Monday, January 17, 2011

Plucked Max

Here is a picture of Max after last week's feather destruction incident. She bit the feathers off at the end of the shaft, which frequently is a result of low humidity. Although he denies it, I have a feeling that Thomas was not maintaining the humidifier as he should have been.I have not found any more feathers at the bottom of her cage since I've been home. It doesn't really matter, as feathers do not make the bird, but it's a little frustrating since she'd most likely still be fully feathered if I hadn't had to go on a business trip.

2 comments:

Michelle said...

My timneh grey, Timothy, plucks his feathers, but leaves the downy feathers. Could low humidity do this also? Are greys subject to needing higher humidity? I am always looking for more ways to lessen Timmy's feather picking.

By the way, Max is very beautiful.

Mary said...

Michelle -- It very well could have something to do with it. From my limited research, greys (and most parrots) do tend to need higher humidity than is in a lot of our houses in the winter with artificial heating.

I run a humidifier in the living room (where the birds are) whenever we have the furnace running, and for a few weeks after. I don't run it in the summer as we usually have the windows open.

I also run one in our bedroom and no longer wake up with sore throats and my husband's dry skin problem has disappeared, so I'm a big fan of humidifiers!