gouldian hen losing face feathers

[danaday]

Hey everyone

First, I just want to say this is a great forum.

I am new to gouldians and hope someone can help me with a question. Any advice would be appreciated. If this post needs to be put somewhere else, moderators can you please move it? I apologize and thank you.

I have a pair of bh pb gb split to blue. I didn't know they were split to blue until the success of their third clutch, one of the chicks turned out to be blue. They had two failed clutches prior to their success. My question is...is it normal for a hen to lose some face feathers while breeding? She didn't start to lose feathers until the chicks hatched. The male is fine. The hen seems healthy and goes about with her daily business. Both chicks have fledged and are healthy. They are fed a mixed Finch diet along with spray millet. They get greens(alternate between kale and dandelion). I feed them egg food along with sprouted seeds. They also get grit-cuttle bone, oyster shells, egg shells, and charcoal and etc. I've researched gouldians information over and over and can't find anything about it. I feel that I'm taking great care of them. They are house in a 4ft wide 2ft deep 4ft tall cage. If anyone can provide any feed back, I would really appreciate it.

[debbie276]

I wouldn't worry about a small amount of face feathers missing when they are feeding chicks. Next molt they will all grow back and fill in.
Welcome to the forum

[danaday]

Thank you Debbie for the feedback. I was worried for a bit there about the feather lost. It is great to get help/advice/feedback from other gouldian enthusiasts and Finch lovers.