# Parents Plucking Babies - Might Have Possible Solution...



## citatech (Jul 14, 2014)

My question is about feather plucking (by both parents) and whether the solution I've come up with for now would be a good idea. I know people have sometimes suggested the babies be pulled and hand fed, or just left alone and plucked since the feathers grow back, but as I don't want bald babies experiencing the pain and annoyance of plucking and cannot hand feed, I've come up with something a little different. Here's the backstory in my particular situation.

My husband and I bought a house in a different city so he can be close to his job, and as my house has not sold in the other city and I work near my old house, I can only visit the new house (and our cockatiel family) once or twice a week (usually Friday night to Monday morning).

Since I'm not there all week, and my husband works 10 hour days, we can't do hand feedings. This is the first clutch of eggs/babies for the breeding pair. Belle, the Dad, is 3.5 years old and the Mom, Kiwi, is 9 years old. We were told she was much younger when we bought her and I thought by now she would be only 5, but when I looked into her leg band data, it says 05 (for the year), so she's older than we thought. 

Kiwi has been a great and friendly pet for us over the years, and Belle as well is very tame and friendly. They have never plucked themselves or each other and never bitten us. Kiwi loves head scratches and has never been mean. Both get flight time out of the cage every day, veggies, millet, their staple pellet diet, cuttlebone and mineral blocks. We also have 3 other birds whom they like to visit (all cockatiels in different cages). They used to all be in the same huge cage, but since they split off to breed (my lutino pair also had a clutch at the same time), I've got them in different cages at the moment. 

Of the eggs Kiwi laid, 4 were fertile and hatched, but the youngest baby didn't live past 3 days as it must have gotten missed in her feedings since it was much smaller than the other 3. Other than that unfortunate event, Kiwi has been dedicated to her eggs and both parents happily feed the 3 babies over the days. Now that they are much bigger, Kiwi sits beside them in the nest box at night, and the Dad hangs out in the cage, occassionaly going in to visit or help feed.

Around day 21 (when I was out of town at my other house and job), the babies started to get plucked. Only on the chest. They were not pecked or bleeding, just had a large patch of missing chest feathers. Very noticable compared to the 3rd baby which was hardly plucked at all. When I came on the weekend (day 23) to see them, 2 babies were plucked a fair bit on their chests. I caught Belle in the act after dinner feeding and he'd pluck a feather and chew on it, eventually drop it, then pull another and repeat. I removed him and several hours later I caught Mom doing the same thing! 

Obviously I can't remove them both, so since it was almost bed time, I used some cardboard to block the entrance to the nest box (the box is made of wood with removeable top lid) and left the top open slightly for air flow. That way they wouldn't be plucked while I was sleeping. By morning, the parents had chewed a large hole in the cardboard cover big enough that they could get their heads in and still feed the babies. That gave me an idea. I got 2 sheets of that plastic you get in dollar stores to use as a cutting board or microwave dish cover, and I cut a hole through both layers and added that to the cardboard cover. The idea is that they can't chew through all that, but they can still see and feed the babies. Now I can prevent them from going all the way in the box and plucking, but they can still feed the babies through the hole. 

The babies stand and walk just fine and as of Day 26. When they are hungry, they all gather around the hole and get fed, and when they are not hungry, they wander, stretch or nap together in another corner. When I'm there, I check the hole and supervise to make sure everyone gets fed and my husband checks when he gets home from work to make sure all is well. The nest box gets cleaned every day or every 2nd day. 

I plan to let them be with the parents in supervised visits when I'm in town too so they are not isolated all the time. Maybe once all the feathers finally open up the parents won't be plucking them... not sure, wishful thinking. I've also provided a few more mineral blocks (some contain sodium since I"ve read that a deficiency sometimes leads to parents plucking babies for the extra salt they taste in the pin feather blood).

