IT MIGHT BE boredom. Or too much excitement.

Not enough vitamins. Too many vitamins.

Separation anxiety.

Bad parenting.

You name it, and it’s been blamed for feather picking, one of the parrot owner’s biggest headaches.

So how do you figure out what’s bugging your bird?

Once you’ve ruled out underlying disease (see Diseases that could cause featherpicking), there’s no harm investigating other possible causes, even if some of the remedies sound a little kooky. Who knows? One just might work for you.

To keep track of what you try and how your bird reacts, keep a journal.

To get you started, here’s a laundry list of suggested causes.

• Boredom. Considered the number-one reason parrots overpreen, it is also the most difficult to alleviate. Most of us work outside the home and must leave our birds caged for much of the day. Even when at home, we keep busy schedules that don’t leave much time for a demanding pet. Still, there are many things you can try. Allow your bird as much time out of the cage as possible. Take him with you from room to room. Provide more toys, rotating a few each week to keep him interested. Give him plenty to chew: phone books, cardboard boxes, stacks of newspaper, branches from safe trees such as apple, willow, alder, maple and birch. Put his cage by a window where a bird feeder hangs or people walk by. Leave a radio or small TV on a timer. Move the cage to a new location. Make him work for his food: feed him corn on the cob, raw beans, hide nuts in PVC pipe or in holes drilled in wooden blocks. Take him outside in his cage, or if your yard is large enough, build a small aviary so he can spend more time outdoors.
• Overstimulation. Most birds love being in the thick of family activities. However, some households may be too busy for nervous parrots. If comings and goings appear to make your bird jumpy, try moving his cage to a more secluded spot. Even the most gregarious parrots enjoy some down time each day. Many appreciate an early-afternoon nap.
• Unfamiliar loud noises. Some owners note picking coincides with construction work or natural disasters such as earthquakes.
• Not enough REM. No, not the band. Birds need 10 to 12 hours of darkness for sleep, which duplicates the equatorial schedule most parrots keep in the wild. Make sure dark hours are quiet, not just a blanket thrown over a cage in the TV room.
• Separation anxiety. Many parrots pick when their favorite people are away, even when left with a familiar caretaker. What’s the solution? Some parrot owners swear this works: In front of the bird, hold up as many fingers as the days you’ll be gone and count them off. Our personal choice: Have someone put you on speakerphone.
• Dry skin. Some people believe our homes’ lack of humidity causes birds’ skin to dry out and feel itchy, inviting picking and even infections. Solution: Place a humidifier in the room. Caveat: If their filters aren’t replaced frequently, some humidifiers can serve as a breeding ground for airborne klebsiella pneumonia particles, dangerous for birds and some humans.
• Not enough bathing. In the wild, many parrots enjoy daily tropical rains. To duplicate, mist your bird with warm water at least a couple of times a week and provide a bathing bowl.
• Weaned too early. There’s not much you can do about the way your bird was raised, but some claim you can regress him to a happier time by hand feeding warm foods.
• Violent nature shows. Predators on TV--or unfriendly pets in the house--can keep a parrot on edge. Never let your cat or dog menace your bird.
• Kids. Ditto for children, who should never be allowed to harass a bird.
• Breeding behavior. Some birds appear to pick a “brood patch” for incubating eggs. Progesterone shots may reduce hormone levels.
• Sexual frustration. Some birds respond favorably to a mate of the same species; others use it as an opportunity to pick another bird’s feathers.
• Wing clips. The very safety precaution most experts recommend could be causing your bird to pick, say others. The sharp or ragged edges of trimmed feathers are thought to jab the skin and invite the bird to investigate with his beak.
• Household tension. Children don’t like to hear mom and dad fight and neither do birds, say some. In fact, human stress of any type is thought by some to cause empathetic picking.
• Pelleted food. Some blame chemical preservatives and even zinc contamination from the machines that process the pellets. Bird food manufacturers say the latter is not possible.
• Dyed food. Some birds may be allergic to the dyes used in brightly colored bird foods such as ZuPreem.
• Other allergens. Like people, birds may suffer from allergic reactions to carbohydrates, certain proteins, smoke, perfumes, mold, pollen, newspaper ink and laundry detergents.
• Metal poisoning. Zinc, lead and other poisonous metals, found in some cages and toys, may lead to picking, among other symptoms.
• Chlorinated water. Try bottled or purified water.
• Not enough natural light. Some experts recommend keeping indoor parrots under full-spectrum bulbs.
• Negative attention. Don’t react when you see your parrot pick or it may use the bad habit to win your attention.
• Simple compulsion. Some recommend spraying the feathers with an aloe-based anti-grooming product such as Cease Anti-Feather Picking Spray to break birds of their habit, but many vets say this is a bad idea. Coating the feathers can inspire the bird to pick at them more.

ParrotChronicles.com

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