Feather falling on my finch

aero · Post by **aero** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:44 am

Hi all,
I am new to owning finches and have 3 zebra finch pairs for a month now. Every day when i clean the cage I find quite a bit of tiny-winy feathers on the ground, they keep flying all over when I try to tidy them up. Mostly, they are white coloured (so should be from the white pair). I also occassionally (once in a few days) notice one or two long thick black/grey full feathers, but they dont fly that much.
I have read about sick finches, and I think they are not sick either

. They are definitely not as active as the greys but they also dont seem to be dull or sitting in one place. They keep jumping and flying all day, feed normally like all others. But their skin does not have that shiny and good look like the other blacks. I have asked a few pet shops here and no one seems to give me a reasonable answer.
So, is it normal to see such small size feather loss for zebras? How to say if they are molting? What can I do to get them back to normal? I also think it would be difficult to get some medicine around. Is there some natural way, food contents etc., by which i can help the zebras?

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:05 am

As long as they are active and flying and singing, it sounds like normal moulting to me with lots and lots of tiny fluffy feathers flying around, which is perfectly normal. Sometimes moving a bird to a new home/location is enough to make them go into a moult.

You can provide a litte extra protein during their moult with some hardboiled egg mashed up with the shell included.

aero · Post by **aero** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:49 am

Thanks liz, for the tip. I have been giving them egg shells twice a week anyway. Can I mash the eggs with the yellow in it too? I guess 1 teaspoon per finch would be a right quantity, is that ok?
I'll try that out from tomorrow.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:53 am

Yes you can give the egg shell pieces right along with the entire egg mashed up - both the egg white and the yolk. A teaspoon per bird sounds fine too.

If it's really warm in your location - I would only leave it in the cage(s) for 2 - 3 hours and then remove it before it goes bad.