FINCHforum

So the story goes like this:
I got this female society finch from a breeder a few months ago. I didn't get to see the bird i was going to buy before meeting up with her, she only gave me a little cardboard box with the two society finches inside. I thought everything was fine, but when i came home i noticed that the female is missing her tailfeathers :/ i was kind of ... shocked, because it looked really bad. I texted the breeder to ask about this - and she said that my society hen was only moulting :S ... i dont really believe this... moulting doesn't look like this ?

My theory is that she has been plucked by other birds ... what do you think ? No one is plucking her now, because she only lives with a male society finch and he treats her well. (he isn't plucking her, and she isnt plucking herself either - this is from where she lived before)

I try to give her the best food i can (seeds, pellets, eggfood, veggies, grit, cuttlebones) and i have also bought vitamins for the birds.

My question is - will her tail ever grow out ? Because now it looks like sh*t (excuse the honesty, but it looks really bad...) she only has a few stumps sticking up where the tailfeathers should be and some of her skin is visible.
Can i do anything more for her besides giving her the right foods ? Is there something else i can add ?

Woahh, sorry for the long post

Feeding all the foods you mentioned will give her what she needs to grow back her tail....It will take a little time, but she should have her tail back in no time!....She was probably plucked during transport?

How old is she?
My oldest budgie lost her fail feathers when she was hatching chicks and they never grew back. She has no tail feathers now for almost 2 years but is healthy otherwise. She just looks funny...
I wouldn't worry about it if she's healthy and her feathers look good on her body. Beauty isn't everything.

G8love4finches wrote:Feeding all the foods you mentioned will give her what she needs to grow back her tail....It will take a little time, but she should have her tail back in no time!....She was probably plucked during transport?

Thats good to hear! I think she was plucked where she lived before - im pretty sure she lived in an aviary with other society finches and zebras

Ursula wrote:How old is she?
My oldest budgie lost her fail feathers when she was hatching chicks and they never grew back. She has no tail feathers now for almost 2 years but is healthy otherwise. She just looks funny...
I wouldn't worry about it if she's healthy and her feathers look good on her body. Beauty isn't everything.

Yeahh i agree with you, i like her the way she is but i feel bad about that other birds plucked her before, i wish she was never plucked in the first place!

How old is the hen? All my juveniles and my hens lose tail feathers during their molts. I thought they were plucking each other, but I realized the timing had to due with the breeding and growth cycles. Stress and temperature changes can also trigger molting. I was skeptical at first because I didn't see pin feathers anywhere else, but this has happened twice over the last year and a half. The feathers grow back fine.

Don't worry about it!
My hen had a very short bob tail when I got her?
It's growing back fine now and almost to full length!

This is what I do for plucked birds that I'm trying to get to regrow their feathers:

- Egg food at least 2x a day
- "Feather Fast," per instructions

My hen is 3 years old

Thank you for the tips ac12!
I gave the birds eggfood often before i started quarantine medications, but while they're having medication i read that all wet food has to be removed. I will start giving eggfood in 2 days when i've ended the ronivet-s treatment.

I will also start giving Moulting vitamins again - i did that before and it seemed that it was helping her

As I was trying to catch my escaped society male, he lost some tail feathers. he now has tail feathers on either side but no middle ones, he looks like a pin tail.