How come..?

[Mare]

How come smaller birds, like cockatiels and budgies, aren't as prone to pluck as some of the larger birds? I asked my kids this question and the consensus was...the larger birds have more of an awareness around them and therefore, more sensitive. What do you all think?

[kendrafitz]

That's an interesting question. I don't have smaller bird so I don't have an informed opinion. But I think your kids answer makes sense.

[Mare]

I know that Chip, our cockatiel, is very aware of what's going on but his world really doesn't revolve around being close to us. My cockatoos world, does.

[coltfire]

something worth investigating, its one thing i have never thought about, but the smaller birds dont seem to be pluckers,could it be that smaller birds dont get as stressed as our larger birds.

[mrgoogls]

i only have a small bird and usually cooper is content to sit on his playgym and mess around. he usually just preens and messes with toys. i dont know if all small bird are independent like that but maybe that has something to do with it?

[Debra]

My Amber was a plucker in her previous home and still plucks occasionally. She has a permanent bald spot on her crop area. I've also seen pics of tiels who plucked themselves. So I think that it's just not as common as in the bigger birds, but it's still a problem with these smaller ones.

[mrgoogls]

My Amber was a plucker in her previous home and still plucks occasionally. She has a permanent bald spot on her crop area. I've also seen pics of tiels who plucked themselves. So I think that it's just not as common as in the bigger birds, but it's still a problem with these smaller ones.

i agree, it defiantly CAN happen in small birds. but just more common in bigger ones.

[Pinkbirdy]

Lots of thoughts on this one . I had a plucking bird that eventually died [it was devastating ] . It so hard to treat,But I see how it can be preventable. I heard once aviary birds [that can fly ] don't pluck .Also you don't see too many zons [cause their such a confident bird ]. I don't know If I believe this but its one of the most heartbreaking things to try and help with.

[Mare]

That had to have been a hard one, Terri :(. Maybe, aviary birds have more sense of a freedom than a bird caged and alone. Even though I've raved about how good the Avi-Calm and Featheriffic products have been for Sassy, which they have, she started picking away at her self, recently, and it's so disturbing. She barbers herself, leaves the down but takes her chest feathers. She seems to do this every year around this time. We normally take a vacation in the fall and I've noticed that this is when she starts. We are home for awhile, so I hope she starts to settle back down :).

I think that my personal thoughts would have to be, when these larger birds chose a mate, it's rough on them to be abandoned and if they had a rough start at the beginning of their lives anyway, (living in a cage, without companions, has got to be rough, IMO), plucking gives them some kind of release.

[Pinkbirdy]

Mare,I do definately notice the "Toos" being much more emotionally sensitive [out of all my different species.} Can Sassy were a shirt ?

[Mare]

That's a very good idea, Terri. Sassy is not an habitual plucker and I've found that the Avi-Calm and Featherrific bring back some beautiful feather growth. Her feather plucking issues arise when we leave her for a week or more, at a time. A birdy shirt may be a very good thing for her to wear through these times! Wow,,thank you, Terri :). This makes me think there is hope!

[Turquoise]

I think many of the pluckers are due to the sensitivity of the birds and their surroundings. It isn't always the reason and it seems the larger the bird the more sensitive to its human companions it becomes. They just tend to be more attached to the humans in their lives than the smaller more independent acting birds. That is what I have observed with my own birds and a few I have been around others have owned. Not anything scientific I can relate to or quote.

My Roscoe is my most well adjusted bird in my home. He is my pal, my baby and he barbers his chest feathers every fall when his heavy moult comes about. He is not a plucker and he does not bother any place but his chest & front of his leg areas. Last year when he turned 1 yr old in Sept & began his heavy moult he barbered a small area to one side of his crop area & quit. This year he barbered a lot more and no amount of showering would get his mind off of those prickly pin feathers. He will not let me touch the ones on his chest area when they are prickly, so I couldn't help him.

It was crazy tho watching him as he was treating the tiny feather pieces floating about as if they were insects flying around. He would bite at them in the air & dodge them as if they were alive. I came to the conclusion that in his birdie mind he thinks the pokey feeling is something biting him, so he has to clip it out & then as it floats about he has to attack it to keep it from biting him again. He leaves all his feathers alone now that the moult is over with and he still looks a bit moth eaten on his chest from his barbering. His has nothing to do with being bored, abused, neglected or malnourished like some birds have to endure. His has everything to do with a notion he gets in his head that nothing will dissuade him from. It hurts to see him do it none the less, but I am thankful to know it is short lived with him and not from the way I take care of him.

[Feathers First Aviary]

Please bare with me as I'm on mobile(and my phone is terrible lol) but it seems like larger parrots form much stronger mate bonds. They seem to rely on their mated counterpart much more than the smaller guys. For instance, if one of my budgies loses a mate they will grieve but if I put another budgie in with them, usually in a couple days they are then bonded and the grieving stops. If a cockatoo or a grey loses a mate they can become very self destructive and simply putting another bird in with them can cause an even bigger disaster. They are all different though. I have an amazon that is a plucker, not common but it does happen. She is with another amazon that she has been bonded to practically her whole life but for some reason, she still plucks her chest. I've tried everything to remedy the situation but it seems to be habitual at this point. I have also had a customer that had two bonded budgies, one passed away and the other began plucking to the point of severe mutilation. She had the bird at the vet many times and eventually had to have him pt down because he was literally tearing himself apart to the point of bleeding severely :( I've never experienced plucking in any of my budgies and I have re-paired many of them with absolutely no problems. I think they are every bit as intelligent as the larger birds, they just aren't as dependent.