Why Is This Jubilee (Hybrid) Macaw Having A Difficult Molt?

Donna B writes on 9/9/2018

I have a 6-1/2 year old Jubilee Macaw (named Bijou) who seems to be having a very difficult molt.

 

I am concerned his constant picking might turn in to plucking.

 

Bijou has begun constantly picking on himself and pulls out not only larger feathers but also small to mid size feathers and gray fluff.

 

As of now, however, I don’t see any skin abrasions or blood.  

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One Of My African Greys Has Been Losing Feathers And It Is Getting Worse
afircan-grey-parrots-allo-preening

One Of My African Greys Has Been Losing Feathers And It Is Getting Worse

My husband and I have two 14-year-old African grey parrots.

We bought them from a pet store that sold only parrots when they were chicks.

They seem very healthy – have good appetites, play, scream, etc.

However, one of the birds has been losing her feathers and it is getting worse.

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Can I Always Keep an African Gray Parrot in a Cage That is Placed in the Living Room?
african-grey-yellow-cage

Can I Always Keep an African Gray Parrot in a Cage That is Placed in the Living Room?

I’m going to interpret this as a cage placement question.

The answer is not straightforward.

Parrots like privacy.

We talk a lot about the birdcage canopy effect of lining the top third of your bird’s cage with so many toys that you can not see the bird.

This gives them a sense of security in that they are not easily seen all the time.

You have some sort of window covering in your bedroom, right? (more…)

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12 YouTubers For Parrot Lovers You Need To Know
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12 YouTubers For Parrot Lovers You Need To Know

At first I thought to myself “this’ll be fun.”

 

Once I started the project it was a bit more difficult than I forecasted.

 

I originally started with 9 YouTube channels but some favorites needed to be included not simply based upon numbers.

 

For those who are not following on us Facebook or our YouTube channel, you’ll note that we are ramping up our use of Fid-eo to better communicate caged bird care.

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What Is a Good Summary About How It Is to Own Parrots (Macaws Specifically)?
29715768 - set parrots and parakeets

What Is a Good Summary About How It Is to Own Parrots (Macaws Specifically)?

I don’t know that there’s enough storage space on the Quora servers to answer this.

 

I read that parrots are loud, noisy, and messy – a lot.

Then again so are children.

Let’s start with a top-level explanation.

Pet people in the disciple category will always react negatively towards the word own preferring instead to call it pet bird companionship.

In reality, birds are the most owned pets we can have.

We have to lock them up in a bird jail.

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We’ve Learned How Much We Know and Don’t Know About Captive Bird Care After Taking the Exam
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We’ve Learned How Much We Know and Don’t Know About Captive Bird Care After Taking the Exam

Find the Birdy IQ exam here if you haven’t taken it

Of the first 170 exams we had a 25% pass with 75% correct answers to 44 multiple and true/false questions

Please share your comments below terms if you think this helped or did not.

What else would you like to see?

more questions and/or explanations to the answers.

Please comment below

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How And Some Of The Why’s African Greys Molt Differently Than Other Parrots
An African Grey Parrot sitting on top of his cage preening his wing feathers.

How And Some Of The Why’s African Greys Molt Differently Than Other Parrots

Your African grey may have upwards of 8000 feathers. Feathers keep a bird warm, and dry and enable flight.

For a molt to occur, the old feather must be removed. Before molting begins blood vessels that support the feathers dry up so the attached feather becomes loosened by the surrounding tissue.

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The Complete Guide To Understanding Sleeping Birds
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The Complete Guide To Understanding Sleeping Birds

Mitch,

Have you written about “bird sleep”? I watched an eagle chick go from hatchling to fledgling and during the process, both the chick and parents seemed to sleep only periodically, preening much of the night.

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