Strange Feather Loss - Your advice needed

[Max]

Good afternoon Finchforum,

Im still relatively new to the avian world and have 4 gouldians that live in my indoor mini aviary.

one of my pairs have now bonded and are alternating on sitting on a clutch of seven eggs which is wonderful news.

However the hen over the last 2 weeks has slowly lost a large amount of feathers around the back of her head and i don't think that it is a normal moult but i may be wrong.

I've attached a few photos to this post and i hope some of the more experienced individuals may be able to help me.

Shes absolutely fine in the sense of full of energy and chirps grooms herself and is still the first bird to see what goodies i bring to the cage but i am concerned it could get worse.

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[Toddmin]

It is possible her mate is being a bit aggressive and plucking her feathers. I have experienced my birds doing that before. Since they are sitting on eggs, what are you feeding them?

[Max]

Hi Toddmin , Thank you for your response, i am feeding them a variety of seeds / fruit / sprouts / broccoli / dried egg food, and hard boiled eggs, also i have dried mealworms which they love.

[Toddmin]

Sounds like they are getting good nutrition. I think it is probably the other bird plucking the feathers.

[finchandlovebird]

Looks like the male is also molting. Get some dry or crumbled kelp & mix it with oyster shells; should be good for the molt. I assume they are getting some kind of minerals? & a cuttlebone?
Good luck; is this the pair that is nesting, or the other pair?

[dutch]

Max....maybe they are lacking vitamin d....I have noticed a few breeders of indoor Gouldian's with bald heads

[atarasi]

I had a black headed female that was always prone to balding. Iodine can help. I doubt it's aggression or plucking.

[Olympic_Aiairies]

My green singing female always does this to my male when she gets stressed out. Usually this happens right around they're annual molt time, or if they are at the tail end of raising a clutch when their feeding demands are greater. I bet would be on feather plucking.

[Toddmin]

Max, any updates regarding your bird's feather loss?

[Max]

Hi Toddmin,

The feather plucking has stopped but they are not growing back, some of the birds are starting to show a lot of symptoms of over grooming so i have a feeling that it may be mites.

I've currently got some SCATT and S76 on order from Australia as i cannot seem to find any where in the UK that can deliver / pick up from.

If anyone has any suggestions id love to hear them, poor little thing looks a bit of a state with its bald head.

Also have got some full spectrum lights, supplementing with minerals in water Avigold and constant supply of iodine block / cuttlebone, i supply moist eggfood. Also using a moulting tonic once every 3 days and have liquid calcium.

I've also got some dry kelp which i have introduced.

I don't want to separate her from the rest of the birds as she is currently looking after seven! 10 day old chicks and i don't think the male can cope by himself.