FINCHforum

I have a male and female society finch along with other various finches in my cage. The male finch is constantly preening the female and the female is really bald and red from the top of her head to down the neck.
Also one of my hooded nuns goes after her preening her too. What can I do for this female society finch? Is this normal and if not, what is the problem.
I have about 12 finches all together and she is the only one with this problem.
Thank you for your help.

Some birds will overpreen others in order to get nesting material. Others will overpreen a bird that is already feather-plucked, sort of like once it is plucked, the other birds tend to pick on it. Feather-plucking can be from so many reasons--nesting material, boredom, aggression, overcrowding...it is hard to pinpoint one thing sometimes. There is an article at the Finch Information Center that gives some tips on how to handle this problem.