I have a greem IRN who wasn't hand raised and is very nasty. he is slowly taming but i fear for him as he has no tail feathers and is losing several other of his feathers (Like the ones on the back of his neck and in his wings). Not to mention the red on his beak seems to be coming off. I don't know alot about birds or IRN's but i'm afraid it might be something really serious, though i don't want to pay an enormous amount of money taking him to the vet just to find out that it's normal for him to do that.
Do you know if your bird is pulling his own feathers out?? If he is thats a sign of stress. If he is losing weight looking sleepy all the time and fluffed up then I would take him immediately to the vet. How long have you had him? If only a short while, and he is an older bird, the change in home might just be a bit stressy for him. I read a book on natural remedies for parrots and there is a stuff called 'Rescue Remedy'. You put one drop on the back of the bird's head or under a wing and it apparently calms them down and stops the obsessive behaviours.
If you are seriously worried though, I reckon that any amount of money you pay for piece of mind is worth it for your bird.
He is pulling his own feathers out, and he looks mighty strange now with no tail feathers at all and barely any new ones coming through. I called the vet and she said he's either stressed, bored or has mites, so i'm treating him for mites, and i've added more toys to his cage in a hope to stop him, coz he actually made himself bleed. But thanx for the advice, i might try to get a hold of this remedy stuff, and see if it works.
Check tail feathers, if the tail feathers are broken - pull out the quill using either tweezers or pointy nosed pliers. Also check the wing feathers and do the same thing as these broken feathers DO hurt the bird. Remembering to quieten your bird and de-stress it by talking calmly and quietly to your bird, patting/stroking gently on the back of the head, put bird in a warm quiet dark area for half an hour. Your bird should then be fully quietened and ready for you to handle him again. New feathers should appear in about ten days time. Your bird sounds like it has been stressed. Hope this helps.
I hope your bird will soon recover from this "feather plucking" stage. Currently, there is no remedy for feather plucking, and if you want a cure, toys, more attention, and interaction with shreddable toys are the best solution. You may not be giving your Indian Ringneck enough attention each day. 1 hour is the normal, and Kiki can't get enough with just that 1 hour, she needs more.
It could also be PBFD. Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease. It's an incurable disease that all parrots get. They pick it up from other parrots, or boarding stations that have sick parrots. That's another risk you are taking when bringing your bird to the vet. He/she could pick up more diseases there, so don't go to the vet's without reason. If the bird has PBFD, i'd go and talk with the local vet for help. They might know a probable help for your bird, and you need to take the bird if he/she has this disease.
I don't want to scare you, but it could probably just be "feather plucking". If you have seen your bird pluck out his/her feathers, this might be the actual problem. If your bird doesn't pluck, he/she might have this disease.
Kiki only needs more than 1 hours attention coz she is so used to having you with her 24 hours a day!! hehe., LUCKY BIRD!!! lol..
As for the comment made earlier about feathers growing back in 10 days?? Im not so sure about that.. Sky doesn't pluck half as much as she used to and still very very few feathers are returning. A few on her tail have started coming out.. None on her back (its still totally bare).. The chest feathers are still the over preened fluffy looking things that look like down feathers..
UGH!
I did as "bird lady" suggested and had my irn's tail feathers looked at by a bird breeder who told me that his tail was full of broken quills. She said that untill those quills had been removed, no new feathers could grow.
Maybe the reason why your bird is growing few new feathers is because he/she too has broken quills that need to be removed. So my advice is to find your nearest expierenced bird breeder and ask them about it.
As for the "10 days to grow back" my irn, Mullaya, recieved a dozen new tail feathers in roughly 10 days after his broken quills were removed. He has these beautiful blue and green feathers growing and they're about an inch long now.But one new one has holes which i doubt Mullaya has done himself, so i'm still unsure of what the cause is for this.
If your as attached to your irn as i am (and i have no doubt your not) then i'd also advice that the quill plucking process required is both stressful for the bird and it's owner. It does hurt the irn, but it is neccasary for new feathers to grow. So take tissues, because Mullaya's stress really got to me, as i'm sure it would get to any loving owner. Also have your irn's wings checked out, i know Mullaya had several broken quills in there too which needed to be removed.
On an up-side, Mullaya wasn't hand raised, so was very nasty, but after his quills were removed he tamed very fast. He is a great companion and he and i are very attached. When i come home from school he is let out of his cage and is with me the whole night untill i decide it's bed-time. During the day when both my parents are at work and i'm at school, i leave a radio playing which he enjoys talking too. Having a radio playing has also helped to keep Mullaya as tame as possible, and in my opinion, he is doing a hell of a good job for an aviary-breed bird. On weekends he is never in his cage unless we leave the house, so more than 1 hour a day is spent with him.
Although he still has a fear of hands and he still bites a little, he is a great friend and companion and i love him dearly. He gives me kisses and wolf-whistles at me, though he's learnt no words as of yet. He's almost got the hang of saying "hello" but he's not quiet there.
