Feather Plucking

There are various reasons why certain birds may pluck themselves or each other. The first and most obvious is that the birds are preparing for nesting. Other reasons may be that the bird\'s diet is lacking in calcium or phosphorous, the bird is stressed or the bird is infested with mites or lice.

Clearly, the solution will depend upon the cause of the problem. If the bird is preparing for nesting, most or all of the feathers will be used to line the nest. If this is the case, providing the bird with nesting material (such as loose feathers or grass/leaves etc should eliminate the problem.

All birds diets should be supplemented with trace elements on a regular basis. Similarly, sources of calcium (shell grit, cuttlefish, limestone) should be constantly available to the bird. If this is not the case in your aviary, it is likely your bird has a deficiency of some sort. This may be recitified by the addition of special formulated solutions (such as calcium syrup or multivitamin solutions) to their drinking water.

There are many causes of stress in birds. Sometimes it is caused by other birds in the cage, whilst at other times the cause is not so obvious. The best approach to this problem is to make the bird as comfortable as possible (perhaps by isolating it), provide it with medicated drinking water (as above) and keep it under close observation.

In all the above cases, it is often good practice to apply a stop-pick spray to the bird\'s feathers. This is a foul tasting (non-toxic) solution which discourages picking.

Mites or lice are easily identified by looking at the bird closely (perhaps with a magnifying glass). Mites and lice are essentially very small insects and tend to occur in large numbers when birds are infested. In fact, you will often find that you become itchy after tending your birds if mites or lice are established in your aviary. There are a number of sprays on the market with which you can treat your bird to eliminate or prevent mite or louse infestation. However, it is best practice to treat any new stock you introduce into your aviary to prevent this from occurring. Similarly, you should regularly disinfect your aviary or treat the floors, walls and nesting material with lime powder which discourages mites and lice.