Feather-destructive behavior in captive parrots and other birds is a significant welfare problem indicating psychological distress that affects hundreds of thousands of birds globally.
Feather destruction — pulling, chewing, or barbering feathers — causes physical harm and indicates severe psychological distress in affected birds. The underlying causes include inadequate social interaction, lack of foraging enrichment, restricted space, and the inability to express natural behaviors. In the wild, parrots are highly social, cognitively demanding animals. Isolation in small cages with limited stimulation creates conditions that no behavioral intervention can fully remediate without addressing root causes.