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Plucking can occur with the best of parents.

Just because they pluck doesnotmean that they are bad parents. Over the
years I have observed several causes for the plucking of babies in the nest. In
addition, I also learned that if all is well cockatiel parents are not naturally
pluckers.

It is disheartening when you look in thenestboxand see that a baby has been
plucked. The first instinct is to remove the baby, which is normal. But, in
doing this it may not resolve the problem if you do not know the cause.
Therefore the same thing can occur with succeeding clutches.

The normal assumption is that you have bad parents that should never be
bred again. So they are sold.In regards to plucking, it is best to try and find
the reason. Many people just sell the birds and pass the problem off to
someone else. This resolves the problem for the breeder, but not the bird.
The bird is the loser because if the root cause is not determined then it just
goes on. And, in doing so may reinforce this behavior in the bird/birds.

I have found that there are several things that can contribute to a parent
plucking the babies.
1...Jealousy
2...breeding birds programmed (imprinted) by the breeder or prior
breeder
3...Nutritionaldeficiencies,specificallysodium
4...Parents want to go back tonest.
5Anectoparasiteproblem

1...A jealous parent, Jealousy:

I have learned that if one of my parents was a hand tamed pet, and if they
were used to gettingattentionthey can get jealous of the babies and react
by plucking. If the parent is a pet make sure that you give the parent some
attention and scratches/pettingfirstwhen checking thenestbox. Praise

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them and then quickly look at the babies to make sure they are alright. Do
this each time you check the babies. After giving the parents attention you
can then spend more time with the babies. If the babyis big enough,
takeboth the parent and baby out together for socializing.

2...Programmed/Imprinted by the breeder or prior

breeder

The birds can get used to our schedules. If they are used to the babies being
pulled at a certain age they can come to expect this. They will get confused
and/or frustrated that the babies are still there and either not feed them or
start to pluck or even become abusive parents. When buying adult breeding
birds I have learned that it is best to ask the prior breeder what age they
pulled the babies from the nest. For example if the babies were regularly
pulled at 10 days of age this gave me a time frame to start checking the nest
and watching the babies to make sure they were being fed and cared for.
Some pairs will simply stop feeding. If this happens the babies can be assist
fed with hopes of the parents resuming feeding within 24 hours or less. In
doing this the parents are being retrained to care for their babies past 10
days of age. If the plucking is limited to just the feathers and no skin injuries
or biting I will leave the babies in the nest, keep an eye on them, and assist
feed, until the parents realize that they are not going anywhere.

3...Nutritional Deficiencies

If the parents are plucking when the babies are just starting to pin
feathermany times this can be due to a sodium deficiency. The pinfeathers
contain blood which also contains sodium.When plucking is noticed make
sure that the parents are not abusing the babies.

A good site that lists foods Sodium and other nutrients: (http://www.health
alternatives.com/vegetablesnutritionchart.html)http://www.health
alternatives.com/vegetablesnutritionchart.html (http://www.health
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alternatives.com/vegetablesnutritionchart.html)

Way back when I started breeding I was told to NOT provide the birds with
any food that contained salt (sodium). At the time I was also having quite a
few pairs that were plucking their babies. I started researching and reading
and found an obscure statement somewhere that it could be from a sodium
deficiency. My birds loved honey wheat bread so I toasted some and lightly
buttered it,actually used margarine.Margarine has salt, but it also
contains *lecithin* as abinder/thickener. The lecithin also contains
minute amounts of choline, inositol, and linoleic acid which aid the birds
system. Lecithin also works against obesity by emulsifying fat buildups.

I gave some of this daily when they had babies.It was interesting to note
that the parents that were known to pluck did not pluck their babies.

You're now thinking, why would they be plucking the babies? The new
emerging pinfeathers are rich in blood. There are trace amounts of sodium in
the blood, and just enough to help satisfy the birds craving. How could the
birds, namely the hen, be sodium deficient if it is in the diet? When the eggs
are layed there is trace amounts of sodium in the white part of the egg. If
the diet had minimal sodium content then what nutrients in the diet used for
making the egg would have been depleted. The hen would wait until the
baby was pin feathering to replenish this.

Sodium is made out to be bad for birds, thus over time in our avoidance of
certain nutrients, we unwittingly can contribute to other health issues. For
example hens and eggbinding, Salt/sodium aids in the muscle contractions.
When there is a deficiency, there can be a loss of muscle tone to expel the
egg. Or digestive problems: Salt/sodium is also beneficial in birds with
digestive disorders, such as passing whole seeds. It is necessary for the
production of hydrochloric acid in the proventriculus (gizzard), and the
muscle tone for grinding foods. Here is an illustration I have made up of
some of the foods and products I have used for sources of sodium.
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NOTE:If the parents are aggressive pluckers they could seriously injure or
kill the baby/babies. Remove the babies from the nest ASAP. You have
two options; either foster them to another pair or handfeed them.

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4 Parents want to go back to nest

Ideally you would like the box to be a 12" cube, with at least 3' deep
bedding. When the box is smaller and there are allot of babies in the box as
they grow or gets crowded in there and the parents get frustrated to try and
get some tofledgeto make more room in the box. This usually occurs at
about 3 weeks of age and older.So if the plucking is being done once the
babies are fully featheredthis may be the cause.

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How I had broken some of my plucking parents from doing this to future
clutches was to leave the baby/babies with the parents. I would let the
parents wean out the baby. Usually by the time it is weaned it is fully
feathered again. The downside of this is if thenestboxis still up the parents
will start another clutch. The upside of this is if they do they will recruit this
baby to help incubate eggs and feed the next clutch. If you plan on holding
this baby back as a future breeder it will make an awesome parent.

Shown is something you can try

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5...Ectoparasiteproblem, Red Mites

Red mites thrive on blood and pinfeathers are a rich source of blood. Many
times if mites get on a baby the parents will frantically pull the pinfeathers
to take away the mites source of food. The crest is a rich source of blood. If
the babies do not have pinfeathers yet then mites will attack/feed at the
major arteries that are located under the wing, and the ankle, and top of
the head.

Red mites will only nip the tips of the pin feathers.Here is an illustration
to show what to look for:

For more info on Red Mite attacks and prevention:

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http://www.justcockatiels.net/redmiteattacks.html
(http://www.justcockatiels.net/redmiteattacks.html)

Yes.... the feathers do grow back...

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If they have been severely abuse they do heal very quickly. Shown are
babies that were attacked by another bird trying to take over the nest in
a colony breeding situation.

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These are things I can quickly think off the top of my head. It is best to
observe to determine the cause of the plucking. Mosttielsare good parents
and they do not pluck unless there is something not to their liking or a
contributing factorfromhousing or diet.

I have not found that just because a baby was plucked that it will go on to
be apluckerwhen it is an adult with its own young.

19942017 Susanne Russo,all rights reserved. Anything copied or printed

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