FINCHforum

My white zebra finch, who may be pregnant may be missing feathers around her vent. She was preening and might have just parted the feathers on her stomach and that’s what I saw but I’m not sure. I looked under her when she was on a high perch and she looks normal, her feathers look just as fluffy as they usually do. I don’t want to stress her out by catching her because she might be having babies soon. I love her dearly and worry about all my finches a lot. Should I be concerned or should I not worry because she was preening and might have just parted her stomach feathers?

LunesEMartes if she’s acting normal then she is probably fine

LunesEMartes

Birds don't have many feathers on the vent itself, since poop could get stuck to them otherwise. If you caught her after she was pooping or if she was listening to her mate sing, she might have been holding out the feathers directly around her vent, making her look like she was missing some. If your talking about the area farther away from the vent under the tail, that is usually fully feathered, but feathers can be parted while preening or may even look like they're gone after a bath (one of my birds got soaking wet and it looked like all her belly and undertail feathers were missing). Some birds will pluck as a sign of pain, but if she's acting normal, this probably isn't the case.

Thank you! I was probably just worrying too much, she’s acting fine and is even sitting on 6 eggs

She was fine, however her brother got picked on while I was away. There are a few bald patches, how would you recommend helping him grow his feathers back?

LunesEMartes you can buy a product called moultone which works really well you can add it to the drinking water 2 times a week and only keep it in for 24 hours

Or they will grow back naturally at a slower speed if he’s left alone