FINCHforum

I haven't been around in awhile, but my cordon bleu and society finches are doing great. . .and I now have a huge aviary in my house with about 10 finches. Two owls, one gouldian, one orange cheeked wax bill, two zebras, two societies and my bleu. One of the owls gets picked on by the other birds and I'm not sure if this is normal behavior for birds??? The zebras have been seperated into another cage because they are jerks. One of the owls just looks kind of messy all the time and constantly sits under the ceramic heater. He doesn't look sick. . . just a mess. They were moved into my apartment about three weeks ago and I have noticed the Gouldian poking at him.

My guess is that he's sick. He's under the heater, and he isn't grooming himself. The others may be picking on him because he's perceived as "weaker" (not very nice, I know). That's my two cents. Is he active and eating otherwise?

I would think he is sick also. Is he missing many feathers?

He is eating normally, in fact quite a bit. He was missing some feathers on the top of his head, but they have grown back. He just seems kind of rumpled, but otherwise normal. Maybe he's just a slob?

If he's eating more than normal, he could have worms or some other gut parasite that are preventing him from absorbing his food.