# Obsessive Preening?



## JigoSan (Mar 28, 2003)

Remember how I had said that Jigo was doing a lot of preening, well I know notice him doing it almost constantlynow or at least whenevr I am in his presence. He will do it once, usually when I come into their cage to say hi to them. While he is sitting on my shoulder, he will pause and then shake, I mean really vibrate, and then start preening all over again, almost obsessively, and keeps doing it. There are a lot of feathers in the cage, like I said the weather is getting a lot hotter by us now (I give them plenty of nice, cold water!)but still I am really curious and a tiny bit concerned, I have read things about birds in captivity picking out their feathers due to boredom or nervous breakdown. I have also examined their feathers for fleas or lice and have found none. I would appreciate any info you guys have.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Actually, I think you are Jigo San's chosen .. he's happy being on your shoulder and preening and showing off .. and apparently you are happy having him there doing it .. best of both worlds!

Terry Whatley


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

I've seen this aggressive shake and quick preen, They look very frustrated .. It could be that your bird has a pigeon fly!

I've noticed that twice in pigeons and it turned out to be a fly!.. Dotty was perfectly fine when I first got him but later on he started to all of a sudden quickly attack his tail area with a really aggressive preen.. I held him afew times and noticed that scary pigeon fly







.. The thing was that I just woke up that morning so I thought maybe I'm seeing things but later on I saw it again and we sprayed him up!
After cleaning the cage I noticed him on the floor almost dead (I still have him squashed in a book btw!)
This could be why your pigeon is preening like that!

Mary


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## hilary (Jun 20, 2002)

The "vibrating" shake is quite normal. The aggressive preening usually means that something is bothering them. Hercules sometimes spends hours preening himself.

I see you say there are a lot of feathers around. Your pigeons are probably just moulting and there's nothing to worry about. I would still spray them for lice/parasites just in case they have got them. Those pigeon flies, although quite big, are almost impossible to see on the bird, even if you are looking for it.

Hilary


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