hen plucking cocks neck please advise

[Kirstewy]

Hi i bought a pair of breeding greys approx 2 months ago, they where in immaculate condition and went to nest twice last year in may and october, the breeder showed me photo evidence etc and its blatent they are a pair as they feed and preen each other and spendalot of thier time in the nest box together. i have given them nothing but the best, i have supplied vitamins, palm nuts, fresh fruit and veg(which they dont touch) they go mad for the palm nuts though. they are obvioulsy wild so there isno hope of gettingto near for an inspection and 9 times out of ten when they hear the door to the aviary go they shoot in the nest box. over the past 3-4 weeks the female has plucked all the males neck feathers out on the back of his headto the pint he is now bald from the back of his head down to the base of his neck, he seems happy enough and they are eating and drinking it just looks awful and i am not sure whether it hurts him, he also looks quite raggedy in his feathers. i read with interest about humidity as the aviary is heated and i wandered if it was to dry could this be the problem.

kind regards stewart<br><br>Post edited by: Kirstewy, at: 2009/04/09 11:04

[Dave007]

Many pairs of breeding parrots pluck out feathers from each other. Usually, it's the female that does this anfd if the male simply puts up with it, then there's no problem. If it was hurting him, he would definitely react to what she's doing. Quite a few different species do the same thing to each other. Some females actually pluck out their own feathers during a mating cycle.
As far as humidity, there always has to be humidity with breeding pairs. Dry heat can make feathers brittle and dry heat isn't good for eggs which can also become brittle and crack. Even pet greys need humidity because they have skin which frequently becomes dry.

[Kirstewy]

Hi, thanks for that the cock doesnt seem at all bothered by it and will quite happily sit there, and let the hen do it, so doesnt seem to be any problems there, i did however take your advice and the advice from the thread on humidity and went today and bought them a humidifier so fingers crossed nice humid aviary, and 2 happy greys.