Hi Robin,
Firstly I admire your willingness tyo help in taking in that
beautiful bird. Wanting to have her in a place where she is happy is a very noble and worthy thought. I applaud you for it.
Feather plucking is one of the most complicated issues to deal with in any bird once it starts. That is not to say that it can't be succesfuuly dealt with but it can be tricky. Eclectus, Greys, and Cockatoos tend to be more likely to feather pluck or mutilate. Besides succesfully working with thiose types of parrots, I have also, worked with plucking lovebirds, quaker parrots, conures and cockatiels. All parrots if in the wrong environment can become pluckers.
Sometimes a change in environment with some new toys and attention is all it takes. The first step though and it is almost a mantra when dealing with feather pluckers is to take the bird to the vet to rule out any medical problems.
If medical reasons are ruled out, some of other things that can contribute to plucking are as follows.
The bird wants attention: If someone actually sees a parrot plucking feathers and makes a big deal of it, by saying something or reacting to the bird's plucking, you can actually reinforce the behavior and make the plucking worse. Give your bird a healthy ammount of good attention but if you see her pluck, ignore it.
Boredom: If the bird doesn't have something available to keep its attention in a positive way, a bird might just pluck out of boredom.
Sexual maturity: When a bird gets into an egg laying mode , for example, they sometimes pluck out a patch on the chest , we call it a brood patch. It is not something we are thrilled with but some birds use the feathers in a nest and they sit on the eggs with their skin instead of the feathers that used to be in that patch.
Diet plays a part: Take the African Greys, for example. Many Greys pluck, In examining the situation, birders and vets have discovered that the nut of the Red Palm is a major source of oils and fats in an African Greys diet in the wild. Of course this is lacking in the diets of birds kept as companions. It has been found that by adding Red palm Oil to the diets of some greys that it stops feather plucking or greatlu improves the problem. I have seen it work myself on two of my adopted greys. It has not been proven to work on other birds so this is just an example. I am not sure of all the dietary needs of eclectus specifically, but a well rounded diet should be provided.
Dry Skin: Our indoor environment can be lacking in humidity. The bird's skin can be dry, flaky or itchy. That causes the bird to react, in some instances, by plucking.
As you can see, there are many reasons that a bird plucks or mutilates it's feathers.
Things you can do (and things not to do)
DO place the cage in a place where the bird will feel a part of the family flock.
DON'T isolate the bird away from the activities in the house other than for the quarantine period. Just KEEP THE BIRD OUT OF THE KITCHEN!
DON'T use any of those sprays that they sell to stop feather plucking. They are a waste of money and even if there is slight improvement, the underlying cause of the plucking is not dealt with and the bird will start all over again.
DO spray your bird's feathers with plain lukewarm water or better yet, spray the affected areas with a mixture of pure aloe juice and water. Most health food stores sell it. Mix one ounce of juice with three ounces of plain water and mist the bird with this. It will not harm the bird and the aloe is very soothing to the effected areas of the bird's skin.
DO give your bird attention. BUT..Never give a bird more attention at the beginning than you will be able to provide later on in your relationship. Get the bird used to the amount of attention that will be normal as your normal routine develops with that bird. If you lavish a bird with a ton of attention, and then back away from that attention later, the bird will get bored as it expects you to be its entertainment.
DON'T give the bird attention for the plucking behavior. As mentioned earlier, The explanation is this: Just like a child, a parrot learns to do things that get a rise out of you. They love the drama and they will manipulate you into providing a show for them if they can. If you get bitten by a bird for example and jump around the room yelling and screaming or just say a loud ouch, the bird will without a doubt make a game of it. I had to retrain Casper (one of my rescued toos) not to bite as she used to bite a person and then yell OUCH. She created that "game" with her former owner by biting the owner and hearing the owner scream. It is the same with plucking. If you happen to see your bird pluck ignore it or you will provide the "drama" needed for your bird to make a game out of pulling out feathers just to see your reaction.
DO give your bird lots of toys. Birds are naturally chewers. They like to tear up pieces of wood or paper. For many parrots, this is a part of their normal, instinctual nesting behavior. They need safe toys that can be destroyed. They quickly get bored with toys they can't tear apart. For that reason, toys have to be examined carefully as certain toys while looking like fun can have dangerous components to them that can hurt your bird or worse.
I have found that by using unprinted newspaper (Called endrolls, often given away for free by local newspapers) or even regular newspaper (made with safe soy based inks) woven through the
cage bars that I am able to get some birds to play with and tear up the paper instead of plucking feathers.
DON'T use the shiny magazine like paper used in the supplements of newspapers as some use alchohol based and chemical based inks that are extremely harmful to your bird if ingested.
You may have to teach your bird to play. You may have to teach your bird to tear paper. If so, just sit in front of your bird tearing up a newspaper and have a good time doing it! Your bird will learn that it is an acceptable fun activity.
You can do a search on feather plucking in parrots to get other thoughts on this too.
I hope this gives you something to go on.
Let me know if I can help.
Bill
