Question about society hen's feathers/possible plucking

[Musetta]

Hi everyone,
Ever since I got my Society hen Cress about a month and a half ago, she has been missing various feathers on her backside. When I first brought her home, the feathers that cover the preening gland were missing. Eventually those grew back, but then she started losing tail feathers. Since I caught my former BWM tackling her and yanking out her feathers, I thought he was the problem. After I removed him, she started to grow her tail feathers back. But today I noticed that the feathers over her preening gland are missing again! As far as I can tell, the preening gland looks normal. I have not seen my Society cock Cranberry exhibit any sort of aggression toward her, although he does want to mate with her a lot. None of the other birds are aggressive toward her, either. If someone is plucking her, the most likely culprit would be Cranberry, perhaps because he is looking for nesting material (I don't keep any nests or nesting material in the flight). I don't think it is a protein issue, as they have regular access to fresh egg food, which they happily consume.

So now I am wondering what I should do. Should I separate Cress and give her time to grow back all of her feathers? She is not missing many, so maybe I am overreacting. Should I put some feathers in their cage, or would this just cause a bigger problem because birds might start fighting for nesting material? Is there any special food I should give her to promote feather growth? Is it possible that Cranberry is accidentally damaging her feathers due to frequent mounting?

I should add that she does not seem sick; she is bathing and eating etc as normal. She and Cranberry are currently preening each other. I took her out of the cage to examine her and she looked in good condition, aside from the missing feathers.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[finchmix22]

If you don't want babies, then I guess the nest and nesting material are out of the question. You could separate the males from females, which is what I do with my Society's so I don't have unwanted babies. Then, I still give them a nest because they love to sleep in nests, but I don't have to worry because the sexes are not together. If you decide to let them breed, then providing nesting material, such as, feathers, coco fiber and a nest should deter some of the feather plucking for nests. Some finches will pluck feathers for nests even if given other feathers to use. My Society's perfer the coco fiber and cotton fiber, so no plucking with mine. Keep us posted.

[Musetta]

finchmix22, thanks for the response. I can't really separate Soc males from females, as I only have two Societies and that would leave them on their own. And as I only have one pair of each species (the Goulds are both hens), I don't think it would be a good idea to separate m from f in that way, as all of the birds (with the exception of the Goulds, who are loners) are very attached to their mate, and not at all interested in cozying up with anyone else. When I removed Cress from the flight just momentarily earlier today to examine her, Cranberry became very upset. So I don't think that would work.

[finchmix22]

How many do you have and in what size cage? Is it too crowded? That may contribute to plucking. Maybe just move the Society pair to their own cage and see what happens.

[Musetta]

finchmix22, I am considering a cage move, although she has been missing feathers from the start, even before I acquired the other finches, so I don't know that it's a crowding issue. But still, I may try it. I am currently trying to convince my husband that I need a Prevue f040 for my birthday. In the meantime, I might move my Socs to a Petco flight. I appreciate your feedback!