To all of you out there who have these most beautiful, sociable and sometimes too loving birds I am at a loss as to why you would hurt your birds by pulling out their quills. My husband and i have now hand reared 4 ringnecks and own 2. These we have since 5 weeks old. Never have we had to pull quills or heard of this from our local breeders and owners. Our babies are now 3 1/2 and 2 1/2 we have had no trouble with them except they are very demanding of our time and do behave naughty when not given enough attention. Which they get from 6.15am till we put them to bed, which is a drama because they like to be with us the whole time. They are only caged if we are not in the house. Our birds have endured travel from Ayers Rock to Alice Springs by car then Alice Springs to Melbourne by plane then by car Melbourne to Yamba NSW (in Australia) they love the car and travel very noisily. Having a great time at every stop and meeting new people. If any birds should be stressed you would think they would. Are all of you people in the same area? If so do you think there maybe something that does not agree with your birds. Ours talk, whistle and certainly understand most of what you say especially NO and DONT! Please be more gentle with these creatures as they are only wanting love and attention.
Please email should you have anything you wish to relate. We would love to catch up with people who treasure these birds like we do.
larocnt@bigpond.com.au
liana88 wrote:He is pulling his own feathers out, and he looks mighty strange now with no tail feathers at all and barely any new ones coming through. I called the vet and she said he's either stressed, bored or has mites, so i'm treating him for mites, and i've added more toys to his cage in a hope to stop him, coz he actually made himself bleed. But thanx for the advice, i might try to get a hold of this remedy stuff, and see if it works.
thanks again
Hi I hope you get this, but we feel that your irn is stessed and bored. It should not spend all its time in its cage and their is no way you will tame it this way. It needs to come out especially when you are home so it can check out what is happening. Ours especially love sitting on our shoulder when getting their dinner ready. When its dinner time we tell them Its Dinner Time and put them in their cage and lock them in. They can then come out about 1/2 hour later if not too late otherwise they get covered up and told Its Bedtime Now. Your bird needs alot of interaction especially since it has not been hand raised. A good treat and training tool is peanuts they love Almonds and Cashew. Also corn on the cob cut up and lamb or chicken bones. These keep them active and also they will relate this with you. Most of all as soon as you get home let your bird out and talk to your bird as if they were a person they are very intelligent and will respond, do not be afraid of them.
I use an avian vet named Dr Scott. he's really good and travels. Look him up and find out when he's in your area. He's so reasonable with his prices and when he comes around make an appointment with him at least once a year for a check up. Well worth the money to know your bird is healty
Tikis'mom
Have you tried placing a Peacock feather in her cage? The pet stores here sell them (USA) and I have one in Kazoo's cage. She absolutely loves to sit on her perch a preen the Peacock feather. If you haven't tried this, I'd give it a shot. This feather would still allow her to preen, while not actually preening herself.
Have a great day!
Deb
and the Zoo
Kazoo (Lutino Ringneck), Blue (Blue and Gold Macaw), Sky and Remington (father and son Shar Peis), Sasha and Desi (Prarie Pups), Merlin (Sugar Glider) and LJ, Corey and Cat (the Fish).
Have you tried placing a Peacock feather in her cage? The pet stores here sell them (USA) and I have one in Kazoo's cage. She absolutely loves to sit on her perch and preen the Peacock feather. If you haven't tried this, I'd give it a shot. This feather would still allow her to preen, while not actually preening herself.
Have a great day!
Deb
and the Zoo
Kazoo (Lutino Ringneck), Blue (Blue and Gold Macaw), Sky and Remington (father and son Shar Peis), Sasha and Desi (Prarie Pups), Merlin (Sugar Glider) and LJ, Corey and Cat (the Fish).
Look, i'm sorry if i've annoyed or upset anyone by what i did to help Mullaya, but i'm 16 years old and it's my first time as a bird owner, so i listened to someone whom i thought was an expert. She told me that pulling out the broken quills would help Mullaya, and i believed her, so i let her do it. Mullaya isn't hand-raised like all the other ringnecks around, and i've dedicated myself to her, and to taming her. A little while after her quills were pulled she was much happier and a hell of alot more tame than she was before.
I saved her from the pet store owners who wouldn't care for her and left her in her cage for months, by herself, and let her get so sick that she had a serious mite infestation and an iron difficiancy. I loved her the moment i saw her, so when i was told by someone that hurting her would inevitably help her, i listened. Although i wasn't too happy myself about how it happened-it had me in tears. Whenever i'm not at school, Mullaya is with me. She too is only ever in her cage when no ones home.
Thanks for expressing your concern, but honestly, i did what an expert told me, i didn't know if it was right or not.
he is slowly taming but i fear for him as he has no tail feathers and is losing several other of his feathers (Like the ones on the back of his neck and in his wings). 
Not to mention the red on his beak seems to be coming off. I don't know alot about birds or IRN's but i'm afraid it might be something really serious, though i don't want to pay an enormous amount of money taking him to the vet just to find out that it's normal for him to do that.
and he looks mighty strange now with no tail feathers at all and barely any new ones coming through. I called the vet and she said he's either stressed, bored or has mites, so i'm treating him for mites, and i've added more toys to his cage in a hope to stop him, coz he actually made himself bleed. 
But thanx for the advice, i might try to get a hold of this remedy stuff, and see if it works.
