Plucking Article (LONG)

[jknezek]

An interesting article on plucking causes as well as a response I wrote to a different list: <http://www.realmacaw.com/pages/pluck.html>

My Thoughts (although this is generally targeted toward larger parrots):

Actually the TARA rescue in Phoenix once wrote an unscientific opinion that
much plucking and anxiety is related to keeping birds from different
continents together and they were working on creating different rooms for
different world regions. I don't know if they ever managed to follow through
as the expense was going to be significant. However, I brought this theory
up once in another bird setting and got skewered by people saying that they
happily keep different species together and the theory was garbage.

Personally I do think it has an effect but am guilty of this small pleasure
myself. I happily keep african lovebirds around my ekkie and he has
developed no issues. However, he has been around them since he was 10 months
old so perhaps it is the adoption of new foreign bird once patterns are
already established?

Who knows. I think the TARA article, which I can no longer find on their
site, did a wonderful job of explaining that there are so many causes to
plucking that picking on one as the "answer" is impossible. I think this
article does a nice job of pointing out that different birds probably have
different triggers. Can foreign species be a trigger? I tend to think it
can, even if it isn't always, and even if it is something I am doing wrong
myself.

Some people develop what we call "bad habits" for a variety of reasons.
Generally all are related to anxiety of one form or another. So any cause of
anxiety I believe can be a cause of plucking. Foreign birds, food, new
animals, changes in cage location, new toys.... who knows? Plucking is
essentially a bad habit for some birds (a physical issue for others, but
that is not what is being discussed in this thread). Some people react badly
to change, some dogs react badly to change, some birds will react badly to
change.

The big issue is that our birds are so beautiful that we want them to stay
beautiful. While we all love and cherish their amazing personalities, part
of the charm of exotic parrots is their beauty. When the beauty is damaged
most of us still love our birds fiercely, but we are sad because one of
their wonderful qualities is diminished. Does a naked parrot mean the bird
is any less of a wonderful companion? Of course not, but many people feel
something is lost.

I don't believe plucking has one answer. Sometimes physical, sometimes
psychological. What will trigger one bird will be ignored by another. I
don't chew my fingernails, but my sister does. We had a similar upbringing
so why does she do it and I don't? I don't know. She started as a child, I
never did. I think we need to look at plucking the same way.

Some birds will be susceptible. Some will not. One of the things we should
hope that the aviculture community is doing is trying to breed pairs that
have offspring less susceptible to plucking. Unfortunately, we often turn
pluckers into breeders because "they are pluckign so they must need a mate
because they are hormonal". Yeah, that makes sense...we are breeding the
problem into our companions, not out of them.

Similarly we should really only breed birds that are great companions.
Instead, we tend to make "breeders" out of birds that are difficult
companions. While I believe nurture is important, I believe nature is just
as important. While we are learning to nurture better, we are compounding
our breeding mistakes in nature. Sad but true.

Unfortunately, I think this is a problem we will not be able to easily
answer and plucking will be with us for many generations to come.

[Janie]

Thanks, Jeremy. This is very interesting reading and your response, as always, is very good food for thought.

Question: IYO, if a bird who has never picked/plucked starts due to a physical change in his home (i.e. adding another species) and you notice it and within a couple of weeks his environment is back to normal (new species is gone) can that plucking be stopped? Or has it already become a habit in those couple of weeks? I ask because Jackie (Butterfly) was baby-sitting her brothers B&G and one of her lovies started plucking. She was able to move the B&G to her parents home in 2 to 3 weeks but her bird did not stop plucking and still is as far as I know. What do you think?

[butterfly1061]

Jeremy,

I really enjoyed reading this post. I agree on many of the points brought up. As Janie posted, Molly started plucking a few weeks after my brother's B&G came to live with me. After he left, Molly continued to pluck, but I have noticed in the past week he has let some feathers grow in :happy: I'm soooo happy about this and I hope he continues to let more feathers grow. I don't know if this makes a difference, but since I have let Molly do swishy-swishy twice a day with his paper towel the plucking has not been as bad. It could be a combination of things. Wish I could read his mind :)

[jknezek]

Plucking can sometimes be stopped. A few rules of thumb I came across in another context is that any habit can take twice as long to eliminate as the action was occurring. That was in relation to some human "bad habits" but it was an interesting rule of thumb with some good scientific backing.

