Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:15 pm Post subject: bird pulling feathers from another
i have had my kakarikis for over a year now with no problems i noticed a couple of weeks ago tatters was losing feathers from her back i thought it may be mites and treated as such, then a couple of days ago i hears a yelp and saw my other bird beauty pulling a feather out of tatters back, they are both females and do everythig together i also have a male but they pay no attention to him, i noticed that she actually tries to eat the feather i have no idea why she would do this any help would be thanks.
Hello Tatters,
I have noticed featherpicking with females who raised their youngsters. Why they do it, I don't know but it is my opinion it is a dominant trait ,cause most of the offspring behave as well with their offspring. Usually it is chick they want to pick but sometimes they have a tendency to pick the mature ones.
Over the yrs we have had yhe occassional kakariki that has got agressive.
Of more accruaty an agressive bird...this seems to be when they have matured
A couple where aggressive birds 'palmed off ' on to us.
Talking with other pattot nreeders, yjey to have the occassional agressive bird when mature...
Our general opinion is that these do turn up once in a wgile, wven from good parents....what peter says above
Quote:
cause most of the offspring behave as well with their offspring
Still stands true..."most"
A rough estimate would be anout or less than 1%
My therory is this:
Just as other species, including humans, throw a defective off spring, be it a wing, leg, interal, heart, liver...there is no reason the brain should be an exception
I go with my therory because
1/ It sounds plausable
2/It makes it a little easier to justify euthanize the bird for me.
It was suggested by 1 parrot breeder as a calcuim defiency, I do not agree with this, thu I cannnot right this theory off competly, could be worth a trt....isolate doese up for a week, and try again??? _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
I do agree with what was previously said by Steptoe and Peter.
Also, one breeder told me that it could be hereditary, meaning that birds that had parents who were featherpickers, have a stronger tendency to adopt such behavior later.
This same breeder defends that such birds are not suitable for breeding and we should get rid of them, either giving them away (they can still be a pet, if left alone) or in a more radical way, as Steptoe suggests, euthanazia could also be a solution, even if personnaly I wouldn't go that way.
I have one male cockatiel who had this problem. He used to pick his female feathers (mainly when not in the breeding season), and if he had the opportunity he also did it to any cockatiel chick he might breed.
The problem seems now to be under control.
How? Well, some months ago I started converting all my birds (kakarikis as well as cockatiels, ring-necks, rosellas, Senegal parrots) to Harrison's bird food. Since then, and specially since this particular male eats Harrison's Power Treats, he almost stopped picking other birds feathers. It seems that these Power Treats contain a small percentage of another Harrison product, AVIx Sunshine Factor, which is made with 100% of the red palm fruits (dende) of some Brazilian palm tree.
So rather than get rid of your bird, you may wish to give it a try and offer to your bird this AVIx Sunshine Factor, or AVIx Booster (another Harrison's product which is also supposed to help reduce featherpicking). Or even try those Power Treats. I haven't used the 2 first products yet, only the last one, and my kakarikis appreciate it. The only inconvenience is that the pieces are too big (they are made the right size for big parrots, macaws, etc) for kakarikis and in order to make them eat them one has to crop each piece in small pieces that are suitable for the size of a kakariki.
thanks for the reply i will take all of your advice on board. The wife did pass a coment the other day saying she thought that beauty had become more aggresive in nature will have to see how it goes thanks.
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