Accepted Answer

Okay, thanks for the extra information. It's very helpful. Before I get into the details, I want to give you a hint on stopping the bleeding. Flour is fine but if you have corn starch on hand, that often works quicker and better. I also want to share a couple diet tips with you, based on your information, before I get to the feather problem. It will be best if you will stop with the spinach. While it does have some good nutrition, it also has oxylates that can block his absorption of calcium. And, calcium can be a big issue with Grays. The greens he can have include endive, kale, mustard, turnip and collard greens and romaine lettuce. No ice berg as it has no nutritional value at all. He really should not be eating sunflower seeds. But, if they are a large portion of his diet, you will have to back him off slowly. We can't ever make diet changes for parrots quickly because we cannot "starve" them into eating properly. Apple is okay so long as it's well cored but it also is mostly sugar and little nutrition. I would continue to offer him the bananas, some papaya and fruits that have the strong colors. Those are best for him. Peanuts, if they are still in the shell can also be dangerous. Because they are grown underground, there is high risk of them having the fungal spores in them that can cause Aspergillosis, a respiratory infection that is very hard to fight and often does not have a good outcome. Here is some information for you on that one. Click here: Aspergillosis Fungal Infection in Birds Instead of the seeds and peanuts, start working on almonds and walnuts. Almonds are especially good as they are a great source of calcium for him. You want to be sure he is always getting enough calcium. A Grey having a hypocalcemic seizure is not something you want to witness. Here is more on that. Click here: Hypocalcemic seizures in an African grey parrot Any of the bird safe veggies that he is reluctant to try, you can try altering the way you offer them. If they are raw, try shredding or cutting into bite sizes. You can also steam and offer them warm. In addition to good diet, he also needs a full spectrum lighting system. Without the proper lighting, the best diet in the world will not be fully absorbed by his system. He must have the true light to process his nutrition. Just placing him by a window won't help because all modern windows filter out the very portion of the spectrum that he needs. Proper lighting is also helpful for good feather and skin condition so it will also help with this feather problem. Here is additional facts on this subject. Click here: Birds & Lights

Now to the feather problem. It's pretty much as I suspected. He has had his wing feathers "butchered" and it's going to be a long slow process, getting him past it. Trimming of flight feathers on a Grey cannot be approached the same as it can on all other species. It must be done by someone who it totally familiar with the special needs of a Grey. I'm going to give you, (yes, another link) on this but in a nutshell, they cannot be trimmed nearly as much as any other species. If he is not able to glide at least several feet, staying totally balanced, in complete control and able to execute a prefect landing, he is in danger of serious injury and you are going to have to keep him over only soft padded surfaces until those flights regrow, if they ever do. Grays are not known for their agility anyway and when they land, they always land, chest first. If they are unable to control their glide and make a soft landing, they are at high risk of splitting their chest open, from the inside out because their keel bone tends to be sharper than other birds. That is a very common emergency with Grays. If it happens, it's going to require a trip to the emergency vet, surgery to repair it, and a very difficult recovery. It's an injury that is hard to fix, hard to heal, and very hard to prevent having it reopen. He is probably picking at the feathers constantly because part of a horrible clip is not knowing how to properly shape and taper the ends of the trimmed feathers. They end up with pointed, scratchy feather stubs rubbing their sides and constantly irritating them. If someone left one or two of the longer, initial (from the forward edge of the wing) flights longer but shortened some in the middle, that could not have been more wrong also. That leaves those forward leading, long feathers with no support at all, leaving them very vulnerable to breaking and a risk of the bird bleeding to death if the broken blood feather is not removed immediately and exactly right. It sounds like your poor guy has really been mishandled by whoever did that so called wing trim. The only answer for it is going to be time and having someone take a look who you know, in advance, is well aware of the unique needs of a Grey, when trimming flights. It would be a good idea if you will seek out a very competent vet, if you don't already have one your trust, quiz them ahead of time about wing clipping on a Gray and hope you can find someone who for sure knows what they are doing. A competent person can have a look at his wings and make a determination whether there are any corrective measures that can be taken at this point of regrowth to help remove the irritation, and hopefully, cut down on the feather destruction he is doing himself. If there are still those long, unsupported leading feathers, they will know exactly how much to remove to prevent further breakage. Wing trimming on any bird is a much more involved process than most folks thing anyway, and when we add the difficulty of working with a Gray, it gets hard to find someone you can really trust and once that cut is made, it's a long road back. You will want to get on this as soon as possible because the last thing you want is to have this feather destruction become a habit that lingers after the root cause has been cured. Grays, because of their high IQ and personality are at risk of becoming pluckers anyway so we have to always be on guard for the first hint of a problem I'm glad to here he is not reluctant to have baths. That's great because he is one of the parrots that produces the most dust/dander and needs frequent, thorough soaks that get all the way to the skin. If he is not lifting all his feathers during a bath, he is not getting soaked well enough. One more thing you can do that will not be a cure but can make him much more comfortable during this recovery will be to add 100% pure aloe juice to his bath water. Do not use any over the counter product. That could be toxic. Use the juice straight from the plant. If you don't have one, you can find them, very inexpensive, at most any home improvement store, the plant dept. at WalMart, Kmart, etc, or at any nursery. I keep several plants growing at all times, strictly for the use of my flock. You cut an arm from the plant, slit it open and mix the gooey center in the bath water. You don't have to worry about ratio because it's as good for his insides as his outsides. Just don't give him access to the outer skin. That can cause stomach upset. Yes, you guessed it, I have yet another link for you on that. Click here: Aloe: Parrot Pharmacy In A Leaf Last but not least, I have one that is specifically about wing clipping for Grays. No matter what you do with the other links, I'd urge you to go to this one and print out the information. Use it to help you find someone who is truly and expert at clipping Grays. Click here: Winged Wisdom Pet Bird Magazine - Wingclipping and African Grey Parrots - Pet Birds Okay, I hope this will be helpful for you and will help get him on the road to recovery and prevent any injury until he can get those flights completely regrown. If you have any more questions at all, don't hesitate to let me know. I have a Grey in my flock and I know just what special guys they are. I'll help in any way I can.

Best of luck with him. Patricia

Expert:	Patricia
Pos. Feedback:	99.9 %
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Answered:	1/4/2008

Parrot C&onsultant

Published author, free lance bird behaviorist, adviser to the parrots at Sarasota Jungle Gardens.