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Re: Plucking ???
Posted by Dave on 3/07/11

On 3/04/11, Pete wrote:
> I have a 4 1/2 year old Female CAG who is bonded to an
> older male CAG. I am not a breeder, but realize that both
> Birds are mature. The female is fully feathered, but she
> no longer has nice scalloped feathers from the neck down.
> She seems to have stopped preening her breast and just
> lets it look raggety. Is this the sign of a newly mature
> Female who is mating or is it a problem that I should see
> a Vet about? THANKS

She may have gone through an acute plucking stage. ACUTE
means that she'll eventually stop doing that. CHRONIC means
that a bird is a plucker and won't ever stop. Concerning her
messed up feathers, they'll remain looking like that until
she molts them out and new ones come in. It may take a
while. You'll have to wait and see.
As far as mating, she may be showing signs of sexual
behavior but she's too young to breed. They need to be kept
separately because after any mating goes on, either one may
turn on you and disown you as being a pet. Many males and
females do that even if they're immasture. Successful
breedings starts between 5 and 6 yrs old. You can see a vet
and get his opinion as far as health but when hens pull
their feathers, they do that to put into nestboxes and the
feathers they pull are usually located at the base of the
tail some some lower abdominal areas.

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Plucking ???, 3/04/11, by Pete.
• Re: Plucking ???, 3/07/11, by Dave.
• Re: Plucking ???, 3/07/11, by Pete.
• Re: Plucking ???, 3/07/11, by Dave.