Lisa Shea Forums Parakeets General Parakeet Chat nudist budgie!!

froot loop has continued to pluck despite hours of observing, playing, entertaining...
she is close to 1/3 featherless now (her legs look like mini drumsticks! i know it's not nice... but it does look kinda silly!)
anyway... i am here to ask if anyone knows where to get her a birdie sweater? i've seen them for bigger hook bills and believe there are some for keets, just can't find them. anyone have any ideas or suggestions??

What about a infant sock with the toe end cut off?

that is what i've been thinking too. actually, on sunday, i went to my nephew's first birthday and i scoffed a pair of his socks from my sis! she is dyiny to see if it works too! the only thing is, i have to take some cross stitch thread around the ends to make a "collar" and around the wing "slits" so it doesn't unravel!! think that will work?
any idea how to judge where thewing spots should go without having to stuff her in an freaking her bad enough to send her into a catatonic state?? LOL!

Or!!
A banana with the top cut off!
Eh??!
Shucks, I was only trying...

Can you measure her shoulder width between the wings? That should give you a pretty good idea.

I don't think that this would be of any help, though, really ~ and I'm guessing that baby blue is rather concerned about this.

I don't think it will unravel, it may get unravelled by a little beak. I made a sweater for our dashound out of a sleeve off of a sweatshirt. The cuff was the collar. You might be able to let the top of the sock be the neck.

If you have a sewing machine you could cut the one end and carefully zig-zag along the edge to finish it. Just stitch on one side, following the circle.

Dropping the feed dogs of your machine might make it easier.

Perhaps the cuff of a toddler sweatshirt work? You might poke around in a JoAnn's Fabric store or such and see what they have that could work.

Good luck and let us know how it works.

Kathy

I'll preface this by saying I don't know much about plucking, other than what I have read, and I do not know your bird's history, but instead of a temp fix, why not try to find a cure? I'd imagine a "sweater" would be horribly annoying to a Budgie and wouldn't stop the problem long term. If you prefer a temp fix, have you tried the feather sprays (which I must admit, I have no idea if they are safe or what is in them, so I'd check that out first)?
Since plucking stems either from disease (pain, illness, malnutrition, infection, Psittacosis, allergies, hormones) or behavioral issues (boredom, loneliness, cage location, stress, light) I would take them to an Avian Vet, if you haven't already, as a first step. Have you tried moving their cage, putting them with other birds or separating them if they are already together, changing their diet, more or less light, playing classical music, etc??
I know Bird Talk magazine had an article about plucking several months ago or so and I believe it said sometimes you just have to let them be and love them despite the plucking, given they are not hurting themselves.



Aw, poor girl! She's probably adorable regardless of missing some feathers. I hope you find a solution that works!

Id try the vet first and if she is the only bird in the house she might be plucking due to loneliness she might just be one of those birds that needs a little birdy friend to play with I know one of my aunts parrots would pluck his feathers out and she tried everything and then when she saved another parrot from a freind who was going to get rid of it the bird stopped plucking i think some birds just get lonely without another bird to talk to.so if nothing else works maybe try getting her a freind if possible.