Feather Problem

[bianca]

Hi Janine!!! I apologize but unfortunately I don't understand what is " molt".... What does it mean???

[lovemyfinch]

Hi Bianca, is it at all possible that he is going through a molt? If not I would have to guess that some feather flucking is going on - while you are not watching.

That's how you say "plucking" in french in Quebec!

Ok bad typo....not meant to mean what you were thinking Liz. Then again with zebras...maybe.

Bianca, a molt is when they lose part of their feathers only to grow them back again, hard to explain, but I beleive that the closest I can get to it would be like a snake shedding it's skin.

[bianca]

Many thanks Janine!!! Now I know what molt means..! The other finches have never lost so many feathers though... Maybe the female is indeed plucking his neck... I really don't know! If that happens is there something I should do??

[HoangQuan]

To know what to do, at first, you should know why the female plucking on his.
but, as far as I know, if it's not kind of illness, and no serious injuries or even no chasing or fights, you should just leave them alone.

[bianca]

Many thanks Hoang for your reply!!! Sorry for the delay of my answer but I had a problem with my internet connection..! He looks fine so I believe it is not an illness..! Many thanks to all!!!!

[ac12]

I think your separating them was a good idea. That way any other bird that might have been plucking him is separated from him.

Feed him all the egg food that he wants to eat. That should help him grow back his missing feathers. It did for my plucked birds.

The pix were too small for my old eyes to see much.
As was mentioned missing neck feathers is usually plucking.
The brown side feathers, I have had a plucking problem w 2 of my males.

I have the males in one cage, separated from the females, to control unwanted population growth. Usually the males will pair up. With 2 of the males pairs, the dominant male plucked the brown flank feathers of the other bird. And oddly enough both were plucked on the right side. With one bird the brown flank feathers were COMPLETELY plucked. With another, only some of the brown flank feathers were plucked. This does not always happen, but it did with 2 of my males.

I removed the plucked males and along with the regular food, I feed them all the egg food they would eat, and the flank feathers grew back in a few weeks. However, when I put one of them back into the male cage, he paired up with the same bird and got plucked AGAIN. He is now separated, growing his feathers back again. So based on what happened, I cannot put him in the same cage as the other bird, or he will pair up again and get plucked again.

It was like the dominant male wanted a female, and by plucking the flank feathers he removed one the the male traits from the other bird. What is interesting is that the plucked bird still stayed with the dominate male even though he was being plucked by him.

[franny]

Hi Bianca,

Welcome to the forum. I think it looks like plucking as well. She may be plucking him because he wants to set up housekeeping again, and she's not ready for another go at it. Or she could simply be getting feathers to line the nest. If there's a nest in the cage, I'd remove it, and give him plenty of eggfood as suggested, to help him grow new feathers.

[bianca]

Thank you very much Fran!!! I really appreciate the infos that you gave me!!! They don't have a nest in the cage. On the other hand, they have plenty of eggfood already!! I am so happy that it doesn't look like an illness!!!! Thanks again!!