What is happening to my juvenile finch's cheek? (Moulting?)

[aviansoldat]

Hello all! I am a first time finch owner, so I am not 100% sure of if this is normal or something worrisome. I got a couple of healthy juvenile finches a few weeks ago. What I know of them is that their father is a zebra finch, and their mother is a zebra/society finch mix. They were born at the start of March. The babies were eating and drinking on their own a week or two before I got them and the parents began acting snappy with them. I am not entirely sure the gender of either of them, as I've been told that their feathers can change as they become adults. They've been active, eating, drinking, playing, peeping and I haven't noticed anything unusual with their bowel movements.

Anyway, this one (I think a female) used to be entirely white on the cheeks, but now it almost looks as if she is losing feathers there, and the skin is beginning to show. Is she sick? Is this moulting? (They've both been preening a lot and I have seen tiny little white feathers at the bottom of the cage.) Does she have mites? Has the other finch been pecking at her face? Is it an injury? I'm scared that it is a scab or that she is bleeding. It's been worrying me ever since it started to appear a couple days ago. They both have a healthy diet to get enough extra nutrients while moulting and act just the same as always, happy and active. I'm going to attach a picture to show her cheek. Should I be worrying about this? Thanks.

[Icearstorm]

aviansoldat
Be sure to keep an eye on it, but it looks like relatively heavy moult to me. The dark spot on the skin is the ear opening; normally you would not see it, but currently the feathers are not covering it. Feed them some eggfood each day or two while they moult, and if everything is fine the feathers should grow back within the week.

[Sheather]

It's just molting! Sometimes it's really heavy and the baby is ugly and half bald for a while, then covered in quills before its new feathers open. That first molt can be a big one.

Your bird looks interesting. I've seen half zebra, half societies, but never a 3/4 zebra x society cross. I'm really surprised a zebra/society finch mix would be fertile to breed! Do you have pictures of the parents?

[lovezebs]

aviansoldat

Hi Aviansoldier and welcome to the Forum,

Regarding your birdie...

It looks to me like he/she is molting, plus possibly being pecked a bit by it's sibling.
As to the cheek changing colour : Because these are part Zebra, part Society, it is entirely possible that this youngster is coming into some cheek patches from the Zebra side.

I would feed hardboiled eggs and greens, along with a high quality finch seed mix. Possibly add a drop or two of birdie vitamins into their drinking water twice a week, just to help them along with their molt.

I would also offer them a daily bath of tepid water, which will help with the moulting itchies.

Good luck, and enjoy the Forum.

[Icearstorm]

Sheather

What's if someone could breed a line of society/zebra hybrids until most traits of the zebra aside from markings were bred out? That could make an interesting mutation. Societies are not wild, so one would not be diluting their wild line, and if only a few zebras donated to the line of hybrids, there would not be much loss of productivity for them. I rarely support hybrids, but if one could produce a fertile group that would not need to be outcrossed after five or six generations (self-sustaining), there could be some unique and useful traits. Imagine a bird with a society's deportment and a zebra's sexual dimorphism; compatible singing aviaries and same-sex groups for fostering would be easier to come by.

If I'm not mistaken, fertility in an established hybrid group should gradually increase with each successive generation. Societies and zebras most likely have slightly different gene spacing, so fertility between f4/generation 4 groups (let's say 1/16 zebra, 15/16 society) will probably be higher than that of f1/generation 1 groups (1/2 zebra, 1/2 society) due to more uniformity of gene spacing and diversity of alleles in the established group. It seems complicated.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

Why???

[Sheather]

I mean, it's what they did with siskens and canaries to produce the red factors, so it's not necessarily impossible. But a lot of work, and even more so to figure out which of the hybrids were fertile - probably only a very small percentage.

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs

Not something I'd do, just theoretical.

[aviansoldat]

Thanks everyone for your kind answers! I didn't know my finches were so special and unique! (Aside from to me, of course. ) There is only one sibling in the clutch that looked like her. The rest look like my second baby. (I added a photo of him.) I will be keeping an eye on her cheek, it already seems to be getting a little better after one day. They've both been enjoying a nutrient rich diet to help them through the moulting process. I will ask my friend for photos of the mother and father and share them with you all when I can! (Edit: They're now added.)

[Sheather]

The mother looks like a totally normal female zebra finch actually, of the fawn pied mutation. It doesn't seem to have any society traits. Orange beak, orange legs, teardrop marking, and striped tail.

Though it's not too clear in the lighting, it looks like it might have some striations on the belly, which would not be present in a zebra.

[aviansoldat]

Very interesting, I'm really curious as to how my babies will look when they grow up. If anyone has any predictions I'd love to hear them.

[lovezebs]

aviansoldat

I took the liberty of lighting up the photo a bit.

I agree with Dylan, Mum does look like a Zebra female, I would not have guessed that there is any Society in her.

Your little gray cutie in the picture up above looks like a normal gray little girl.

I hope that your other little ones cheek heals quickly.

[aviansoldat]

Hey everyone I just wanted to update you all! His cheek feathers have grown back and he and his sister are doing very well. (He recently began singing, so I'm quite sure now he is male. ) I took away their nest to prevent breeding. Thank you all again for your help.

[lovezebs]

aviansoldat

So glad to hear that all is well.

What a cutie pie

[sparrowsong98]

lovezebs it would be like a nice zebra. Then maybe Mrs. Zebra wouldn't be plucking mr. Zeeb, all my troubles would be gone!