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From: mm@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Mike Mahler)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Cockatiel feather picking
Message-ID: <1910@lectroid.sw.stratus.com>
Date: 7 Aug 90 14:38:57 GMT
References: <1990Aug6.230634.4064@agate.berkeley.edu> <26BE4AEA.C75@intercon.com>
Sender: usenet@lectroid.sw.stratus.com
Lines: 61

In article <26BE4AEA.C75@intercon.com>, ooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry) writes:
> In article <1990Aug6.230634.4064@agate.berkeley.edu> boris@ocf.berkeley.edu (Boris Chen) writes:
>>My Cockatiel seems to have a skin problem. He is pulling out feathers. Also,
>>with some of his feathers have only the shaft left. I tried giving him
>>vitamin suppliments and anti-stress formulas, thinking it may be due to
>>me moving around. Also, I bought Feather Glo bird bath in attempts to
>>releave skin irritation. It didn't help, so I tried an anti-picking
>>spray called Quell made by Mardel labs, and that doesn't seem to help either
>>I had a vet check for parasites or mites, and the result was negative.
>>The vet put a plastic crown around his neck to help prevent the pullling out
>>of feathers, but that doesn't solve the itching.

> A collar should be the LAST thing you try for a plucking bird. 

	I'll go one step further and say that collars are useless
	and only cure the symptom, not the disease.

> Spray the bird for mites even though the vet says there are none.  It
> can't hurt.

	I'm at a loss as to why you think it can't, especially when
	you are not aware of the exact spray that's being used.  Some
	sprays are propelled by propellants that can render the bird
	unconscious is used too often/close.  

	Even if the vet isn't an avian vet, it's a good probability
	that she can detect something as simple as parasites.  But
	then an experienced avian vet wouldn't jump into using an
	Elizabethian collar first thing.

>  Use the sprays found in most bird shops.

	Use what your VET reccomends!

> Also, start adding nekton S and nekton bio to the food.  

	I don't agree with this advice.
	There is such as thing as too much.  First off, you don't
	know what type of feed Boris uses and what vitamins it
	may or may not contain.  Some vitamins accumulate in fat
	and can reach toxic levels which may do more harm than
	good.  I've had great results with 1/2 tsp Nekton-BIO mixed 
	with the daily feed and shaken (not stirred 8-).
	
> also want to purchase some of the special "feather plucker" toys found in
> Bird Talk.  The one I use looks like a large coiled rope that the bird
> takes apart bit by bit until it looks like a mop.  Cured many of my 
> birds.

	Yes!  Feather plucking (if not parasite induced) is often caused
	by stress or boredom!


	Michael


--


	"And I'm hovering like a fly, 
	waiting for the windshield on a freeway."  -Genesis (Peter Gabriel)