Phoenix Moluccan Doing Very Good

Phoenix, this sweet whispering Moluccan hen, has come a long way in a short amount of time.

She came to me wearing a large plastic collar. It wasn't difficult to sympathize with her depression. She was sad, after losing her mom to cancer. Her grief, it is assumed, was a part of her picking behavior. As mentioned before, feather picking must be tackled from many fronts. Her diet had been mainly portions of TV dinners and such.

We have had two major breakthroughs in the past days. I had her (along with Buster, my grey) at the vet in their carriers to get checked out. Both were prescribed Halperidol to ease their anxiety and consequently their feather distress. We spent a long time at the vet and I had place Harrison's pellets in the carriers. I think Phoenix, with nothing better to do, sampled the chunks and actually liked them. This doesn't seem like much... but to me it's huge. She hasn't eaten anything except spaghetti O's with meatballs and scrambled egg! (I do not recommend this diet!)


The other big news is that I removed the fancy chest protector and held my breath. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. She went immediately to preening her somewhat disorganized feathers. The feathers stuck underneath the apparatus had gotten twisted and mangled. I carefully watched the process and decided that she was simply preening. Who better able to get those feathers in line than Phoenix!? She wasn't frantic just intent on getting at them. (Probably afraid that I would put that vest on her again.) The only feather loss was down feathers! I decided to take a chance and let her remain unclothed.

So, in just a couple of days, we have seen remarkable success. Buster is doing better today as well. He has literally chewed off three of the concentric rings that were the outer rings on his neck shield. This has brought it down to a smaller more manageable size for him. He can now climb around easier and seems resigned to wearing the neck flange and the smaller shield. The medication may be kicking in or he may be just adjusting to life with a necklace. Time will tell if his feathers will be allowed to stay.