I have a two year old budgie who has always plucked at the feathers under her right wing. I took her twice to the vet as soon as she started feather plucking and I was just was told the problem was probably behavioural only thing to do is put a collar on her. She now has the collar on most of the time. I take it off every few weeks so that she can clean her feathers but she will always start plucking if the collar is off for more than a few days. She once plucked herself so badly that she lost a lot of blood. She is quite happy with the collar and she lives in an outside aviary with 12 other birds. Before she starts plucking she will go through a spell of looking at her looking her foot all the time.

 

I have now noticed that her mate has started looking at his foot and he has just started plucking under his wing. It looks as if this problem is not behavioural. I will take the bird to the vet this week but in the meanwhile has anyone got any ideas about this staring at the foot and feather plucking problem ?

there was a bird at work one day who plucked often and he was put next to a different bird who saw that bird plucking and then started plucking around his legs too. maybe its more of a monkey see monkey do type deal. you should take the plucker out of the aviary and put it in a cage with plenty of preening toys and fun things. maybe your bird will stop plucking and the other one in the aviary will too.

Do you have many toys for the bird to play with? Sometimes birds can get so bored that they pluck their feathers.

Thanks for the tips. I don't think it is boredom. I have 13 birds and they have the freedom of an outside aviary. They have plenty of things to do. The imitation thing cannot account for why the new feather plucker keeps staring at his foot.

 

I took the two birds to a new vet this afternoon and he thinks it might be mites. He has given me some drops to put in their water. The treatment lasts two weeks. I will let you know the outcome.

mites came to my mind. also, when Teapot was a baby (thats my budgie) he had a paprasite in his face. now, whenever he's havin a moult, his neck gets a bit sore, and the vet said this is probably because of slight damage done to the feather follicles when he had his parasite, so the new feathers may innitially sprout at an awkward angle, causing irritation. this dosent account for staring at the foot, but it may have some bearing on your bird plucking? Teapot cant pluck his own neck feathers, but he does rub himself on his perch a lot when moulting.