Is this a first molt?

[Pikori]

My society baby is a month and a half, and this morning I noticed a bald patch on its head. There seems to be feathers growing, but it was very sudden. I read that society finches molt after three months. Is he just going bald?

[MiaCarter]

Hmmm....that seems to be really bald for a moult.

When moulting, the skin generally isn't that bare in just one area. Moulting is more gradual and it's usually like 1 out of every 4 feathers drops out at any given time. So they look a bit thin, but not bald.

That looks more like plucking to me (and the location means he couldn't have done it to himself) Is he with someone who's a bit plucky?

[Pikori]

Hm.... I'm not really sure. His parents are the only ones in the cage. I have seen a little bald spot around the father's neck (when we first got him) but its covered by feathers so I forgot about it. Could it be him due to poor grooming skills? Aggression towards the young? Because the father grooms the mother often, but she hasn't had any problems..

[Sheather]

If the birds still aren't getting proper nutrition it could cause feather loss.

[Derk]

Pikori
Some parents do pick their chicks. Often these parents were picked themselves. It is a bad habit but if it does not progress further I do not think you need to worry about it if this is the problem.

Do you know if these birds had chicks prior to you having them? Is this their first clutch?

[Pikori]

I do not have the information for these birds before I owned them, so Im not sure whether they had a clutch before or not.

I am feeding the birds egg food everyday and small pellets that finches can eat along with their seeds.

But today, I noticed his face is now losing some feathers. I don't know if the parents are the cause, but I'm sure the problem hasn't stopped yet.

[Derk]

Pikori
I am not sure when society chicks go through their various molts. Since no one has yet supplied that information, you should probably research it. Do you see any pin feathers/new feathers growing? Have you seen the parents pull any of the feathers? Does the skin look normal? Do the birds appear to be itchy?

[Pikori]

Sorry, I haven't been keeping up to date. But right as the feathers disappeared, the baby immediately began to grow tons of pin feathers in the bald areas. It was so strange. Currently, he has all his feathers back and the parents have helped a lot with the grooming. What I found really strange was that he lost feathers in places on each side of his belly. It wasn't random patches where the feathers were taken out or fell out, but in a thin line of growing feathers. These lines on each side of the belly were symmetrical to each other too. But right now, he seems perfectly fine, so I really don't know what happened.

So he lost a big patch on his head, under the beak and around the face, and the two thin lines of missing feathers on the belly.

[Derk]

Pikori
I am glad he seems to be doing well.