Feather Picking Bintel

Feather Picking is the most frustrating behavioral issue to deal with. We provide the very best environment and care and yet, they still fuss with their feathers making one very fuzzy bird. I have my fuzzy grey Buster and the photo here is of one very adored Goffins Cockatoo named Bintel. Bintel like most has good days and bad. His family cares very much and they have tried everything. The newest attempt was this cute little "jacket" especially made to fit around the neck, over the chest, under the wings and down the back. It closes with a velcro strip. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy to get this on Bintel and he looked quite dapper for a half a minute. Then he proceeded to nibble away at it. The fringe in front was intended to give him something to fuss with...he, however, fussed with the entire outfit. Better to chew on the soft material than to chew on himself, but will he ever get used to it? Who knows. One thought is that it would feel soothing to cover the denuded area, sort of like putting a band-aid on a wound. But having a covering on is very foreign to a bird. This saga will be continued!