Hmmm is he itchy?

[zingarette]

Hey all... so I have my baby, he's home... and he's looking kinda itchy. I think? I'm not sure, as he's my first Grey.

Tim has been with me for two weeks. He's a sweetheart, but still a little leery of me. He's letting me touch his toes through the cage bars, and he's coming out of the cage willingly. He'll sit close to me (as long as I don't try to touch him!) it's all good. I believe he's about 7-9 months (still waiting for his exact hatch date to come from the breeder, she's in the middle of a remodel).

Here's the situation. He's preening, HARD. There are bits of feather coming off, and he's got a pokey/fuzzy patch. I have seen plucked birds before, this looks different to me. I don't think he's plucking. It's like he's clipping his feathers off mid-shaft. I'm a little worried that he's itchy or something. He's got one area on his back, just above his tail, that he's always rubbing. Not scratching at, but seriously rubbing... with his head. What scares me is that he seems to enjoy playing with the broken feathers. We tell him to "drop it" when we catch him with one. So far it's only happened twice. I just don't want this to turn into full-on plucking.

Any thoughts? OH! Also, we live in the high desert of Idaho. Think, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone, etc. It is dry, could that be it?

[Eckobird]

Hello Aubri and congrats on your new baby! You grey might have dry skin so you might want to try to bathe him and spray aloe vera juice on him. Have you tried to give him a bath? Maybe mist him if you can't handle him yet or put a bowl of water in his cage to see if he will take a bath himself. As for the rubbing his head on the upper part of his tail, thats normal, both my greys do this too, thats where their preening gland is.

I hope Dave sees this and can give you a better answer of what is happening.

Good luck with your baby I hope everything works out. Do you have any pictures of Tim? We would love to see him and maybe a pic will help describe his situation.

[zingarette]

Thanks caitb2007. I have tried misting him, he's still getting used to the concept. My other two (birds, not Greys...) like it, but I don't know if he's ever been misted before. He's beginning to seem like he's enjoying it. He tries to catch the tiny little water droplets in his beak, it's cute.

As far as pictures go, I'm still working on that. He's more than a little camera shy! Ha ha ha! He'll get used to that too. He's already fine with my mobile phone camera, so it's not going to take long for him to get used to the big camera.

Thanks again for your input!

[judygram]

Caitlin is right about rubbing his head on the area above the tail, he is rubbing the preen gland for oils to distribute over his feathers when he preens, all greys do that, that is why when you take them into the shower the water rolls off their back.

He might be itchy and he needs to be bathed at least twice a week and then afterward give him a good spraying with 100% aloe vera juice, it will make the feathers softer and the skin more supple.

You don't have to worry about him playing with his feathers, they all do that, just don't make a big deal about it or he might start pulling them out for the reaction he is getting.

Two weeks is nothing to a grey, give him some more time to get used to you, patience is a virtue worth its weight in gold when dealing with greys.

[zingarette]

Thanks Judy!

I gave him a good soak down last night. I'd spray, spray, spray, then give him a banana chunk (his favorite food in the universe, the sugar levels scare me, so he only gets them as treats. He gets other fruits and veggies as staples) then I'd spray, spray, spray. He actually tolerated the bath when it meant he was getting bananas. Go figure. I don't know why we didn't think of that before. After the bath, he didn't seem as itchy. Woo-hoo!

Thanks again for the responses!

[Raposa]

Zingarette, I went through some of that "feather barbering" with my bird recently, where she was breaking off the ends of her feathers and overpreening. My vet has me bathing her daily, making sure she gets red palm oil, and making sure she has lots to do in her cage when I am not home - foraging toys, shredding toys, stuff like that. I don't know if any of that applies to your bird, but if the feather clipping continues you may want to take him to a good avian vet to be checked out. Let us know how it goes!