I have no idea what to do, except give him toys that he enjoys picking at instead of his feathers. The green appearance of the feathers is due to how light reflects off the surface - the black is the actual color of the feather which you can see when the feather surface is damaged. My GCC gets black edges on his oldest green feathers but this is just from normal wear.

Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI

I am probably a bit late, but Skye was doing something like this about 1 week ago. She was "chewing" a particular spot on the top of her wing (just one wing). I was going to take her to the vet, but did not need to (yet anyway). I gave her soaking showers in her cage under the hose (she loves them) and really drenched her every day. I am pretty sure she was having her first major moult. I am finding little feathers and slightly bigger feathers all over the place. when they moult they are itchy and showering helps relieve that. I could also see little tiny (and I mean tiny) pin feathers on her head and her head looked really motly. she normally looks just beautiful but not lately. Just in case it was not from itchy feathers I picked a large branch from a silky oak tree (from the grevillea family not the oak family)from my yard and she spent hours just chewing into the flowers and leaves and the wood. I have not seen her chewint that spot now for a few days. I did see her chewing on a medium size feather from that area and I am guessing it was one that was causing her grief - because she is not bothered by it now and it does not looke like a permanent wet spot any more. I was also concerned it was lice, but pretty sure now it was not (that was why she was going to the vet). I know that pet birds do not normally get lice but in my neighbourhood we get a lot of wild birds and sparrows around here.

cya
Tracey
Qld Australia

Thanks both of you for your comments. On closer inspection, the damage is on the right wing close to his back and is spreading up and around his shoulder.
Rio also likes the cage in the garden under the hosepipe shower as well. Unfortunately the nights are drawing in here and the temperatures are dropping so it is too cold for him. I do shower him in the bathroom during the cold months, though over the last week he's had 2 showers and has been sprayed twice a day. I must admit the grinding has coincided with us bringing in the electric heater for the winter, though it is switched off during the daytime so I doubt if this is the cause. Anyway, I'm setting off to the (Avian)Vets now, I'll let you know what she says.

Thanks

Stewart
Fleetwood UK

The Vet diagnosed the start of feather picking and prescribed Haliperidol. Even after just a few days, the grinding does seem to be on the wane. When I came in from work today, there was no signs that he had been doing it during the day.

Well I spoke too soon. Last night whilst my wife and I where out, he picked a patch out of his chest. I think this must be down to attention seeking so I'll just have to use the distracting water pistol method as well as the drugs. I have successfully used this method before on an African Grey.

I know nothing about feather pluckers (yet and hopefully never will), but on another forum I belong to they talk about a product called no more pluck (or something like that) plus aloe vera gel/spray that is supposed to help with feather pluckers. Maybe you could look into that. I think both are sprays (not sure though, some might be drops for the water too.). I have aloe plants growing here and I give Skye a leaf every now and then to chew on and she loves it.

cya
Tracey
Qld Australia

I have been using Aloe Vera juice, diluted 1 to 4 of water, 3 times a day since Sunday. This is really frustrating as he has a large cage in the conservatory with plenty of varied toys, is fed an excellent diet and is allowed out 2 hours min every day. He looks out onto a quiet enclosed garden with wild bird activity, and I've even taken to leaving the radio on for him. I almost feel resentment toward him as you see and read of Parrots being kept in disgusting conditions, fed the wrong diet, and left unattended for long periods in tiny cages, yet it feels like he is throwing it back in our faces by behaving like this. To be honest I don't know how long I can put up with this as it's the first thing I think of when I wake in the morning, and not an hour goes by during the day that it isn't playing on my mind. I'll stick with it for a while yet but if there is no improvement then maybe he would be better off where there are other birds.

there is a brand of woven palm leaf toy called shredders that you can get at Petco, or any local bird supply store. almost all birds love it, and it distracts them from feather grinding, plucking, etc.

After reading comments of feather picking in Eclectus I know first hand how discouraging it can seem to a new owner .... I have tried the product 'pluck-no-more' and Aloe and other Vet. recommended treatments. My male Ekkie also had two different collars put on him from Vets. when he was younger. Puffin still destroys his feathers, he is now 15 years young and a wonderful pet.

I truly believe that the most intelligent of birds are these high strung feather pickers.

Increased humidity in their enviroment helps greatly. Attention and love for what they are and not what you expect them to be is important.

When parrots are given up because they now longer look pretty, it is sad indeed.

Well, it's been over a month since I started him on the Haliperidol and there is a definite improvement. For the last 2 weeks the only evidence of picking has been 2 or 3 strands of feather at the bottom of the cage apart from 1 particularly bad day where there was 2 full feathers. I'm still spraying him twice a day with the aloe vera and have reduced the drug to just an evening dose as I'm running out. It's not bugging me as much now as there seems to be hope that he'll stop doing it, so I'll keep plugging on with him.