I know this does sound daft but it's a shame some one hasn't brought out a little jacket that covers the chest, just to give his feathers a chance to recover a little, I am presuming he pecks his chest.

Mel

Mel,
they actually exist! The little jumpers. I had no idea until I saw the pictures of one of Moonchild's cockatiels, who was a plucker (RIP baby Dolce). I hope she won't mind me posting her picture here so you can see it







I see that someone has even created a business over the issue, I wonder how many orders they get... but there are a lot of pluckers out there alas

http://www.thesockbuddy.com/

It's also possible to make your own out of a sock. For example here's a video showing how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuXJUiHxb_M

Not so daft after all.

Mel

It does seem like this would be a risk. I haven't found any comments about birds eating the sock, but if you look at their Facebook page there are people talking about other problems, like refusing to eat or getting very stressed. I remember that the thread about Dolce said she was going pretty crazy at first.

I have never had a problem with plucking so I am completely ignorant about the issue. I was told that it's virtually impossible to convince a bird who plucks not to do it anymore. Am I wrong?
After all Zippi is happy and healthy, and the sweater would make him unhappy at least for a while; is it worth?
Maybe if he had just started plucking... but after so long I doubt the sweater would stop him.
Is it possible that there are physical reasons to plucking? Like an imbalance in the body chemicals?
I need to do some research, this is something that could happen to anyone of us, better be prepared.

There are a variety of possible medical causes including food allergies. Some of the larger parrots are prone to plucking for psychological reasons too, but this isn't common in cockatiels. But if I remember right, medical causes have been ruled out in this case and he might be a psychological plucker.

Medical issues can often be cured but psychological issues are much harder. Sometimes they can be cured by getting rid of some kind of stress factor in the bird's life. But sometimes there's no way to make them stop, and if you prevent them with a body covering or a collar they'll go right back to it as soon as you take the barrier off.