Very Dry Skin, Any Ideas?

Bebe suffers from ridiculously dry skin, and we're running out of ideas. There is obviously the usual birdy dandruff that Gary sheds, but when Bebe ruffles her feathers there is practically a bird shaped cloud coming off her.

Bad points..... They both (coincidentally) have uropygial glands that don't work. She suffers from anxiety and has OCD behaviours. She is a plucker. She has chewed an area in her wing pit to the point of sores, which will tentatively heal, but she won't stretch her left wing as it must pull on the sores, and twice now she has taken to flight in a panic over something and ripped the skin open again. Due to her anxiety issues, we (vet included) would prefer to avoid making her wear a collar. This afternoon she has been scratching and preening again as usual, and I noticed another dry patch on her leg with a little wound where she must have been so itchy she chewed.

Good points.....There is an air purifier/humidifier in their room. They have spray baths. Their diet is good, including foraging activities. There is no underlying health problem, other than her mental health. They have an abundance of toys. When we're home (evenings and weekends as we both work), they're out of their cages.

Bebe is 'my' bird, but when it comes to trying to look at her wing she turns into a she-devil. She allows me to touch it, but senses when I want to try and actually do something and warns me off. And again, due to her anxiety issues, I don't want to risk the trust she currently has in me.

If you've read this far...well done! If anyone has had a similar experience, or had any ideas, please share!


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Avifood Spray do one for irritated skin which I have used a little on the naked chicken. It contains Aloe. Lou's (naked chicken) gland didnt seem to work when she came last year, it looked a bit dried up and sad. It works now! Diet, diet, diet!I thought it was infected so got the vet to look see and he said it was working by giving a squeeze and I bathed it with warm water/cotton wool for a little while. It seemed very black and lumpy then.

Work on Bebe being your bird re trust when you need to look at it. You need confidence and assurance to her that you won't hurt her but need to see. Always give a favoured treat afterwards so she knows that mummy is pleased she has been a good girl.
 
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Try growing your own aloe vera plants and squeeze the sap out of the plump leaf add to a spray bottle of tepid water shake and spray with that. It's what I use for Henni my nudist. No plant food for the plant though don't want to be passing that on!
Henni gets a couple of sprays a week with it and she has clean water baths in between anything you spray on a bird will coat feathers / skin and irritate the bird eventually as they know something is coating them regardless of what it is makes them want to clean it off so rinse off every couple of days with fresh clean water.
 
Thank you all for your replies. For some weird reason I've only just seen them, I kept checking but I couldn't see responses. Probs me being dozy! Anyhoo, I managed to get a photo of under her wing which isn't nice, but will show the extent of the problem. I've also taken a pic of her leg which has also started to become worse with the dryness. I'll be trying with the aloe, but I've got to work with her to gain more trust because she's so sore.
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Has your vet done a skin scrape or sellotape stick to check under a microscope?
That's a good point, but in the very first instance when she chewed, they did all kinds of blood tests and scans and examined her skin to try and find a reason behind it. Fortunately/unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a physical reason for it. Other than horrendously dry skin. The self harming did stop, but the area of the wound was awkward and because of her mental health issues, she was already a plucker, which gave the vicious circle of overly dry bare skin unprotected by feathers. She preens her itchy skin....etc....and it goes on.

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To be honest I have no idea but try to think what I would do if this was Lucy, all I can think of is increasing her oil intake ?
That's also a good idea. They have Palm oil and coconut oil regularly, and are given oily nuts such as walnuts also regularly. If anyone knows of a different oil they could have as an alternative?

Thank you all for your input so far, there is always a good chance that something one of you does as 'normal' would be an einstein moment for us!

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Bit of an update.... under her wing has healed nicely, although she is trying to have a chew every now and again [emoji21]. This has also helped in the progress of her allowing me to touch her wings more, and even put my hand under them briefly. Baby steps, but I don't want to rush her! She has even climbed down a couple of times and lay on my chest for a cuddle, allowing me to check her skin.
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I will say that I have been thinking of what I would try if I had her, yes I will increase the oily feed and cut down on the citrus feed, is she on pellets? if I found mine was on pellets I would cut down on them and give more nuts and moist feed, I do agree that another sample from the skin should be taken, I am so pleased she is getting more friendly as this makes things like checking her a lot better. I also wonder if there is a shampoo the vet can recommend to ease her problem.
 
That looks like what Henni has …. which is a condition called SCUD of which there are two types sever and superficial obviously the nudist over here had to go and get diagnosed with the sever form ,,, never flipping does anything by halves!
Apparently its only just in recent years started to be observed in pet parrots
Did a thread about it earlier this year with links to a couple of the only proper scientific documents about it - sever form have to give you a warning as to some graphic photos. Henni is also disease tested totally clear of everything, had scans, had xray, skin scraps the flipping lot and more blood drawn than by an entire vampire coven! Every thing comes back negative except for the bacteria that are living on the skin which are a little different to the normal bloom found which isn't an issue …. until a break in it happens then the skin kind of ripples and looks wrinkly and puffy with a more pinkish bloom to it and then it ends up with tiny pin head like scabs and then all hell breaks loose after that point as she goes nutty and won't leave it alone even with a collar on she ends up on the floor until she gets the collar off and is right back at it under her wing at full force hence then deciding no collar for her as it makes her far worse.
 
We're back to the start with Bebe and her wing pits.... this time both of them at the same time :crybaby2: There were chew marks the other day, and they seemed to be healing, but I've just checked and she's got a wet open wound under one and a partially dried 'bloody' wound under the other. I think maybe she flew or flapped her wings if scared and split her skin open, not sure if that or she's been hot and itchy and has chewed them, but they're a mess. I know it's just a constant battle with this issue, but it's so upsetting. I get really scared that she's going to develop an infection or it'll get so bad we lose her.
 
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