Feather plucking...

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:46 am

I have 2 male zebras in one cage together and they seemed to be getting along fine, but one is occasionally plucking feathers off the other now.

He will just sit there and chew on it for a while. I am not sure what to do. They seem to get along fine, they huddle up together when they go to sleep, and they preen each other and stuff. One will just occasionally reach over and grab a feather. I just recently put a plant in there for them (yes, it is one that is safe for them) and the bully has been chewing on that a LOT so I thought it might put a stop to it, but after watching him for a while he hopped to the back of the cage and it was like he had a little stash of 2-3 feathers and he grabbed a feather and played with it in his mouth for a while. The cage has a divider I can put in, but it would just be far too small with the divider in it, there wouldn't be enough room for them both to fly much. I guess I will divide them for a while if I HAVE to. I hope I don't have to split them up permanently... They really do seem to enjoy having company. I just am not sure what to do.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:49 pm

i think that its just a habit that the bird has got onto...the divider as you say is will make the cage to small if you put it in and i think that it is only put in place when you want to catch a bird to make the place smaller..i would try to give the birds some bathing water and then it may get one of them out of the habit if it is preening itself....you can put a bath in every day as zebra finches love to get bathed just try it and see what occurs..make sure there is cuttle fish bone and plenty of stuff for both of them to chew on

ken

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:50 pm

I have a bath that I keep full in there every day. I gave them some preening type toys as well; a pacifier and some cleaned, sanitized peacock feathers. I've added a couple very small plants that the one that I suspect of bullying is chewing on quite a bit as well. I moved the cage a few minutes ago to clean and there were a LOT of feathers that had fallen under the cage. I do see them preen themselves and each other, but it's not during the preening I've observed that one is plucking the others' feathers. If I hadn't SEEN one pull feathers off the other I would almost ask instead if one may be molting.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 5:23 pm

well thats also quite possible as there is a lot of moulting at this time of year my birdroom floor is covered in them at the moment

ken

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:05 pm

Well the one that seems to be losing feathers looks a little shabby. It seems to be that he is only really losing them on his sides, under his wings. I will have to do some reading to see how to tell when it's a moult. I appreciate the comments.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:22 am

Do they have a nest in the cage?

If so, maybe try moving it out to discourage any plucking for nesting material.

Do you give them fresh foods and millet? Sometimes a bigger cage with more to do could help?

Perhaps the one being plucked is sick?

There are many possibilities to this sort of problem.