White Zebra Feather Production Breakdown?

Laone07 · Post by **Laone07** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:26 am

I recently rescued a white mutation zebra from a petstore where she was being "abused" (for lack of a better word) by her cagemates. She has been in my home on a good diet w/ vitamins for about a month. She was so bad off I am honestly surprised she is still alive. Her appetite is insane, and she eats about 80% of her waking hours. Her droppings which were very poor upon rescue have improved, now appearing normal for her diet. Since having her, most of her primary feathers have come in and her wings are developed as are her tail feathers. She "sings" the best she can quite often and appears happy and frolics around her gigantic flight cage.

Coming from a background in psitticines and not passerines, I am not too familiar with passerine feather patterns other than the little sparrows and finches i've hand fed through late snowfall springs. i know that parrots have "down" feathers, little poofy balls of fluff that cover their bodies (and everything else they land on!) under and between their primary feathers. That is what my post is in reference to.

This little finch has zero down feathers. She has red clean skin underneath her wings, around her vent and behind/around her neck where I would believe down feathers would be. She doesn't show excessive grooming or featherpicking/plucking as there are no remnants of down feathers around. She bathes regularly and seems to enjoy it. She takes care of her primary feathers nicely. She doesn't show any signs of itching, scaling, flaking or raw skin. She doesn't show any signs of feather growth difficulties in the bare areas, meaning no cysts or swollen follicles or ulcers. As a matter of fact, there don't appear to be any "follicles" there at all.

Is there any type of genetic anomaly that could cause inability to grow secondary feathers and/or down feathers? do the down feathers grow in after a moult more slowly? it is difficult to believe she lived through baby-hood w/o any downy feathers on her body. is that a possibility?

I realize that finches are society birds and prefer company rather than being alone, but w/ her feathers being so questionable, I am not going to introduce another finch to the situation until I know whether her condition is or is not contageous and also because I am unsure of another finch's behavior towards her in her condition. The last thing I need now is for another bird to "pick" on her.

She is not showing severe signs of illness, so a trip to the vet at this point is not exclusively warranted, though I am not ruling it out entirely. I protect her from drafts and keep her poor feather in mind in terms of temperature control.

Any comments, advice or experience in finch feathering would be appreciated.

Post by **Hilary** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:00 pm

One possibility is that she was plucked so severely that those feathers will not grow back in - the follicles were too damaged. Hopefully somebody else will suggest other possible causes.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:05 pm

Yeah, damaged follicles is what I would suspect to be the cause.

Perhaps Crystal will have another suggestion.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 5:55 pm

I have not heard of a genetic abnormality like this, but there are several processes which can cause prolonged feather loss/lack of regrowth:

-follicular damage
-inadequate nutrition
-some mites (often this causes itching)
-infectious disease affecting the skin (viral, fungal...bacterial is rare and usually causes crusting etc.)
-endocrine/hormonal disorders (e.g. hypothyroidism--this is rare)
-cancer/neoplasm (probably rare)

Zebra finches do molt continuously or "one feather at a time" so they should never have any bald patches. Finches naturally have a little bald area where the wing meets the body (as pictured), but the rest of the bird's body should be pretty well feathered.

You mentioned you are feeding a "good diet," but what exactly are you feeding and how is the food/supplements presented to the bird? Does she eat/drink everything you offer? Does she get access to any natural sunshine (not filtered by glass)?

Are you able to post a picture of the bird (specifically showing the areas of concern)?

Athanasia · Post by **Athanasia** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:24 am

I don't know if anyone has noticed this but here is my experience. I bought two male zebs a few months ago. Both severely plucked, neck and tail. What I noticed was that the skin on the back of one of them had a greyish tinge which didn't fill up at all, whereas where the skin was pink both birds filled up pretty quickly. The skin looked ,for lack of a better word, dead. So by sight it was easy to tell the poor thing had been over plucked.

Laone07 · Post by **Laone07** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:50 pm

Thank you to the respondants. I will attempt to address the questions and comments below. The little finch has been named Gracie.

I did take some pix, but the little bird hops around so much most are blurred beyond discernment or the cage bars disrupt. It is difficult to get close enough to her to even see the areas, much less photograph. Only through sitting next to her for an hour+ was I able to get the information I originally posted. She is terrified of people. I can't imagine all she has been through in order to be so terrified. I've handled untame parrots that weren't as frightened.

Crystal, your photo of the underwing area was helpful. I now know those areas are normal. Thank you. (Parrots most often have tiny poofy down feathers in that region.)

The largest unfeathered areas are now behind her neck and around her vent wrapping around to the lower underbelly. The skin in all areas areas is pink and appears healthy. There aren't any droppings clinging to the area around the vent, and the vent itself is clean and dry. I have not seen any indication of feather follicles on the back of the neck. Through hours of sitting next to the cage, I have seen her skin is smooth and still _not_ scaled or dry.

