why do birds pluck their feathers?

[Red Devil]

It is my understanding they do it much the same reason some dogs become obsessed with licking their feet or horses cribb their stalls. They become fixated on it due to lack of mental stimulation. Try picking him up some shreddable toys (Coconut fibers/paper etc) and or some toys that he can gradually recieve food thru manual manipulation with his beak. Also you could try varying his diet with things that are novel and require some problem solving to eat.

this is very good explanation of behavior..

 

[Red Devil]

try giving him a bunch of plastic drinking straws. lots of quakers like weaving them through the cage bars and basically just making a mess with them. I used to have several pictures of this that I found online (because it looks funny seeing their cage all covered in straws) but that was on my old computer... you could also try craft sticks (popsicle sticks) and other nesting materials. that might keep him busy while you're away. cheaper than trying a bunch of new bird toys, too. Buy him a new rope toy, though, since you know he loves those!

great idea

 

[ceeej31]

well its been a while and logan has stopped plucking his feathers, i got him a new rope toy and a few other new toys and his feathers are growing back much faster than i expected. I was talking to my coworker and he gave me a pretty good explination, about two weeks before logan started feather pulling, i went on vacation for a week. while i was on vacation, logan stayed at the store i work at, he seems to like it there and i know they always take good care of him. however this paticular time, there was another quaker in the store named max, max was the first mature quaker logan had ever seen besides his own parents. my coworker thinks that seeing and communicating with max may have caused logan to want to mate, and thus he started pulling feathers. what do you guys think?

 

[MadRussian79]

Actually my African Grey went pluck happy when HIS beloved ferret died. Mind you this bird has a cage about the size of a compact car with all the toys in the world and the undivided attention of my retired mother in law who was a teacher. He made a connection with that furry slinky and that was it it took months to stop the plucking. Have you looked at trying to get a second bird if you will be gone a long time?

Glad to hear your guy stopped plucking.