Some people have said that the parents could maybe want to start another clutch, but there have been no eggs yet and I've moved the next box onto a smaller cage so that the babies don't have far to climb out (or fall) when they start to fledge - so maybe the change of environment for the parents in this different cage will discourage thinking about another clutch (if that indeed, is an issue).

Other than that, the babies are getting friendlier, they are practicing flapping, eating well so far, and the plucked feathers are starting to grow back. Does everyone agree that this is a decent solution given our situation? Shouldn't be any harm as long as the parents keep feeding through the hole?

Today is Day 29 and I'm thinking that within a week the babies would want to climb out of the nest box on their own. I'm a bit torn because if I leave on the plastic cover with the smaller feeding hole, that will prevent them from coming out, but if I take it off, Mom & Dad will return to plucking them. Even in the supervised visists where I put a parent in the nest with the babies, right after feeding the parents start to pluck again and I have to remove them out of the nest box. Any ideas what I should do? Will it discourage (and set back their progress) the babies from fledging from the nest if they can't get out? Is that worse than plucking? Does anyone have experience with parents who pluck once the babies feathers all open up... do the parents stop plucking once the babies look normal? 

Thanks! :grey tiel:


----------



## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

I have never bred cockatiels, but still enjoy reading about it. I think you have come up with such an interesting solution.

Will be interested in what experienced breeders think.


----------



## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

Huh that is an interesting solution. If there's two or more babies they could keep each other warm, no need for extra parental heat, even if one of the babies only has a few pinfeathers. It's not awkward for the parents to feed like that? I feel like they might be stressed out by not being able to get to their babies. But at the same time they kind of are. 

I'm not sure what will happen once the babies begin to fledge. You could let them come out up the top of the nestbox, they don't necessarily need to come out through the hole. Eventually once they start flying, they like to fly up onto the top of the box and perch when the lid is opened, or at least that's what my babies did. Maybe they'll come back to feed once they're done flying and playing outside on their own. Or you could allow them out to fly and when it's around time to eat you put them back into the nestbox and close the lid. 

I'd really like to see what other people say about this.

Good luck with your babies!


----------



## purewhitemoon (Jul 25, 2014)

I think the solution works fine. Until the babies become big and strong enough to defend themselves, it's best not to let them be vulnerable to their parent's plucking.

I had three chicks and one day we noticed the oldest one had red splotches and thought it was sick. Days passed and it wasn't going away until one day, I stayed home due to Spring Break from school and checked on the nest box. I caught the father pull a pin feather out of the baby and immediately removed the father. We ended up separating the father by buying a new cage. My family and I ended up hand feeding the babies.

Fast forward three years and the chick that got plucked is now a plucker himself. He is perpetually bald and my mother no longer has the heart to force him to wear a cone. I think what we learned is that babies that get plucked are at a greater risk of plucking themselves (and in turn cannot be used as a breeding bird).


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Most parents pluck for a reason...whether it's a protein deficiency or other vitamin that causes them to pluck the babies. While this solution is good, it makes it hard for the babies to get mobile and learn to fly, get out of the nest, etc. Now you could try this idea but on a smaller scale, maybe a bib that goes over the babies heads to prevent the parents from getting to that particular area of their body? 

I think they haven't double clutched because you changed the box. They don't have access to it anymore, so they don't have anywhere to lay the eggs. With the change in environment, the nest is no longer safe to lay. It's an interesting idea and I'll be curious to see how the babies do with fledging. They're getting close, in fact by day 29 they should've started attempting to leave the cage. Definitely keep us updated.


----------



## Elishiva (Aug 23, 2013)

Thanks for starting this thread. My seasoned breeders are great parents but the chick is now plucking the oldest baby who is fledging. He's 5 weeks old, munches some on regular good and is also fed by the parents. As soon as dad feeds my oldest baby, he plucks a feather out of it. The baby screams and I am thinking that's like abuse. They have calcium booster, seeds, pellets, veggies and fresh water so I'm not sure what he is needing. That and the cock is constantly biting the female now. This is a bonded pair who have recently started fighting.


----------

