Male greenfinch

Razasings · Post by **Razasings** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:05 pm

I'm a bit worried over my male greenfinch. He has had this bald spot behind his neck for over 2 months and seems like it's not getting any better, I have treated my birds with S76, bath them in epsom Salt, and he eats eggfood for the extra protein for feather replacement. My other male greenfinch is in perfect feathering which is what is throwing me a curveball considering in the beginning I thought he was just molting. He is the only one with a bald spot out of all my other birds, canaries, grey singer, euro goldfinch, black Siskin. Don't know what to do next to help this guy, he doesn't look ill and has a good weight.

Post by **lovezebs** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:10 pm

Razasings

Is someone plucking him?

Razasings · Post by **Razasings** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:18 pm

That is what I thought because he was in a flight with the other male greenfinch and couple canaries. I have moved him to a flight with just a couple grey singers, and he is been there for a 3 weeks so far and still no improvement in his feather growth?

Post by **lovezebs** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:33 pm

Razasings

It is possible that he might not get his feathers back until he goes through a full molt.

Have you checked his skin in that area? Does it look normal? Any dryness, or anything out of the ordinary? Any sign of pin feathers coming through?

Razasings · Post by **Razasings** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:45 pm

Seems dry if anything and doesn't show any signs of pin feathers, I would check once a week to see if any pin feathers were breaking threw and nothing. Seems like it is moving upwards towards his skull and around his eyes. He started to loose the feathers roughly around apr 28th.

Stuart whiting · Post by **Stuart whiting** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 3:01 am

Without seeing the birds it seems an all to familiar occurrence with the bird most probably being plucked, especially by the other cock greenie as there are no hens in the flight with em, could also be the goldies that may be doing this aswell as goldies are also prone for doing this,

Most cock birds will squabble, feather pluck and act in this as its just a territory thing during the breeding season.

My surgestion is to watch em more closely for this annoying activity or preferably take the bird out and house separately

Razasings · Post by **Razasings** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 11:15 pm

I will try to post some pictures of the area that is not growing back. I will separate him into a 24x12x12 cage just feel bad, kinda small cage for the guy.

Post by **lovezebs** » Thu Jun 15, 2017 12:51 am

Razasings

That is a very small cage for your birdie, I agree.

Could you possibly pick up something bigger second hand?

Stuart whiting · Post by **Stuart whiting** » Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:14 am

Razasings wrote: I will try to post some pictures of the area that is not growing back. I will separate him into a 24x12x12 cage just feel bad, kinda small cage for the guy.

That is not to small for 1 Greenfinch mate, most UK breeders of Greenies use similar size cages within a birdroom to house Greenies singly

24" long x 12" wide x 12-15" high , these are std size breeders cages for single birds

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:27 pm

Iodine deficiency can cause balding around the head. I don't know if Green Singers are prone to this. It is said that Australian finches are prone to iodine deficiency.

I've personally seen this with Waxbills, and adding iodine to the diet seemed to fix it. It wasn't a controlled situation, though, and something else might have changed in that aviary so that the bird's neck feathers grew back.

Razasings · Post by **Razasings** » Fri Jun 16, 2017 12:04 pm

I was able to get some pictures up of his neck.

Post by **lovezebs** » Fri Jun 16, 2017 1:22 pm

Razasings Dave

In the middle picture, it seems like there are a few pin feathers coming in, or are those just my silly eyes seeing things?

His skin does look a bit dry to me.
Maybe a dab of olive oil or coconut oil rubbed in gently might help.

Do you know how long he's had this bald spot?

Is he a Green Singer or an European Green Finch by the way? There seems to be some mix up here....

https://goo.gl/images/M2R6QJ

https://goo.gl/images/HR9Tiy

To me from the picture, he appears to be a Green Finch.

Razasings · Post by **Razasings** » Fri Jun 16, 2017 4:26 pm

He is Greenfinch, yes it does seem little dry, he started to have some feather loss around April the 28th.

Post by **lovezebs** » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:28 pm

Razasings

So not that long ago, that's good.

Sometimes when they are repeatedly plucked over a long period of time, there is damage done that causes permanent bald spots or areas, but that's usually over a very prolonged period of time.

Hopefully things will start making a come back. Make sure he has lots of egg food for the protein, which is very important for feather growth.

Good luck

Razasings · Post by **Razasings** » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:37 pm

I have since separated him, and giving plenty of fruits veggies and eggfood. Plenty of sun light as well.
Thank you all for the help and suggestions.

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