FINCHforum

Hi

I have a female zebra finch with a large lump on her chest, it streaches betweent her legs. It doesn't so much look like a lump but more like her chest has swollen and become elongated. She has pulled nearly all of the feathers out in this area.

I read that it may be a feather cyst, I am really concerned but have no aviarian vets locally.

She is about 6 years old and is housed in a large indoor aviary/cage with her partner and 3 of there children which are all healthy.

I do have photos but can not upload them at the moment.

Please can anyone help.

Claire

I had a simliar problem with one of my zebra finches a while ago.
I was soo worried, till i realised that one of my males had been pulling feathers from her in the same area as you described when she hopped on one of the feeders.
The area was bald and swollen, removed the male and she got better.
Is it possible someone is doing this to your female?

Ironically the very same male ditched his wife for her and they are now breeding!!

I hope that your female gets better soon

unfortunately, there are a lot of potential problems that look very similar like that. one of my birds had gotten an infection, megabacterium (which is actually a type of fungal infection, I think) and it caused her to pluck all her feathers undeer her belly and along her sides. she did get a little bloated, but not too bad. the infection was basically causing lots of gas in her system, making her uncomfortable that's why she started plucking to try to relieve the discomfort. antibiotics helped her, but unfortunately I knew nothing about probiotics at the time, and she died a few days after her treatment ended.

feather plucking like apachetear mentioned is also possible, and birds can also get tumors.

anyway, the best thing do first is put a heat lamp on your bird, ideally move it to a small quiet cage by itself. make sure there is space for the bird to move away from the heat if it gets too warm. even without a dedicated avian vet, it might be worth a call to a vet who is willing to see birds. if they feel it's appropriate, they could get your bird started on antibiotics or other meds.