flank plucking

[ac12]

I have a zebra that has its flank feathers plucked. I normally hear and see back of head, neck and upper back. The plucked flank feathers has me confused.

The cage has all male zebras, to prevent unwanted eggs.
I separated him with his partner, so I can get egg and feather fast into him. Should I just keep him alone?

[L in Ontario]

I've had a male appear with bare flanks too - while the hen was laying. I attributed it to him plucking himself for lining the nest but I'm not positive. I didn't do anything or separate him. His feathers grew back in a few weeks and all went fine with the eggs and subsequent chicks.

[ac12]

I caught his male partner plucking his flank feathers, so I put him into a hospital cage. That way I can give him egg and featherfast, w/o the rest of the birds eating HIS egg.

Although he may be one of the birds going to the bird shop.

[ac12]

I just found another male bird with its flank plucked. Same side of the bird also, the right side. Not as bad, as I saw it in time and he is now separated with the other plucked male. He does not go with the bird that I saw plucking its partner, so I don't know if it is the same bird doing the plucking. Could it be that each of them were being plucked by their respective male partners?

[L in Ontario]

Do you have nests in with them? If so, I would remove the nests and see if the plucking continues.

[ac12]

No nests. Just perches.
The only mating trigger might be the sound of a gouldian chick in another cage begging to be fed.

I have the 2 that have their flanks plucked in a separate cage, so I can give them all the egg they can eat + feather fast.

At first I thought it might be the partner for one of the birds, but the 2nd one that was plucked did not hang out with that bird. So that is why I was thinking it might be their "partners" in kind of a "mating" mood. I'm keeping an eye on the birds in that cage and the plucked guys.

[Finch Fry]

You can get a zebra finch in the mood with just about anything. The call of a hen they cant see, the sound of chicks even from other species.... heck, walking past it usually gets them in the mood. Make sure you have 4 or more males together if you have a male cage and make sure you have the surface area of a cage sufficient enough to support them. Stress alone can make them pluck each other raw and kill each other.

The feathers grow back in 6 weeks from raw skin exposed to feathers that look as they have always been there. Dont go crazy with the feather fast, a little bit goes a long way. A pinch daily for a week on their egg food should suffice.

[ac12]

Well now it is the hens.

I just found one of my hens badly plucked.
I saw the crop exposed and said "what the heck??"
The plucking was on the front left chest; in front of the wing and just below the neck, exposing the crop.
I put her into a hospital cage w a heat lamp because I also saw her staggering. She did not stand straight, and sometimes wobbled to the left, same side as the plucking.

I also caught another hen plucking its "buddy" and shot it w my water bottle.

I don't get it.
In these same sex pairs, the dominant bird will pluck the other bird. But the other bird lets itself get plucked!

[L in Ontario]

How many Zebs do you have in one cage? I find when I have too many - they squabble a lot and pluck the 'weakest' one...? Sometimes when there is more than 2 two may gang up on the third one. Or if I introduce another one into an established cage and it can be an either all male or all female cage.

Psst - don't tell Donna, but (whispering now) Zebs can be annoying at times with their squabbling and bickering.

[Meagan83]

Sometimes feather plucking seems to be a habit to a particular bird. It's not always about nesting or dominance. I had a society finch that did this. He plucked his own tail feathers and even went around following my canary to get to his ! I returned him to the petstore after a week and a half and got one better behaved. lol

[Meagan83]

Psst - don't tell Donna, but (whispering now) Zebs can be annoying at times with their squabbling and bickering.

They are so cute, but I totally agree!

[ac12]

he he he
Yes the zebra bickering and chasing is beginning to stress ME.
Compared to the societies and gouldians....ARGH !!!!
I am getting to the point of thinking about reducing my zebras, and just concentrate on the 2 pairs of penguin zebras that are breeding right now.

There were 4 hens in the cage.

Originally there were 2 hens in the half cage. Both pairs were out of view of the other pair. And they were fine w/o plucking with their old partners.

Then I removed the divider and put the 2 other hens into the cage, so now 4 hens in the full cage.
- They switched partners a day or so later.
- It was 6 days after putting them together that that I found the plucked hen. Then I noticed the other pair where one was also plucking the other.

The times that I have seen the plucking, it was the partner of the plucked bird that did the plucking. And it was when it was preaning the plucked bird. It was preaning the bird and then would come away with feathers in its beak. Although the chest plucking is different, it probably was not preaning. It is similar to the flank plucking the males did to the other males.

It must hurt, but the plucked bird does not move away.
I am thinking that this plucking is somehow bonding related.
OR maybe as FinchFry mentioned, they want to mate, and this plucking is somehow related to the frustration of not being able to mate.