This is what my Mom and I did. First, she added Sparkle to my drinking water. Mom has always been real good about changing my water several times a day, but I like to dip my food in it pretty regularly and "OOPS!" sometimes I have accidents over the bowl. Once I heard Dad call it "Poop Soup"! "UGH!" Laraine said that the Sparkle would keep the water safe for me to drink should I have one of my accidents. Oh yeah! After just 4 months on this experiment, I had the first check up in my whole life when the vet didn't find e-coli in my droppings. Isn't that terrific! And now I'm beautiful too!!!

Second, Mom started sprinkling Probiotic on my favorite foods every morning. A Probiotic which puts good bacteria back into my gut and you know what else? Mom thinks that the Probiotic also had something to do with my not having any e-coli this year.

The third thing added was Calcium Plus. I personally think that this was the most important in my overcoming the feather plucking that had taken over my life. Calcium Plus is a liquid calcium supplement that is very good for me because African Greys can be very deficient in calcium. When we get low on calcium, we get crazy. Really! And you know what? By the end of that first month I had stopped plucking and fraying my feathers. Well, maybe one or two, just for old times sake…but this new calm had come over me.

This is what Mom did with the Calcium Plus. For the 1st month she put the Calcium Plus in my water 5 days on, 2 days off, every week. The 2nd month I got Calcium Plus for 2 days, skip 2 days, again for 1 day, skip 2 days. And from the 3rd month on I got Calcium Plus one day each week.

The fourth new thing I got was Feather Fast. This is a vitamin/mineral supplement for birds when they are molting. It contains the sulfur producing amino acids, which I needed to produce all these great new feathers. As you can see, they have great color and body and I am so proud of them! All of this has happened to me in the last 10 months. My whole life has been changed. If you have a companion who is a “feather plucker”, why not tell them about me and get them started on my "Feather Plucker's Kit". It could be the start of their whole new image!

In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed "Ali's" story about how I helped her overcome her feather plucking. Before I started this experiment, I was pretty confident that it would help her because I knew that African Grey Parrots are sometimes known to be highly calcium deficient. Lack of calcium can make them agitated and nervous. Adding the Calcium Plus, Probiotic, Sparkle and Feather Fast to "Ali's" diet worked wonders for her. I am fairly sure that it will help most African Greys, but I can't say as confidently that it will work for other types of birds that feather pluck. There are a number of medical conditions that will cause birds to pluck. These start with parasites but also include diseases such as liver damage. Because of the intelligence level of the larger birds, they get bored easily. They are affected by lack of attention and by new things in their environment. Once they begin to feather pluck, it becomes a habit. I do not believe that adding these nutritional supplements to their diet will do them any harm. However, I cannot state with certainty that it will accomplish the results that I had with "Ali". If anyone had a guaranteed solution for feather plucking, they would be very rich by now.

If you decide to try them with your bird, I'd very much like to hear from you, pro or con, as to the results. Don't get discouraged! "Ali" had a new calm about her after the first month. However, it took 10 months before she had new feathers, and even now, there are a few places where I believe that the feather follicles may have been permanently damaged and we may never see good coverage again. But…her Mom and Dad are delighted and she is a bigger show-off than ever before.

How much is too much Calcium?
One very important thing to remember: Too much calcium is just as bad as no calcium at all. Therefore, you must never give Calcium Plus, nor any calcium supplement every day. The reason that this is so important is that the right calcium levels are necessary for the proper functioning of both nerves and muscles. The blood has the job of delivering calcium to the nerves and muscles from the food that is eaten. The bones have the job of maintaining the correct level of calcium in the blood. When calcium levels are high in the blood stream, the bones remove and store it and when the calcium levels drop, the bones return it to the blood stream for use by the body. Now imagine the situation where the bird gets loads of calcium from its diet every day. In this situation the gut is supplying calcium to the blood and all the bones are doing is removing it. If this situation continues for too long, the bones loose the ability to pump calcium back into the blood when it is required for egg laying or stressful situations.

Since most of you reading this article about Ali are most likely dealing with a pet bird that is not used for breeding, you may not see a circumstance where your pet would suddenly need calcium for egg laying. And you may be correct. But I think that it is always important that we allow for the proper functioning of our pets' bodies, whether or not they are ever going to be mommies. Far more important is the stress factor. For the nerves to function properly they must have the calcium available at a moments notice. Just keep in mind the intelligence level of your bird. We may never be able to anticipate everything that may cause stress in their lives, so we want to make sure that the bones can give them the proper calcium levels when they need it.

Article © lady gouldian finch.com 2005

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