Parrots And Reptiles — Is my bird molting or plucking?

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Is my bird molting or plucking?

I hear this question a lot, and I wanted to address it in length here on tumblr, so here ya go!

Molting (v) : (of an animal) shed old feathers, hair, or skin, or an old shell, to make way for a new growth. This happens naturally in all birds, even wild birds

Plucking (v) : a maladaptive, behavioural disorder commonly seen in captive birds which chew, bite or pluck their own feathers with their beak, resulting in damage to the feathers and occasionally the skin. This happens due to a variety of reasons, most of the time in caged pet birds.

Molting will happen with every single parrot at any given time, and is very natural. They will do this just to get new, ‘prettier’ feathers in, or just because the clock in their body says so. When the old feathers are gone, new things, called pin feathers will make their way onto the bird

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( ex: Blue-crowned conure filled with pin feathers on head and face )

These new feathers can be very painful for the bird at first, and may not like you to touch them, but once they get to a certain stage if you gently rub them between your fingers the white outer coating will come off and it will feel         ah-mazing for the bird! 

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(ex: close up of older pin feathers who have lost their tops )

Molting will usually be in sections on your bird as they make their way around their body and so the entire body doesn’t hurt at the same time from the new pin feathers. On rare occasions a bird can just start to molt everywhere at once, but this is nothing to cause an alarm, they just may not get it. 

Plucking on the other hand is intentional ripping of the feathers from the body usually because of stress, malnutrition, smoke/scents, lack of attention, etc.

Once plucking is on the birds mind they usually cannot stop, and it may take the use of a vest or cone to prevent them to do any more damage.

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(ex: African Grey in a homemade sweater to prevent further plucking)

Although plucking is most common in larger birds ( because people get them not knowing the commitment they are and then stop paying as much attention to them after the honeymoon phase is over ), it can happen to smaller birds as well. 

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(ex: Lovebird with bare back from plucking)

Plucking usually ends up with skin showing, and no down feather underneath. In a healthy molt, your birds skin should not show through. If you see your birds skin when you believe it to be molting, consult your avian vet and get them checked out. 

Plucking can be anywhere from minor plucking due to malnutrition ( I.e. not giving them veggies, or feeding a strictly seed diet ) to a major plucking issue where your bird has virtually no feathers.

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(ex: Budgie who has plucked most feathers off of himself )

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(ex: African Grey who has plucked himself completely naked)

You should always consult your avian certified vet ( don’t know who your avian vet is? Here’s a link to a large list of avian vets around the world: http://www.aav.org/search/newsearch.asp ) when you belive your bird is ill, and especially if you believe your bird is plucking.

But if they’re plucking I can just feed them better or change something and they’ll get better, right? Wrong! Most of the time wen a bird plucks, it’s like OCD, and they must do it from then on out. It becomes a habit, and is very hard to change. 

These plucking behaviors can lead to skin disease, feather disease, and mental diseases. Sometimes it’s nothing the human has done wrong really, and they bird does it out of boredom. Although this is rare, it is possible. 

Smaller birds tend to not pluck as much as say a Cockatoo or African Grey, but even the smallest of parrots can pluck and it is something every owner should keep in mind when thinking about their birds health and wellbeing. 

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