Healing Feather Destruction

Situation

Elvis, a Green Cheeked conure, was given to Leslie in May 2005 because he plucked his feathers, practiced feather destruction habits. His former caretakers knew they could not address his needs and decided it was in his best interest to re-home him.

When Leslie first met Elvis he had no conure-appropriate toys in his cage. His diet consisted primarily of dry seeds, sunflower seeds, and an occasional apple.

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Green-checked conure exhibiting feather destruction habits. BEFORE

Behavior

After arriving home Leslie quickly discovered that Elvis also had acquired the habits of pinching, biting (breaking the skin and drawing blood), along with ripping holes in clothing. One highlight was that he had been trained to “step up” onto a portable perch. The day before Elvis was scheduled to have his first avian vet examination he stripped himself bald leaving feathers only on his head, wings, and tail. The vet saw precious little Elvis at his worst.

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Say No to seeds. All types of seeds.

Assessment

The primary reason Elvis practiced feather destruction habits was because of avian malnutrition. He had only been fed a dry seed diet with an occasional apple slice given for variety. The nutritionally poor foods fed to Elvis played a key role in the feather destruction suffered by this precious Green Cheek conure. Right away Leslie began gradually improving his diet.This began  converting Elvis away from eating primarily dry seeds to a diet of our 100% Organic, Complete Protein, Original Sprouting Blend fed along with fresh fruit or steamed vegetables, walnut tidbits. See photo here below right.

Today, a nutritionally Balanced meal for Elvis, Green-cheeked Conure.

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Transition

Behavior work focusing on creating the desired behaviors was also started right away. Elvis was taught to play with toys and chew on conure-appropriate play things. This graduated Elvis to enjoying and becoming capable of self enrichment – the ability to entertain himself while in his cage or on his play stand.

Healing Process

A holistic body-mind-spirit approach was closely followed during Elvis’ healing process. Areas addressed and approaches used in his personalized program included teaching him to eat and enjoy a ‘Balanced Exotic Avian Food Plan’, flower essence blends, teaching him to play with toys (self enrichment), and healing and communication work for the anger and grief of being given away. His anger-based actions of pinching, biting, and clothing destruction were approached with patience and kindness while Elvis learned more preferable behavior options.

Elvis, Green-checked conure, now fully feathered. AFTER

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Result

Elvis is now fully feathered. He trusts Leslie and feels loved, valued, and cared for. He is a happy well-adjusted Green Cheek conure who enjoys what his life has become. By addressing the reason for his feather destruction, biting, and pinching at the source these problems have been completely resolved.

A more complete article on Elvis appears in the July 2007 issue #114 of Parrots Magazine.

Schedule your private consultation with Leslie today. Healing Feather Destruction begins with this one step.