As for diet, she eats a variety of grains with dried greens and fruits, some egg treat, some millet spray. (Due to a serious ant problem when I offer fresh fruits and veggies, I'm limited to what i can currently provide. I am moving in 1 month, so I hope the ant situation will be different at my new place.) I feed her Kaytee Fiesta seed blends mostly, as it is the pellets that I feed my parrots. I have mixed the blends w/ a moulting formula and a fruit and veggie blend. She eats the blends from seed cups, and the millet spray from a ring toy hanging in the cage that she can perch on and pluck at the seeds. She has a good appetite, and eats the seeds and stuffs she likes the most, leaving the ones she dislikes or throwing them out of the cage. She has a little bowl of gravel/grit and oyster shell, all of which she partakes of periodically. Food and water bowls are emptied and washed daily.

As for the sun, her cage is in front of a window that gets sun the second half of the day with half of the cage being in shade. As far as I know, this is just a single pane window. I am unsure if there is a coating on it or not. It isn't a new window, so my thoughts are it is unfiltered, but again, I am not sure.

She really enjoys bathing and preening herself, and I have only seen 1 feather on or around her cage. She "whets" her beak on perches regularly.

If perchance she were to have mites, are there any other signs that I could look for other than itching/scratching or scaling skin?

As it stands now, I'd need to buy a net to catch her in the cage because she is not remotely ok w/ hands. I hate to terrorize her needlessly, if things can be ruled out w/o handling.

She is very responsive to sounds. She "beeps" at the tv, music, car alarms, telephone and other birds. She is very alert, doesn't appear to have any unusual behavior such as excessive grooming, and for the most part, seems happy.

Sometimes, though, she does fly/jump in the same pattern in her cage, making a gigantic circle, sometimes for hours at a time seeming somewhat aggitated. I've been unable to pinpoint what could be aggitating her, if anything. I sometimes wonder if she sees her reflection in the window and have made adjustments. Sometimes it calms her, others it doesn't. Her cage is large enough she can fly and she does spread her wings quite often, so it doesn't appear to be a lack of room issue.

I recently purchased a Vita-Flight vitamin to put in the water but since she persists in bathing in her water bowl instead of the birdbath bowl provided, I'm unsure of the effects of the vitamins on her feathers. I don't want anything to make her feel sticky or unnatural. Are water-soluable vitamins ok for skin/feathers?

Thanks again, in advance, everyone.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:41 pm

I think I have a solution for your ant problem. Create a moat: place a small "fresh foods" dish in/on a wider, shallow dish which can hold a little water. The fresh foods should stay dry, but the water surrounding the fresh foods dish should create a "moat." If the moat is wide enough (1/2" to an 1" should do it), the ants won't be able to cross. This is a lot safer than spraying bug spray around the bird's room. The water will obviously evaporate in time, but fresh foods should not be left out for more than a few hours anyway (they begin to spoil), so that should be a non-issue.

If you are looking to stimulate feather regrowth, I highly recommend giving her a better source of vitamins, minerals, and especially protein. The seed mixtures, even the ones that are supposedly "specially formulated for molt" are still deficient. Additionally, most finches largely ignore the dried pieces of fruit/veggies and "pellets" that these mixes contain--not to mention that a lot of these additives are of questionable nutritional value anyway. The single best thing you can be feeding her right now is boiled egg mashed shell and all. You can boil a single egg, spoon it into an ice cube tray, and freeze what you don't use the first day; then each day, thaw an "egg cube" and put it in the fresh foods dish. Egg should be removed within 5 hours of providing it to prevent spoilage.

She should always have access to a cuttle bone as well (especially since she's a hen).

Vitamins in the water are not a good idea--they oxidize too rapidly to be useful in the body, and create a medium for bacterial growth in the water dish. If you find a good vitamin supplement, you can add it to the egg instead (though I personally prefer, whenever possible, to provide vitamins and minerals via natural sources such as vegetables). That being stated, a lot of people online swear by certain "vitamin powder" regimes (they add the powder to the soft food/egg); I haven't used many of these, but an example is called "Feather Up." It probably doesn't hurt to try it short-term and see if it helps.

Unfortunately, glass (even uncoated single-pane) resonates at the same frequency as ultraviolet light, thus any glass will filter out most if not all of the UV rays. If it is safe to do so, propping the window by her cage open part-way will allow unfiltered sunlight to come in. If this is not possible, consider getting a full spectrum light that provides some UV radiation (Reptisun makes a decent product). Full spectrum bulbs are hardly ideal, but they are better than nothing.

I have witnessed the repetitive "cage circling" behavior you are describing--many zebras are very active and will move about their space constantly, so some of that is normal. It can be exacerbated by a cage which is too small, and/or a bird which is too stressed (often finches react to being housed alone or separate from their flock in this manner). If you are able to rule out infectious causes and obtain another finch, Gracie will probably be much happier. That being stated, I fully agree with your decision to postpone bringing a new bird home when you are not sure if Gracie is completely healthy. I think you made a wise choice.

You can safely treat for mites if you are concerned they may be a contributing factor (though I doubt they are, it's still a good idea to treat to rule it out). Most people really like a product called SCATT which can be purchased online.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:36 pm

Let us know how she does in time and if any of the suggestions have been helpful to you. :)