Feather Picking Preventing and correcting

To prevent feather picking, the parrots should be kept at least in couples in big aviaries and in an stimulating environment with toys and foraging opportunities. Besides, they should be provided with a well-balanced diet and weekly fresh branches or twigs in order to occupy the birds. It is always advisable to perform a complete physical examination, including blood chemistries, Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease testing and faecal examination, and to take a complete nutritional history before behaviour modification is considered (Davis, 1991).

The owner should be careful not to reward this behaviour, for example by reacting or shouting when the parrot pulls out a feather. Because as a result, the parrot may carry on feather picking as attentiondemanding behaviour, even though the original stimulus has been removed. The owner should ignore the bird and leave the room when the parrot plucks its feathers (Low, 2001).

If feather picking has lasted for some time and has become a habit for the bird, it is very difficult to stop it, even once the trigger has been removed. To cure feather picking, radical changes in the bird's environment and housing, more occupation with toys and foraging activities, the acquisition of a partner as well as climate readjustment should be tried (Kaleta, 2003). In a study, it has been shown that enriching the parrots' environment by providing appropriate foraging substrates (such as T-shirt bags and toy boxes, all filled with edible and inedible items) and increasing physical complexity (with plastic toys, ropes and ladders) can both significantly prevent and reduce feather picking among orange-winged amazons (Meehan et al., 2003).

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