Plucky Plucky Plucky

[MiaCarter]

Agh! I've got a plucky twit in my midst!

After Pippin and Piper fledged, it resulted in a crowded cage. Not obscenely crowded (7 zebras in two conjoined 37x18x18 cages) but definitely enough to be more crowded than ideal.

It took Piper a while to fully wean. Plus, Piper and Pippin are rather nasty too, so that doesn't help.

Mom Ivy was clearly stressed. She'd get a tad puffy at times and she started plucking her mate, my beloved Molly Sue! (Nooooo! Not my Molly Sue! What on god's green earth are you thinking, Ivy?!?!)

So finally confident that Piper was totally weaned, I moved Piper and Pippin to their own cage. They're a bit pouty and puffy, but they're eating, which is good. They'll be just fine.
Sadly, Ivy has decided she misses them! She sits on the end of the perch, nearest their cage (adjacent to them) and they call back and forth. Squeepers too on occasion. During today's free fly, both landed on their cage and started chattering back and forth with them! So cute! (I didn't let Pippin and Piper out for free fly yet; want to give them a full week or so to get used to their new digs.)

So frustrating! Instead of eliminating stress for Ivy, it seems I made it worse!
And she still tries to pluck Molly Sue.

I'm at a loss.
Molly Sue is super old. I don't want to move him.
He's also super bonded to Ivy.
But she can't pluck him like that. Not okay.

She's not plucking anyone else. So I'm thinking I could put Ivy and Squeepers in their own cage for a little while as Molly Sue re-grows. (Then, pull Ivy to put her back home and keep Squeepers in his own cage and introduce a girlfriend! Ha! I may be able to fulfill my goal of getting Squeepers moved away from his parents using this method!)

Stinks to separate Molly Sue from his mate, but the plucking thing is not cool.
His entire upper back and neck is bald!

I'm trying to decide whether to give Ivy a few more days to calm down to see if she stops the plucking.
I haven't tried the emu feather trick either. So I'm going to toss in some emu feathers to see if that helps. (Doubt it, though, as she's not plucking for nesting material. She's plucking due to stress.)

Stressed birds stress me! LOL

[KarenB]

Those are surely some interesting dynamics you've got going on there. No matter what, the logical thing would be to put a stop to the plucking by separating those two before it becomes an ingrained habit. Sounds like you've got a good plan. I'll be interested to see how it works out.

[MiaCarter]

KarenB -- Ha! Me too! It'll be interesting to see what happens.

I think I'll give them a few more days to see if she de-stresses now that the cage is back to normal. Fingers crossed!
Plus some emu feathers. Perhaps that'll do the trick. Maybe even get her started building a nest so she can focus on that. (I don't want any more babies, but she can pretend. Why not, right?)

Now that I've actually seen her pluck him, I realize she's done it before.
I always attributed it to molting. It was rather odd, but it always re-grew.
Now I realize that she's plucked him before. Just not to the degree that she's done now.

It's a bummer because whatever I do, I will end up with a dreaded cage of three. But I think they should be just fine as it would be Molly Sue, who's old and laid back, along with Priscilla, who's still not totally up to snuff, and her mate Elvis, who's a nice boy, so.

I'm just afraid to stress Molly Sue.
But luckily, he doesn't seem stressed at all. Not much bothers him. (He's one of the birds who sang non-stop as I drove from Boston to Florida when we moved here a few years ago! So funny that he was so laid back in such a stressful situation!)

[finchmix22]

MiaCarter
I think Molly Sue deserves a break from the plucking. Poor guy, he's being tolerant, but that plucking can eventually kill them, just like my Zelda, who died when her mate kept plucking her back until it was raw. I had not noticed as she was brooding chicks. Then, it was too late. She died in my hand as I tried to treat her back. So sad. Soooo, give Molly Sue a well deserved break from Ivy's plucking.
Sometimes, putting her in a cage by herself, can help her destress, even though she may call for her family, she needs to destress a different way. LOL. If only she understood that one. Good Luck!

[MiaCarter]

finchmix22 --- I know it!
He does deserve a break from that! Molly Sue is such a sweetie. He just moves away from her if she tries to pluck, then goes back to preening her a moment later.

So sorry about your Zelda! That's awful.
Definitely don't want to lose my beloved Molly Sue to something like plucking.