Finch enjoys being plucked?

[khelens]

Everything I've read about plucking online indicates that it's bad, the bird getting plucked needs to be removed and protected, etc etc BUT for some reason my finch seems to like it. He's a society finch and he was living with a female society finch and a canary. The female took ill and died before I could get her to a vet. It took me longer than I like to get a new companion finch for him, and in the meantime the finch and the canary started to bond. Except they had this weird routine where the finch would sidle up next to the canary and offer the back of his neck to him. The canary would pluck, and soon the finch had a big bald spot. I got a new society finch and so he started hanging out with her instead of the canary, and for a while it looked like the feathers were growing back. But then one day I noticed the finch was back at it, offering his neck up to his new friend. He's had a bald spot for about a year. I haven't separated him because it just seems like he wants to be with his friends and he wants them to pluck at him. The skin looks healthy and his feathers look great. Any thoughts on this bizarre behaviour?

[Sally]

I think some birds don't mind being plucked. As long as it doesn't get out of hand, where the skin is affected, or it continues to the point that the bird has a huge bald area, you can leave them together and just keep an eye on things.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier for members to answer locale-specific questions later on.

[khelens]

Thanks, Sally. My initial concern was that maybe the finch had some skin or feather issue and the plucking was giving him relief. I can't figure out what any such issue would be, though. Right now the entire back of his neck is exposed, but it's not gotten any worse over the past year.

[Ryan722]

Lucky you. My finch was plucked horribly before I could seperate her. And she doesn't enjoy it...

Anyways, as long as it doesn't get to be a daily routine and the birds missing a lot of feathers he should be fine.

[ac12]

I never understood plucking.
Watching my zebras, it seems like spousal abuse, where the plucked bird does not know to try to escape the plucking, but puts up with the plucking to be close to their 'buddy.'

As has been said, you NEED to really watch the plucked bird, because I have seen the plucking get out of control and the plucked bird being BADLY plucked.

I had 2 situations where I had 3 zebras in a cage. Yes I know that is a BAD number, and I now know why. In both cases, the pair ganged up on the 3rd bird and BADLY plucked her, plucking more than half the body bare. In once case she died. In the other case it took a LONG time for her to recover, and I could see that she was not in good shape during the recovery time, constantly next to the heat lamp.

Now whenever I see plucking, the plucker is immediately removed, and if necessary put into solitary, to protect the other birds.
Sometimes you can get a workable combination of birds that the plucker will stop plucking, other times, it won't stop plucking.