Feather plucking is the problem that turns a beautiful Grey into a bald, anxious bird, and by the time an owner posts about it the habit is usually months old.
The causes people end up finding:
- Boredom, which is the big one -- a Grey is roughly as clever as a small child and a bare cage is solitary confinement
- Being alone all day
- A cage that is too small
- Diet, particularly an all-seed diet
- Dry air
- Mites or a skin infection
- Something that changed in the house
The order matters: rule out the medical causes with a vet before assuming it is behavioural, because treating boredom will not fix mites.
If you have dealt with this: what was the trigger, what did you change, and did the feathers grow back? Long-term pluckers sometimes damage the follicles permanently, which is worth knowing early.