Feather Plucking and Picking in Caged Birds

Practical Ways to Help Prevent Feather Picking

• Increasing the amount of time you spend with your bird will greatly reduce feather picking tendencies because the bird is kept otherwise engaged.
• Sometimes changing the location of the bird's cage and/or perch is helpful. Be sure to think about how the location of the cage affects the bird's stress and contentment levels.
• Bathing or misting a feather picker on a daily or otherwise regular basis may be beneficial because wetting the feathers encourages normal preening behavior.
• Boredom and resultant feather picking may be combated by providing a wide variety of foods. Emphasis should be placed on foods that require some time and effort to eat.
• The widest variety and assortment of toys possible should be offered. The toys (chains, bells, rawhide and hardwood pieces, mirrors, hard rubber toys) should be durable and appropriate for the size and type of bird being considered.
• Use a foul-tasting proprietary spray from your pet store. Unfortunately, none of these is truly effective. They merely treat the symptom (feather picking) but do not treat the causes of feather picking. Under certain circumstances, however, some of these remedies may provide some help or relief.

Much feather picking of caged birds results from sexual isolation and frustration. It is easy for most bird owners to subconsciously ignore the sexuality of their pet bird because, in most cases, the true gender of their bird may not be known. Unfortunately, in the home, solitary pet birds are rarely free to engage in these pursuits. The frustration that often follows can result in feather picking. Providing an appropriate mate is obvious, but not always practical. Reducing sexual stimulation (removing mirrors, placing birds of opposite sex that are caged separately out of sound range from each other) may be helpful.