If he is, I don't know why.  Or if he really is... we've never actually seen him do it.  He's about 12-13 years old.  Nothing has changed except Chester moving in.  Chester is the ferret I mentioned some months ago.  There's no interaction between them; Chester can't get to G.  And G is used to furred animals, since he knew my cat Toby.

He's got some bare patches on his chest, with feathers growing in, but a lot of the area is bare.  I see a lot of feathers in his cage, but both he and Rio have been molting.  He sings and whistles, eats, plays, and generally acts normally.  I thought it might be a skin irritation.  He's due for a grooming, so I thought I'd let the groomers and possibly the breeder take a look.

Would he be plucking if he seemed normal and happy?

Sounds like a vet visit might be in order. I wouldn't count out the stress over the ferret either. Just cause they don't interact doesn't mean G doesn't know he's there. Prey/predator stress can still exist. My birds never even see our dogs but I've watched them in their room when the dogs are in the house. They're always on alert. They know something big is out there.

Could just be a real rough molt. The age could be a factor too. Liz Wilson's macaw Sam is pretty well up there in age. I've heard her speak about the physical changes Sam has gone through, she's experienced some feather loss what they've determined is the equivilent of male or female pattern baldness.

Keep a strong eye on her. Even if one slight thing is off it could be a clue. We know how good they are at hiding illness.

See what the groomed and breeder think.

Thanks. When I was at the groomer for Rio, she suggested a tiny bit of pure aloe. If it is a skin irritation, that should help. I haven't tried that yet since G is so skittish about being handled. I'll to towel him and apply some to his chest. I'm going to have to mist him also. It kind of does look like a person's hair thinning now that you mention it. Rio, on the other hand looks at Chester with a quizzical look of "wth is that thing?"

Regular misting can help too. Let us know how the allow treatment works.

Will do.

I just realized I spelled aloe wrong in that last post :S
And I'm not sure why it posted twice. Oh well.

You can mist Aloe juice, this may be easier if its hard to handle him.

A visit to the vet seems indicated too, just in case its not a lack in vitamins...

Let us know !

His feathers are coming back and filling in albeit slowly.  In the 12 years or so I have him I've never seen this.  Of course, it may be that he is getting older and his metabolism is slowing down.  He's happy to sit on his perches, whistle, look around and watch TV, and scamper around his cage, inside and out.  I can't be sure how old he is.  I assumed he was about 1-2 when I got him, so that would make him about 13-14.  He's fine otherwise... his plain old self. I never thought until now of snapping a picture. I'll do it this weekend.

This post was last modified: 07-10-2009 09:49 AM by Minotaur.

Sounds Like it may have been a rough molt. If he is acting normally otherwise I wouldn't worry, but I would keep an eye open.

I forgot to do the pic. Not enough hours in the day. *sigh*