A friend of mine has a cream colored cockatiel. The bird is clean and well taken care of, she is nine years old and was locked in a closet for most of her life before my friend got her. (that last part probably isn't relevant)
Anyway, this bird is pecking and chewing on her chest feathers, and has created a small red (raw) spot on her skin.
I think she is loney, because my friend's wife moved out and took two other birds out of the home.
Is there some bird psychology going on here, or is chest pecking normal?
He is putting an antibiotic ointment on her at this time.
Picking at the feather might be a normal behavior for birds, but when you see red raw skin on that spot, it is not normal. It could be caused by the repeatedly picking, or perhaps the bird was bothered by something at that spot which caused the picking in the first place.
If the antibiotics can't help to get rid of red raw skin, I would suggest to take the bird to see a vet. There might be the loneliness in the play, but I am not sure.
Thank you, and yes, there is definitely some red/raw skin there. He thought bathing her would help, but it didn't. I told him to look for it to get worse, and if it does, to take her to the doctor.
He is very scared he is going to lose her. He is very down in the dumps as his wife just moved out and went back to her ex. When she left with the two other birds, one of them got out and flew away from her. It's just a big struggle for him right now and he doesn't want to lose his precious Sasha.
I am making a wild guess here. It could just be that his depression is affecting his bird. I don't really have much idea about how close birds are to their owners but with cats and dogs, the mood of the owners do affect the pets. For example, when the owner is sad, a cat or a dog very often mopes together with the owner.
Birds can start plucking for a huge variety of reasons. Sometimes the reasons are psychological, and sometimes they are physical. It tends to become a compulsive habit, which is why it's hard to get the birds to stop. If the feather picking started around the same time as your friend's wife and other birds moved out, that's probably the reason. It could be that Sasha misses the rest of her flock (both human and bird) and is depressed herself, and it could also be that she's feeding off your friend's emotions as Victor suggested. It could also be a combination of both.
The fact that Sasha is a rescue could also be relevant, actually. She may have abandonment issues, which would tie into her being upset about losing part of her family.
There are quite a few medical reasons a bird might pick, such as allergies, skin infections, thyroid problems, endocrine problems, exposure to toxins, vitamin deficiencies, and so on. A checkup with the veterinarian might be a good idea to rule those things out, just in case.