Zebra hen losing feathers

[Nova]

Was hoping one of you experienced owners could help me...!

I have a zebra hen who appears to be losing feathers. She's one of my most recent additions, I have had her for... a month, maybe? Got her together with another hen, from a person who was selling all their finches.

A week or two ago I noticed that she'd lost a few feathers on the back of her head. I kept an eye on her, but figuring maybe it was due to the stress of moving or some uneven/odd moulting. However, the patch seemed to grow a bit bigger. At this rate I started to worry that another bird/s were picking on her. I've tried to keep an eye on them, I can't watch them while at work, but from what I've seen while at home, I can't see any obvious signs of her being an outcast - she eats and sits with the others, isn't chased around the cage etc.

Of course, then the worry turned to disease, maybe something infectious... None of the other 6 birds in the cage show any signs of losing feathers thought (yet?). I admit I've avoided handling her as she's not tame in the least and if it was stress-related I didn't want to make it worse. But I took her out today to look for possible scratches or... lice, or something. Whatever birds can get that's visible to the naked eye. I couldn't see any sign of injury, although the area just seems to keep getting bigger and bigger

Here is a photo I got of her today:

I should perhaps mention the bright flash of the camera makes it look like the whole area is scabbed over - it doesn't look quite that bad in RL, there are no visible wounds or similar, just hairless patches along her neck, back and now out on one wing.

I've never had a sick(?) finch before, so I'm not sure what the best action is. What would you all suggest I do?
So far I've not isolated her from the others as I don't really have a good cage for it... but I can put her in the transport cage if you think I should. None of the other birds (including the one I got together with her) show any signs of suffering from the same thing, whatever it is.

Any tips welcome!

[L in Ontario]

Poor girl! Mites can be microscopic and nearly invisible to the human eye. I would suggest giving her a treatment for mites. Probably a spray would be best to envelop her whole body.

I'm sure others can give recommendations as to the specific product.

Good luck with her - I'm sure she'll bounce back (feather up) in no time once the application(s) is applied.

[Nova]

Thank you! I would be very interested in hearing what products might be of use. I live in Sweden, if that helps, so I assume European products would be most likely to be available. Where exactly do you buy such products for finches, anyway? If it is something you get through the vet, or in a well sorted pet store, or...?

[Nova]

As a little update, I never did figure out exactly what was wrong with her, but she has somehow managed a quick recovery and has regained almost all her feathers. She still has a slightly "uneven" look to her as not all of them have grown out, but she has no bald patches any more and is active and alert, sitting with the others etc

[lovemyfinch]

Glad to hear that she was able to grow back most of her feathers.

[cindy]

For your hen to all the sudden start to grow the feathers back makes me lean more towards the fact she may have been plucked.

Few questions, you mentioned you had 6 birds to the cage, how big is the cage?

Do you have males and females in the cage with her?

Do you have nests?

When conditions are crowded or males are in the mood to breed and no nesting material or nests are provided the birds will pluck each other. Also if another female favors a male and wants to keep the other females away she will chase and pluck her cage mates to protect her"territory". The pattern she is showing on her back is not something she is doing but looks to be something other cage mates may be doing to her, it is also done silently unless there is chasing. Another bird will come up to the bird and pluck.

Some other common spots are the top of the tail, thigh and flank area and rump. If the bird is plucked in the chest area it can indicate she is trying to line her nest and there in not enough nesting material.