IndianRingNeck.com

Hi guys..

I stumbled upon this site an hour ago.. Been looking thru all the posts and you guys seem to be an awesome bunch!

Hope you can help me and my bird - Sky.

Sky is about 1 and a half years old (from birth).. I hand reared her..
The past 2 months approximately, she has been plucking. I took her to an avian vet who suggested changing her diet.. I did this, but it hasnt improved. The doc also said that if she wasnt better in a month, I should get a collar for her - I think this is cruel, so i'm pretty much against this..

Recently, I was wearing a black shirt, and when I took it off, I noticed that sky had left what looked like dry skin (like dandruff almost).. This now leads me to believe that she has dry itchy skin, hence the reason for her plucking..

I have heard that I should mix pure aloe vera juice and water and spray her.. Apparently this soothes the skin.. Anyone heard of this? Any other ways I can relieve the itchiness??

I have tried getting her to shower with me, but she will only sit on the top of the shower door.. She gets some steam - the water is not too hot by the way..

Im at a loss.. she has a really good diet.. she is in a part of the house where there is enough movement and stuff to keep her occupied.. she plays around her cage all day and is allowed to come outside her cage at anytime, thus is leads me to believe that this is NOT a cause of boredom..

Whew.. I think I covered pretty much everything.. Any suggestions please??

Thanks a mill!!

I was just about to ask that same question about what seems to be dandruff! I have noticed that in the last week or so my 5 month old has started leaving 'dandruff' on me after he has a clean. He happily bathes about 3 or 4 times a week so cleanliness isn't a problem. I thought maybe it might be because we are heading into autumn and the air is becoming dryer - I know my skin gets dry at this time of year. As yet he is not plucking feathers but I wouldn't like it to get to that stage so I would be interested in any cure for this problem too!!

I managed to get something from my pet shop also - Its like an oily substance that needs to be put in the birds water for it to drink.. Its for plumage and skin.. Perhaps you can look for something similar in your pet shop? I have found that most of the time, stuff they stock here, they don't have overseas and vise versa.. a bit silly if you ask me..

I havent been spraying my bird long enough yet with the aloe vera to let you know if its working or not.

I hope your bird doesn't start plucking - it looks terrible, but fortunately, her feathers will grow back

I have heard of something you can get for their feathers - I'll have to look into it. I will be interested to know if the aloe works anyway. Good luck & keep me posted!

Check out my article on "Toxic Foods & Plants".>>
http://members.dodo.com.au/~johanp/Toxi ... _Foods.htm
Here's some help on "Feather Plucking" for you>>
http://members.dodo.com.au/~johanp/Feather-Plucking.htm