Parrot feathers are not growing

Question

We bought a parrot 11 months ago, why are its feathers not growing back?

Answer 1

There are many reasons why a parrot will pluck the first thing that should be done is have a physical exam done by an avian veterinarian. When a bird has plucked for so long the follicles will become damaged, the feathers may not return.

Some things to consider at home.

Diet

A bird needs a balanced diet filled with a pelleted diet along with fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, sprouts and grains.

Not so long ago it was believed that parrots should be fed exclusively seed, this assumption was based on what chickens eat. All seed diets, as we now know, cause many ailments in our parrots.

Such as:

• Obesity (fatty liver disease, diabetes, heart disease)
• Calcium deficiency (egg binding, brittle bones)
• Vitamin A deficiency (various infections, poor feather quality)
• Iodine deficiency (thyroid problems)

Enrichment

Parrots are highly intelligent so staying inside of a cage with nothing to do will make them go insane. Birds who lack enrichment will have feather destructive behaviors, they will over-preen, pluck and can even get to the point of self-harm.

There are 5 types of enrichment:

1. Tactile

This can be achieved by having toys your parrot can destroy.

2. Visual

Keeping a tv on for your bird to watch can be delightful to them, some birds love to look out the window as well.

3. Auditory

If you don't have a tv to play all day you can simply turn on a radio.

4. Social

This is simply being able to spend time with you or another bird (essentially what they consider part of the flock). Lots of outside cage time is ideal, having a jungle gym or play stand in another part of the house where the family spends a lot of time is also beneficial (unless you have a bird who gets anxious with high volume of traffic).

5. Dietary

Birds should not be fed directly from a bowl, they should have to forage for all their food. If your bird does not know how to forage you will have to teach them, start easy then once mastered you can make it a bit more complicated. Be sure to monitor your birds weight during this time to ensure he is finding his food.

A good starter foraging option is to use a stainless steel foraging bucket, make sure the bird see's you put treats in the bucket and fill it with assorted pieces of paper, cardboard, wooden blocks, acrylic toys etc.

For their fresh food use a Buffet Ball, line it with a leaf of kale or bok choy (to prevent food from falling out) and insert the chop.