Help, my boy is balding!Starting to get worried

Ok so this is a new thing.we noticed the other day after Loro took a shower that he was missing a few feathers on his head somehow, only tiny like it had fallen out and since the feathers were wet they were all moved to the side so it maybe looked a bit funny- like birds do when wet- u see alot more skin. I didn't think much of it until about 2 days ago he had another shower and there was definitely more missing. It's not so noticeable when hes dry but tonight i was playing with him and he was being extremely aggressive (i was trying to look at his head properly). had to towel him and scoped out the feathers on his head looking for a sign of regrowth or something.....not sure what im looking for. i was moving the feathers about and you can actually clearly see this massive bald spot with him being dry. it looks horrible! I took photos of them but im scared to make him wet again and taken a photo then because its going to freak me out a bit.
Im kinda panicing a bit...well im trying to take photos and send them on here at 1am for some answers.
I have taken 2 not so clear photos of the spot but i cant seem to upload them on here. Im new to the whole iphone thing and dont know how to move photos onto the computer so litually emailed them to myself but its in some kind of format that wont load as a jpeg. and my mind isnt working well this late so just wanted to post this up.

If there is anyone who might know something or wants to see the photos please send me your email address and ill send you the photos so that you can see. maybe you can also work out how to post them here.
He's alone so nobody can pluck the feathers and well they are on the top of his head so he cant pluck them himself. I can only think that hes really itchy (winter time, heating is on, dry air i dont know) and i sometimes see him rubbing his head on his bungy rope and any towel he sees. i didnt think much of it then him being itchy and just scratching his head but do you really think he could be rubbing that hard that the feathers are falling out?
Or is there some kind of parrot mite or bug or something?
Tomorrow im going to do a full 100% big clean of his cage and steamclean all his toys, maybe it will help.i dont know, this is completely new but not a plucking problem.
He's on harrisons diet and eats his fresh food everyday, hes out all day and is generally a very spoilt but content with his life bird.
he's my beautiful boy, it doesnt look right for him to have this bald patch lol. its liturally like chicken skin---no new feathers seem to be sticking out to regrow in the area. maybe even the reason hes being so agressive.

Sounds like its probably due to extreme dryness. Generally plucking would be in places he could get to, not the top of his head. Put a humidifier near his cage, it will help. Or when you take your own bath or shower, bring him in the loo with you to soak up some of that humidity. It will help. Misting him often will help too. If it gets worse, see a vet, it may be an allergy.

If you think he's been around other birds (even wild ones) it could be mites. You can catch them with scotch tape, try dabbing he's leg/foot and see if you can see any bugs stuck to the tape.

Thanks for the replies,

@vikki
would an allergy cause this?
as for humidity, he does sit ontop of my shower everyday and sometimes even twice when my fiance showers and he catches all the steam and loves it. I offer him his own shower everyday (he prefers to just go under the tap) and doesn't like if I spray him with water for some reason. Its funny that he didnt react like this last winter which was much more colder.


@captain
The last time he was around birds was when I went to germany, just over a month ago. He stayed at my friends who run a petshop down the road and they had him in the same room with a bunch of cockatiels and budgies.how would the mite look like?
So just use some cellotape on his legs?lol hope it doesnt get stuck on more feathers. The little dude has some extreme violent tendancies to cellotape, everytime i use it and he hears that noise while i pull it he goes nuts and tries to attack it or what im doing.

I just sprayed him with a little bit of oxyspray he seems to like that. The only thing I can spray on him. might try that a few times a day for a few days and see if it gets better. I suppose it will take more then a few days to see some feather regrowth to see if its working.but that might moisturize the skin somewhat. aww my little baldy

Don't stick the tape to his feathers ,just the bare area on legs and feet.You should see very small bugs if they are present.

Cool I will try that today:) thanks!

I sent you a PM w my email if you'd like me to post pics for you. Don't know for sure what time I'll be home from work this afternoon, but will check my email again then and take care of it it I've received anything. .

That would be awesome thanks so much ill send them over. its no rush so only if you're not busy. thanks so much for taking a look, its really appreciated.
Jess and Loro

I don't have anything to add, but I hope you get to the bottom of it soon!

Just gave him another shower....he's really starting to look worse, I really feel bad for him:(

now you know how Dusty and I feel

Loro's Head

Are those photos when he's wet or dry?

Have you checked for mites yet??

Thanks for posting the pics:) those photos were taken of him with a dry head, i just moved some of the other feathers out of the way so that you could see it better.

I tried to tape test his leg but I couldnt find anything mite like so will probably rule that out. unless they're hiding more.

Are you and dusty having the same problem then?

Yeah we're both going bald.

I seem to remember your vet situation was complicated, but since he doesn't seem to be plucking and doesn't seem to have mites, it may be worth having him evaluated if you possibly can. Apparently hypothyroidism in birds can cause feather loss, and so can some nutritional deficiencies. PBFD also causes feather loss, but I think you are probably safe there since he doesn't seem to have any malformed feathers.

henpecked wrote:

Yeah we're both going bald.

oh my word didn't even realize you were relating that to yourselves personally Hahaha sorry if I offended you in anyway

@Deb-yes unfortunately loro always comes up with some random issue. the problem with the fact there is no decent avain vet here always makes me worry what will happen in the future but hopefully the big move to switzerland will happen soon and i hope there is someone there that will be able to treat him if anything happens.
Thanks for the tips on the feather loss though.

The good news is that it looks like the ones he's missing are starting to grow back again. so will see what happens, if they fall out again or if any more start missing then I'll probably need to do something about it or look into it more