My quaker Channer has been plucking since mid summer of last year. After spending about $700 total for vet bills to find out why it was decided it was behavioral. I've not been able to stop him and his whole chest and front area is bald along with his legs and some under his wings.
He's not let even a pin feather come in and I decided his follicles must be dead. Someone I know said their friend used something called avi-calm on her bird and his feathers grew back and after 8 months she took him off it and he's not plucked since. I decided to get some for Channer. They sell it at avitec.com. He's been on it about two weeks and I was shocked this morning when I was bathing the birds and saw a 1 square inch tuft of feathers growing in on his chest. I took a picture and will download it tomorrow and post it here so you can see what's comming in after all this time. Don't ever assume their follicles are dead and don't give up. I am still in shock here. My friend said it's helpful to add the featherific they sell too, but he's doing fine on just the avi-calm. Just wanted to share this with you all as I know we have some plucking fids out there and I do feel this is worth a try.

That is fantastic news. I know how happy that makes you feel.
I got up one morning to find my Bo had plucked his chest almost clean. I had to get on a waiting list to see the vet as they didn't consider it an emergency. It broke my heart as I was sure he had a medical problem (nothing had changed in his life at all).
I decided that I would give him yogurt and add some apple cider vinegar to his water in case he had some kind of infection and the third day he had feathers coming in. He contimued to cover with feathers and hasn't lost any more since. That was 3 months ago.
Keep up the good work. Maybe he was stressed about something. Gosh, we never know, but it surely does feel great when we see new feathers.
YAAAAAY!

Thats terrific news , you must be soooo happy , I am for you ...

That is good news and it also gives hope to people out there with a feather plucker.

Yes yesturday it looked like a bunch of little feather dusters growing out. This morning the feather dusters are taller and there are real feathers here and there. Too cool

That is the best news
So happy for you
Lets hope Channer has turned the corner and wont go back
Fingers crossed
Keep doing what you are doing

Im having the same issue as well, How often do you give apple cider vin and how much of it? Also should I give him benebac and how much of that?

Thank you so much for your help!

Leo, I haven't tried the apple cider vinager. Only the avi-calm. You can give the apple cider vinager though every day and I'm sure someone will come along with the dosage. YOu can try doing a search on google by putting in "apple cider vinager for plucking birds" and it will probably tell you the dosage. I'm afraid my birds won't drink the water if I put it in so have never tried it. The avi-calm has no taste as I tasted it myself. LOL. Just make sure your bird is drinking the water if you use it. You don't want him to get dehydrated from refusing it without your knowing. Also you can try putting it straight on his fresh food. You should get the kind with "Mother" in it. A company called Braggs makes it. Let us know how it turns out.


LOL! Donut, I know I'm so worried he's going to just yank those precious new feathers out and I keep checking and they're still there as of bedtime. I'm praying my heart out!!!!

I'm so happy for you.That is just incredible.I will make sure to kep this info ..just in case. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue to go well

I'll be getting some for T-Bird right away, he wont' eat yogurt, he's so picky, I am afraid of the AC Vinegar, I dont' think he'd drink,,
Thanks again, waiting for pics!
Lori
and T-Bird

I gave Bo about 1/4 teaspoon of plain yogurt every other day and he loved it. He loved it even more when I chopped a piece od strawberry and added it to the vogurt.

I used a few drops of ACV to his water each day and he didn't seem to hesitate to drink it at all. He stopped the plucking IMMEDIATELY, so I feel that he had some kind of infection. The vet's visit didn't happen, he was completely back to normal before time for the appointment.

Please keep us posted on Channer's progress.

I'm not sure why but for some reason I have trouble posting photos. It tells me I haven't selected a file. Does anyone know what the problem might be? Too large maybe? I keep trying to post the pic of Channer. I can email it to anyone that would like to see it though. just send me an email titled "Channer pic"
lynnew013@comcast.net

What wonderful news to hear---wow---thanks for posting this---------I've learned something new..........

I'm so happy for you and Channer, that is totally awesome. Can't wait to get Billy started on this sure hope it works for him. Keep us posted about your little guy.

did Billys tests ever come back? I thought I remembered you were going to have some tests done...
Lori

Ok, I've added his pictures to my flikr site which you can click on below. You'll see his first pic titled "Channer feather growing back pic#1". The first three there I took just today so you can see it's filling in even more. Of course the important thing is that they are still there. LOL

did Billys tests ever come back? I thought I remembered you were going to have some tests done...
Lori
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Yes, sorry I didn't reply about his test, he had yeast bacteria in his stomach and going through his little body. I gave him medicine that I got from my vet. twice a day every 12 hours. It tasted and smelled like peanut butter so he took it without a problem, he liked it too much. He was on it for 21 days and I watched him for a couple of weeks and he still kept on plucking. So I thought he still had the yeast and was itchy but after the two weeks was up I had another gram stain done and it was normal no more yeast. So now I think it has become either stress or habit. I just started him on Avi-Calm today and I so hope it works for him. Right now his neck and a bit under his right wing is naked.

Lynda

That is fantastic!!!

Lynda

the store I used recommended FEATHERIFIC with the avi-calm, said it wouldnt' work without it,,so I got both
have you seen the natural antibiotic food additive they sell? WOuld that be good too? THey said it is good for any little infection they have or to boost their system.
Lori

I took a pic of Channer today with his feathers still there and continuing to fill in. he's next to Kade who as you can see is feeling better. The pic is on my flikr site with the link below

Awww that is so cool!! I'd never heard of avicalm till this board. I've never had a plucker, but feel so badly for birds that I see who do that. There is a rescue maccaw at the bird shop I go to, and that poor baby has plucked himself until you can see the muscle on one wing. I'm going to ask them this weekend if they are familiar with avicalm. I'd think surely so, since the owner has a master's degree in avian behavior, but who knows? I'm just curious...did your vet tell you about avicalm, or did you find out about in on here...or somewhere else? I just read so much about feather plucking and this is the first thing I've read about that seems to actually work!

Glad Kade is doing good too. I read your post about his kwik link accident and was horrified. I had no idea that could happen!

When I was at the Chicago Bird expo earlier this year I saw a table that was selling the avitec products. I hadnt heard of them and was getting ready to leave so didn't have time to look much but I bought a container of avi-gain for my picky plumhead. When my CAG became ill earlier this summer I had to spoon feed him as he stopped eating. I'm still hand feeding him but he's eating some on his own. At this point there's nothing wrong with him, but we're assuming it's stress. I just started him on avi-calm too by the way to see if it helps him relax. Anyway by adding the avi-gain to his mash he was maintaining his weight even though he wouldn't eat enough in my opinion. The vet looked at the ingredients and had no problem with me using this. I think both vets that were seeing him were surprised this bird was able to maintain his weight with my spoon feeding him.
Later a bird friend told me to try the avi-calm (also made by avitec) for Channer so I got some. I didn't think it would work, but she said it worked on two occasions for pluckers that nothing else worked for so I kept at it and two weeks later, those pins popped out. Then I found out alot of people were using it. The emergency vet that saw kade was interested in it because it worked. He said they're ALWAYS looking for anything that works for pluckers. I was afraid to try anything else on Channer for plucking as I was never quite sure how safe the ingredients were but I was confident the avi-calm is completely safe. I"m sure the other products are too, but I'm just paranoid. LOL