I personally believe that if the stimulus is external (meaning not a physical ailment), and the stimulus is removed in short order, you stand a pretty good chance of stopping the activity. One suggestion about plucking that I buy into is that it is a bit addictive because it brings a release of endorphins related to painful activity. If you can prevent the activity from reaching the addictive stage, it should be easy to eliminate by removing the stimulus.

One way of thinking about this is to think of "adrenaline junkies." That could be anyone who loves scary movies to someone who loves bungie jumping. The endorphins released when scared create a "rush" that people really enjoy. The endorphins associated with pain can be similar.

Other people like to think of the "cutting" epidemic among teenagers. Is it done for attention? Most people say yes. But they choose this method because it brings another benefit, an endorphin rush associated with the pain.

Self-mutilation is not limited to parrots and I believe we can generally apply what we know about human reaction to other animals.

If the activity has already become habit, however, you will have a harder road. With plucking we must assume the same thing.

I believe another activity that causes a similar rush of endorphins can be used to replace plucking activity. For example, exercise is often quoted. In terms of birds, that can mean taking clipped birds and allowing them to fly. There is good evidence that this helps with SOME pluckers. Sometimes breeding can help, although as I pointed out in my article, that is not necessarily the best route for our aviculture to take. Sometimes new toys, although this is probably one of the least effective as you are then relying on the bird to play with them instead of giving the bird a new activity for itself such as flying or breeding.

I'm sure many of you have other suggestions and they are probably valid to one degree or another. But in my opinion, the only realistic way to break the habit is to substitute a more acceptable way of feeding the endorphin addiction.

Of course, if the cause is physical, none of this applies.

[butterfly1061]

Jeremy,

I agree about the toy scenario. After Molly started plucking, I changed most of his toys to ones that would possibly help him with the issue, but he ignored them. Molly is bonded somewhat with my lovie Piper and after watching Piper with Molly some, I realized that Piper is very dominant towards Molly. I've witnessed him bite at Molly when he didn't like something Molly did or something he wanted instead of Molly getting it. I favor Molly cause he was my first lovebird and I handfed him. Molly is more bonded to me than Piper. Since I have been spending extra one-on-one time with Molly, hence swishy-swishy, the plucking has been lightened a bit. I just hope it continues. Every bird is different when it comes to plucking or anything else for that matter, but this is what I've had to do.

[jknezek]

You've got it Jackie. Toys can work, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Your situation is kind of unfortunate since plucking is actually a minor issue with lovebirds compared to other parrots. I have a theory on that as well but nothing to back it up.

Mainly we tend to keep lovebirds in pairs. I think single birds probably start plucking more easily. Whether by accident of overpreening (and getting hooked to the endorphins) or by being lonely or bored. I have never heard of a parrot species that is essentially solitary in the wild.

Even a stay at home parront spends some time out of the house without the flockmate. This condition is very unusual in any natural environment for parrots. I think it certainly adds a considerable amount of stress to our companions. Lovebirds, due to the false old adage that they die without living in pairs, are generally kept in pairs or communities. Hence, fewer plucking issues. Larger parrots are much more often kept as a single bird, hence more issues. Again, I think aviculture (read: breeders) should help out by only breeding birds that have adapted well to this kind of lifestyle. Unfortunately, this is generally not a consideration to many breeders, especially commercial breeders.

Of course, I only have one ekkie, so I'm guilty of the solitary bird problem myself. I actually don't count different species as flockmates unless they live as flockmates. My three lovebirds live communally so I consider them a flock. My ekkie is not part of their flock. He is part of my flock with my fiance, but we are gone most of the day. So yes, I'm definitely guilty of several things that create a less than ideal environment. However, adding another large parrot to my life is not feasible right now and probably never will be.

I do hope that anything I point out in this post or any other isn't perceived as a criticism, just an observation. I think single bird homes, including lovebirds of course, are fine, just not natural. Therefore we need to understand what these environments might leave our birds more prone to.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I also believe that pairs preen better than individuals. Even if one overpreens, it isn't an activity a bird will get addicted to because the pain is forced on it, not desired by the animal. The overpreener might like being a bully, but very few animals like being bullied...

Plucking... boy I could spend a lot of time on this topic. Oddly enough (and yes i'm knocking on wood, crossing my fingers, toes and legs, and praying that I won't jinx myself) my birds don't pluck right now. I hope to never have the problem. But I do have a fascination with the topic and the amount of good, bad, and stupid information out there.