Galah advice

[smippy]

Hi I am new to this forum and was wondering if anyone has any advice.My Galah whom we have had for approx two years has suddenly in the last week or so started doing what we presume is feather plucking.He is in an outdoor aviary and we were wondering if perhaps he is lonely and needs a mate.he has never displayed this behaviour before so am really concerned about him.

[avinet]

Can you provide more information - size of aviary, other birds in the aviary, daily food given, clipped or flighted, any toys in the aviary, is he tame, if so how much time do you spend with him, has he always been in an aviary or did he start in a cage? And anything else you can think of that might be relevant.

The more information the better, and most of all photos would be great - both of the bird and his plucked area, and the aviary and it's setting.

Plucking can be due to a lot of different causes - allergies, parasite infections, being too fat, having internal pain, poor diet, and of course boredom. The more information the better able we are to make suggestions.

cheers,

Mike

[smippy]

he started outdoors in the aviary the approx size is 3.5 metres long and about 2 metres wide..he was then brought inside for a short time but mum couldn't put up with the mess so he went back outside.he is quite tame,he talks and has plenty of toys.Diet he gets a top quality bird seed,large parrot mix,corn and a variety of other grains.he gets green food for example watercress,sprouted grains that have turned into grass,he doesn't like fruit but has a few almonds we speak to him everytime we go out of the back door,we usually go into the aviary when we go outside in the morning,he was clipped whilst indoors and but now his feathers have grown back.mum thought that he might have been rubbing his neck on his seed bowl causing irritation, we are at an absolute loss to understand why this has suddenly happened.He is the only bird in the cage.his perches are made out of native trees of varying sizes.I have no pics of him at the moment as my main computer is out of action but could get some if this would help.Thanks.

[avinet]

Jul 27, 2012 19:39:18 GMT 10 smippy said:

he started outdoors in the aviary the approx size is 3.5 metres long and about 2 metres wide..he was then brought inside for a short time but mum couldn't put up with the mess so he went back outside.he is quite tame,he talks and has plenty of toys.Diet he gets a top quality bird seed,large parrot mix,corn and a variety of other grains.he gets green food for example watercress,sprouted grains that have turned into grass,he doesn't like fruit but has a few almonds we speak to him everytime we go out of the back door,we usually go into the aviary when we go outside in the morning,he was clipped whilst indoors and but now his feathers have grown back.mum thought that he might have been rubbing his neck on his seed bowl causing irritation, we are at an absolute loss to understand why this has suddenly happened.He is the only bird in the cage.his perches are made out of native trees of varying sizes.I have no pics of him at the moment as my main computer is out of action but could get some if this would help.Thanks.

Thanks for the additional information , every bit helps.

Firstly diet - he should be on a small parrot seed mix - the same as cockatiels or lovebirds. Large parrot mix is for Sulphur-crested cockatoos only, although Long-bill Corellas can also get part of their seed as large parrot mix. Large parrot mix has a high fat content and it is really only Sulphurs who seem to be able to handle that high fat content. Galahs are particularly prone to get overweight, which can often lead to fatty tumours, or fatty liver disease which can eventually be fatal. In fact I always recommend galahs should be fed one of the low fat pellet diets as the basis of their diet.

Your bird also needs better variety in his fresh food component of his diet. Watercress is low in nutritional value and there are much better veggies to feed him. Have a look at the diet section at scas.org.au/html/pet_parrot_care.html for some suggestions. Almonds are again high in fat and should be strictly limited to use as a reward when doing positive reinforcement training with him. The aim is at least 50% of his food intake daily is fresh food - and the higher the fresh food component the better - veggies are almost nil fat!

So diet might be a reason he has started plucking - if he is developing fatty layers under the skin they appear to cause itching and that leads to plucking.

The other problem probably is boredom. He is in a moderate sized aviary with limited flying space, only get occasional attention (?30 to 60 minutes a day), and I'm guessing probably has had the same toys for a while, and gets his food and water in the same location every day. BORING! He needs variety.

One excellent way to enrich his life is with foraging, in fact with a single bird, foraging is essential. Foraging means you have to be a bit inventive with how you give him food - so that each day is a challenge to find the food. A couple of good links are at www.indianringneck.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11701&p=69400 and at www.parrotenrichment.com/home.html (go to the foraging section).

Another good tactic is to provide stuff to chew - rough bark eucalypt branches are good, fresh foliage from bushes such as Grevillea, Bottle brush, wattle, eucalypt, and Banksia - preferably with flowers on them - is excellent. Dried pine cones can be great, even offcuts of pine timber strung on a chain can keep them occupied chewing.

I doubt rubbing his neck on a bowl will have been the problem - almost certainly plucking is the cause of feather loss - but photos would still be great to see if you can organise it.

cheers,

Mike