Does any one else have a feather picker? I have two. A maroon belly conure and a lutino indian ringneck. I'd be interested in other people's stories (and possibly swapping knitting patterns for very little sweaters!!) ;)

I've never seen him do anything that looked different from regular preening, so it's hard to say if he's still at it or not (I've only had him for a few weeks). It makes me really nervous though.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

So it's a few weeks on now. How is Darwin with the picking problem? I was wondering if things had improved or not with the new environment you have given him.

He doesn't look any different than when he got here... I paniced for a little bit when flight feathers started showing up here and there, but he's got pinfeathers coming in so I'm pretty sure it's just normal molting.

I don't think he has stopped though, because under one of his favorite perches there seems to be an excess of little down feathers. My vet suggested a humidifier, as his skin seemed dry to her, so I'm going to get one this weekend.

It will be interesting to see how much that helps. The only tropical islands I've been on (Jamaica, Trinidad) are really humid, so it doesn't surprise me if the relatively dry air around here and at home caused irritated skin and then picking. I'm trying to get TOO opimtistic though... it could be a million other things.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Try Aloe vera spray, it's excellent for soothing irritated skin. I use it on the birds all the time, not just on the two feather pickers either. Our summers can be quite awful and the aloe vera spritzing is aimed at everyone if the days are too drying. It's wonderful stuff for healthy feathers in general.

Do you just spray it onto their feathers, or is there a way to get it onto their skin?

I've read a few recommendations for it but I have reservations about putting any sort of substances onto feathers... I'm sure water is safe but anything other than that, I worry about. Feathers are pretty fascinating in the way they hold together, it's like nature's own velco... does the aloe vera interfere with that at all?

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

I have actually found that their feathers look a lot shinier and healthier with the Aloe spritzing. Cuts down on a certain amount of 'dandruff' too. I don't drown them in the stuff, just lightly mist them, they in turn fluff up and preen happily which in turn allows a certain amount to get to skin level. Some of them practically turn inside out so I can mist under their wings!
With pickers, getting it onto the skin is of course no problem, it just seems to be getting the feathers to 'stick' that is the problem!!
The stuff I use is from the chemist and is sold as a soothing spray for sunburn. (the sun can be pretty mean down here)

A vet recommending a humidifier for any thing other than egg incubation raises a red flag to me.
If you can’t answer yes to all these questions, I recommend that you hold off getting a humidifier until you get some answers or until I can talk you out of it.

Dose your vet keep bird?
If so, dose he use a humidifier for his birds?
If so, did he ask you what the hi/low relative humidity was in your house?
If so, did he recommend a humidity range that you should maintain?
If so, did he give you a recommendation on what type make and model to buy?
If so, did he explain the added high risk of serious respiratory bacterial and fungal infection to both you and your birds by using a humidifier?
If so, did he explain why he would recommend raising the humidity to treat feather picking when low humidity in not even in the top 10 common suspected causes of picking?
If so, did he recommend a 10 day course of Baytril or other antibiotic before recommending the humidifier?

I’m painfully familiar with the pros and cons and how’s and whys of humidifiers for birds and would be glad to answer any questions you may have.


Mike Bross
Phoenix AZ

Now that I have a good look at the bottle, I see that the aloe vera mist I use is a NZ product. Here's the web site for anyone that may be interested.

http://www.lifestream.co.nz/aloevera.html

She does have a bird (two actually), did ask what the humidity is at my house (I dunno, she said 20% was common around here), suggested 45%, didn't mention the risk of infection.

She suggested humidity primarily because of his dry skin; if that helps featherpicking then that would be a nice bonus, but the skin on his feet and the little pink patch on his chest looked dry to her (and even I can see enough flaking on his feet and ankles to be a bit concerned).

Gotta go, more in a minute...

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA