Ask Lafeber

One of my conures is plucking the other one

Hi, I was wondering if you guys could help me out with some problems I’m having with my Red Cherryhead Conures. I have two of them, a male and a female, who were together when we got them a few weeks ago. However, one of the birds is pecking the other bird’s feathers off and has left two ugly bald spots on their head. The bird who is being plucked shows no hostility, hesitation, or concern when it happens. In fact, he/she seems to put their head under the other bird to be plucked, which hints this doesn’t seem to be an act of aggression. We still don’t want the pecking to continue before the spots grow worse and possibly even blood to show. If you could give us any solution or insight on what’s going on I would appreciate it. Thank you!

Hi Christopher,

This is actually very common with a lot of captive parrots. I’ve seen this in Cherry heads several times and even had a rescued pair for a while that arrived in a similar state. As to why, it is hard to say and there could be different reasons – over-zealous mate grooming? nervousness? But even with breeding pairs that are mostly left alone, it happens. And here is where you have to make a decision. As long as there is not any blood being drawn – and typically with this type of mate grooming you will not – then the main issues are the poor bird is unsightly and it could end up with permanent follicle damage which would prevent feathers from growing back in. But as these two scenarios are mainly aesthetic, is it fair to separate a pair of birds that are clearly bonded? I personally would not split the birds up if some baldness is the only downside of leaving them together. By splitting them up, the plucking could escalate into the bird plucking himself and both birds might end up feather plucking. You might try adding some toys, especially shredding toys. Now keep in mind that shredding toys can trigger hormonal behavior and egg laying, but it sounds like hormones are already at play now. If you are not interested in breeding them – and I’m not recommending it – then don’t give them a nest box and if one is a female and lays eggs, don’t give her any way to incubate them – if left on the wire floor grate the eggs will not even start to develop.

Nutrition is also something to address. If these birds are on a loose seed mix, they are not getting the nutrition they need and if they are eating pellets, they aren’t getting any benefits from foraging. Birds spend the majority of their day in the wild foraging for foods, while captive birds spend little to no time foraging for food. We make foraging diets that are nutritionally balanced the same as pellets, but they are not ground up. They can be fed alone or in addition to pellets. I’ll give you a link to our food guide so you can get some ideas of ways to keep them busy with foods. Between that and some new toys, it may help out. But also give them some privacy right now because they are in a new home and if people are around too much, they may be feeling nervous.

Bird Food Guide

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda