Marcia and Jeff, you both clearly love and care for Einstein so much. Wondering why he pulls his chest feathers out. On the regular. Other African Greys on You Tube dont…
It’s mostly a stress mechanism and sometimes it’s medical but I believe that had him thoroughly checked up and he is healthy. Many birds do it and it’s not abnormal. As humans we may play around with our hair, pick our scabs etc. …….He is ok so please don’t worry. It happens more than you think and there are tons of videos on RU-vid with birds with little to no feathers. Sometimes they will grow back and sometimes they won’t.
He's not always in the bathroom. Many of my videos and live streams are recorded in the kitchen, Jeff's office, the family room, and on the screen porch. The bathroom is very quiet and he seems to talk more in there so I do much of my batch recording there.
For some reason, tropical parrots living with humans LOVE being in the bathroom. I myself think it is because of the high humidity in the room. My African Grey parrots both LOVED to join us in the bathroom, especially when the shower was running. Einstein also says, "Wanna go kitchen" in this video.
Einstein is a Congo African Grey Parrot. 85% of parrots are resold, given away, or abandoned within just 2 short years of ownership! Usually because of behavior problems like screaming or biting issues. This is not the fault of the parrot, but the fault of the owner for not taking the time to learn how to properly nurture and train the parrot. With love and patience a parrot can recover from these issues, but it takes a great deal of time on the part of the new owner to gain the parrots trust and working with the parrot. You must be willing to learn how to use positive reinforcement training to redirect those behavior problems. This is a huge commitment and life-style change, but very rewarding in the long run. It is a marathon, not a sprint. If this parrot does indeed have behavior problems, success in changing these will not happen in a few weeks or months. It may take years of devotion and consistency. Here are 2 links for you. The first from Good Bird Inc., a resource I highly recommend about positive reinforcement training. www.goodbirdinc.com/parrot-behavior-problems.html. The second is from a very good site about parrot ownership. www.parrotparrot.com/articles/gettingabird/so-you-want-a-pet-bird/ This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much you'll need to learn through the journey of parrot ownership. Good Luck and all the best to you!
