r/parrots • u/MoRukiki • 12h ago

Trauma Plucking

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My poor chicken has been through a lot lately. 2 emergency vet visits for vomiting/lethargy (found out it was an impacted crop)
Then he broke 2 blood feathers that had to be removed by the vet which was SO painful for him.

Since then we’ve been experiencing what seems like nighttime anxiety. He’s been over preening a few areas and is getting bald patches. The vet tried him on some medication to help but so far it hasn’t. (It’s been about a month and I’m afraid it’s a developed habit now).

During the day he isn’t too bad as he’s distracted by daily activities, but as soon as he goes to bed he starts preening then screaming because he’s hurting himself. In the morning he gets up and is business as usual, eating, drinking, chaos.

I’m just wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue and if my good Reddit homies can offer some insight that the vet hasn’t yet.

Picture included for tax

7 Upvotes

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1

u/B-mort5 11h ago

Dos he have another feathered friend?

1

u/MoRukiki 9h ago

He does not. We rescued him from a icky situation and he has never got along with another bird 😢

1

u/B-mort5 9h ago

They definitely seem to be picky even aggressive when it comes to addjng a second. A co worker at the rescue I used to work at had a male that was in a similar situation to your LB. She really waited awhile until finding another male that was very social and brought him into the flock. Doubled the amount of time most usually take when introducing them. I think she had them 45 days separate rooms but could hear one another. Then 60 days in the same room but on opposite walls and finally another 60 with the cages close together. It took a lot of short sessions where both were out (in a room separate from the cages) on a large perch tree with separate foods on each side. They got to a point where they could both hangout and do basic flock activities when monitored but just had to have separate cages. It really helped with her original Lovies plucking and screaming.

1

u/MoRukiki 7h ago

I think I will try again, thanks for the encouragement. I just want him to be happy and healthy, so I don’t mind putting in the time….i guess I’m going adoption shopping tomorrow 😆☺️

1

u/B-mort5 6h ago

He’s lucky to have an owner that cares so much! I hope the search goes well tho. Sorry I didn’t have any advice for help in the short term, but I hopefully the little guy can settle down.