind that you can only help scratch your bird if they don’t show signs of aggressive behavior and it is safe to handle them knowing they will not bite you. Molting will make your pet bird feel itchy all the time that’s why most of the time you will see them preening themselves over a long period or even scratching their head. Birds living outdoors may complete their molt within a month, while indoor birds may stretch it out over an entire year. It is estimated that 10% of captive parrots exhibit this disorder. Many bird feathers also come out as a bird performs its normal preening and grooming routine. Feathers that were plucked and feathers that were molted will be whole, including the feather shaft or "quill". Feather-Picking Problem Behavior So he might be a month or so older than you thought. As I have never had a female bird before, I'm not sure if her current condition is due to molting, feather picking, or the egg laying process. Cockatiels start their adult molt between 6-12 months old – just depends on the bird and sometimes the weather. Birds pluck their feathers for several reasons. Without realizing it you may exposure bird to smoke or perfume or some sort of cleaning agent that will subtly bother your bird causing them to potentially over preening. Warmer weather can trigger a molt. I have a two year old parrotlet, which I thought was a male, but for three weeks has been laying eggs so is obviously female! As long as you don't see your bird plucking or the patches getting a lot bigger then it's really just the natural bald spots they tend to have. As I read the article, I realised that this method would also have helped Cal SO much when she started her big moult and was so upset and uncomfortable for the first few days. Image Source.