ringneck parakeet

[cary]

I have a ringneck parakeet about 2 years old.  Its been fine until about 2 weeks ago, it seems to be losing its feathers and sometimes just shedding the furry bit and leaving the stalky bit still on..!!  I looked at a few in the pet shop and some seemed to be the same, i was wondering if it was the time of year that maybe they are supposed to be losing feathers!!  It looks really rather tatty now and didn't know if anyone knew about this??  I feed it food for a parakeet and give it fresh fruit and vitamin blocks and things that hang for it to eat.

[Christine Animal]

This certainly has nothing to do with your problem Cary, but we had a little parrot and after seeing all those things you shouldn't give dogs such as grapes (I didn't know they were dangerous for dogs) under what to feed my GSD, we were told to never feed parsley to a parrot, it is poisonous to them.

[Motorhead]

It's too early for a normal moult although where I come from unseasonal moulting is known as French Moult. Anyway it's not that if shafts are still staying in.

Can't see it being PBFD if only some of the birds in the shop have it (highly contagious virus)

If it's mainly the flight feathers affected I'd look for feather mite. If it's mainly the body feathers odds on the bird is doing it itself.

http://petcaretips.net/feather-picking.html is a very good piece on self mutilation and there's a not bad bit about feather mites on the same site too

[cary]

thanks alot for your replies.  Advocado's are also poisonous to parakeets apparently!!  He looks a bit tatty on his body but the main bit seems to be his head!!  Thats where the shafts are staying in!!  I also read that a parakeet has the intelligence of a 5 year old child and not sure if maybe he is bored being in the same place for such a long time so i have moved him near the window and am getting him some new toys see if that helps.  Maybe he is stressing out because he is bored??He is pretty hard to catch hold of so should i perhaps de-lice him anyway to rule out that?? Not sure if i could get him to look to see if he has lice. 

[Motorhead]

I never actually mentioned lice it was mites which are quite different beasties and your bird being on his own would rule out lice. It would also rule out  feather pecking as a bird can't do it to their own head. The bits sticking out must be pin feathers. These are the new feathers that come out after a moult and are encased in a membrane a bit like a rolled up umbrella with a sleeve over it. Ayway to make sure I consulted with a couple of very nice gurus on a parrot forum and they said:

Yes it does sound like what she is describing as quill stubs are in fact the new pin feathers coming through. Pin feathers on the head of solitary birds tend to stay a little longer than those of birds with a companion as they cannot preen themselves there

Agree with you, Stormbird, it seems to be a moult. My advice would be lots of warm showers to encourage the pin casings to break away

 

Dunno where you are in France but I'd think it would be abnormally early for moulting even in the far north. However being indoors all the time can mess up a bird's moulting cycle. Can you take him outside for a few (not too hot) hours a day? 

[Motorhead]

I never actually mentioned lice it was mites which are quite different beasties and your bird being on his own would rule out lice. It would also rule out  feather pecking as a bird can't do it to their own head. The bits sticking out must be pin feathers. These are the new feathers that come out after a moult and are encased in a membrane a bit like a rolled up umbrella with a sleeve over it. Ayway to make sure I consulted with a couple of very nice gurus on a parrot forum and they said:

Yes it does sound like what she is describing as quill stubs are in fact the new pin feathers coming through. Pin feathers on the head of solitary birds tend to stay a little longer than those of birds with a companion as they cannot preen themselves there

Agree with you, Stormbird, it seems to be a moult. My advice would be lots of warm showers to encourage the pin casings to break away

 

Dunno where you are in France but I'd think it would be abnormally early for moulting even in the far north. However being indoors all the time can mess up a bird's moulting cycle. Can you take him outside for a few (not too hot) hours a day? 

[cary]

thanks Motorhead, you seem to be a good source for information.  Yes i can put him outside, will do that from today.  He has been out a couple of times before but we had to shade him from the sun.  He doesn't seem ill as he is still eating really well and had great fun playing with the broccolli i put in his cage yesterday, and there seems to be no abnormal behaviour or sulking!!  He just looks a bit tatty and the stalky bits on his head look just like you described, you can also seen loose little fluffy feathers on his body.  Have put a dish of warm water at the bottom of his cage so he can bathe himself when he pleases but he hasn't gone near it yet!!  As i mentioned before when i looked at some in the pet shop last week, it seemed to be mainly the blue ones that looked like mine.