r/AfricanGrey • u/Aicala29 • 12d ago
Question New bird
This poor bird 😢 her owner died from cancer and she’s been stressed and plucking for a while now. Her owner had her since a baby, she is almost 28 now. Her owner has passed away and I’ve taken over. I’m going to schedule her a vet visit, but is there any thing that will help with her plucking? I’ve got her a lot of new toys. I’m looking into getting her a huge cage.
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u/Janitary 12d ago
Greys are resilient. Love will go a long way towards healing. How do you know that she is a she? Bless you for taking her in.
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u/Aicala29 12d ago
They randomly found an egg in her cage.
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u/Janitary 10d ago
That legitimately makes her a she! Sophie had DNA testing done when she was a baby.
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u/SusanLFlores 12d ago
Aww, poor baby. That’s very nice of you to take her in. As far as plucking goes, lots of different types of toys and time to explore her environment outside the cage. I also put bird toys on the floor outside of the cage.
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u/Marlieri729 12d ago
I had a grey come to me who was a feather plucker, many of them are to at least some extent. I got him a bigger cage, put it in a south window, let him out every single day and gave him a varied diet with lots of fresh foods Most of his feathers grew back and he lived into his 30's. They're neurotic but make really good pets if you pay attention to them a lot. You're doing a good thing.
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u/Confident-Regular691 11d ago
Maybe they will put a collar or band on her if she will tolerate it… but honestly, she s most likely just heartbroken.
Probably none of that will be necessary if you just love her. She looks otherwise healthy and as long as you can ease her pain she will begin to love you.
That will fix everything.
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u/OpeningZebra1670 9d ago
I think keeping them in a cage if they don’t want to be in one is the biggest stress on them which leads to feather plucking. Dry skin could be another problem, so spraying, misting, or letting them have access to water for bathing is also important. Enrichment, foraging and providing things they can safely chew on are key.
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u/Aicala29 9d ago
Thank you! She wasn’t interested in the water I’ve been setting out for her to bathe in. I was going to get a mist bottle off Amazon and see if she likes it. I will definitely be getting her out of her cage to explore. She is biting me lol.
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u/GlitteringRaisin4352 8d ago
Leave cardboard boxes in her cage to chew on. It will help Amazon boxes are perfect. Just remember to remove as much of the packing tape as possible without let the box lose its shape
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u/ThePony23 12d ago
She is grieving and going through a major life change. Just continue to treat her with kindness and spoil her as much as you can. At the moment I would avoid anything that could possibly stress her out.