Gould amadine feather problem

[Finchkeeper]

Hello!

Can some here please share their experience and expertise regarding
feather problems in gould amadine.

The following pictures show the condition of my finch.









I am puzzled by her condition especially when you notice the beak
and feet are clear of any symptoms of mite infestation.
Bird is eating well and does not show any sign of stress or sickness.

I have tried and used different things to try to cure the problem
such as mite spray that contains Pyrethrins as well as Scatt and S76.
However nothing seems to work.

Currently I kept about 115 amadine finches and about 5 of them show
this problem.

I really appreciate any comments, suggestions and sympathy given.
I really hope I can get rid of this problem and help the poor bird.

Thank you very much.

[dutch]

Finchkeeper

Birds indoors?

[Sam007]

It seems like plucking. Spend some time with your birds to see who is plucking and then remove the one who is plucking them.

[MiaCarter]

Hmm....that's curious.

It does look a lot like plucking based on the location, as there's a fair amount of redness and irritation that doesn't seem to be present elsewhere as far as I can see. (I would check to see if there's any redness elsewhere.)

(I think a secondary skin infection is quite likely, in fact. Unless she was actively biting at the area right before you took the photos.)

The one indicator that you mentioned that doesn't suggest plucking is the fact that 5 others have this condition too. It seems unlikely that 5 birds would self-pluck only on the leading edge of their wings.

A few thoughts come to mind....
- Did you treat for mites properly? Some meds require two applications, plus a thorough cleaning of the environment for many mite types.

- Have you treated for feather mites? That's a strong possibility as the feathers seem very scruffy overall. All those flight feathers and tail feathers have been nipped at.

-There is a specific condition that's associated with feather loss on the leading edge of the wings. But I cannot, for the life of me, recall what condition it is! I did a bit of Googling, but it seems I'm not searching for the right thing. So hopefully someone in the know will chime in!

-What does their diet look like?

[Sam007]

Hmm....that's curious.

The one indicator that you mentioned that doesn't suggest plucking is the fact that 5 others have this condition too. It seems unlikely that 5 birds would self-pluck only on the leading edge of their wings.

I do not think they are self plucking. There must be one aggressive male in the flock who has plucked them. So Finchkeeper must watch the birds carefully to identify the culprit. Same thing happened with my finches in the past. One of my newly bought male society finch plucked 5 finches in just one day (they became flightless kind of similar to above picture). I caught him (male society finch) plucking the 6th finch when I came back home that day. Now whenever I add a new finch to an existing flock, I check them several times a day to meke sure everything is ok.

[MiaCarter]

Sam007 -- But plucking the leading edge of the wings only?

I thought of that too - that maybe it was another bird doing the plucking, but I can't say I've ever seen it occur only (or primarily) on the leading edge of the wings.
Usually on the back/lower neck, sometimes the chest, cheeks and tail.
I guess anything is possible, though!

[Finchkeeper]

Thank you dutch, Sam007 and MiaCarter for the response.

I am a little doubtful that plucking is what causes this (at least in my case).

A few weeks ago I lost a bird with this condition. The skin around the wing tips
were thickened significantly over time and when injured it would bleed profusely and
this was the cause of death. Prior to that, the bird still had the "courage" to eat and
be normal. This particular bird was separated from the rest and treated with all the mite
medication I had in my possesion but nothing seemed to work.

The bird in the picture was caged along with two other birds and all were treated since January.
After a few weeks of treatment and care, I noticed that all the feathers of this particular
bird had grown back and nice so I decided to take it out and placed it with the "normal" bird.
However after about 10 days, the condition get worse and I place it back with the other two
birds to start the treatment again-properly.

I haven't treated the bird for feather mite per se. Just the general medication and spray that I wish would get rid of all mites. The very scruffy feathers actually resulted from handling the bird when the picture were taken. The bird gave a good fight and strong bite to my fingers. She is just too cute.

I still believe that a kind of pest is what causes this. Still googling and asking around to find out more information.

More info on my birds.

My birds are kept indoor but once a week they will get a full day outside. Since I keep so
many finches I have no choice but to buy bulk seeds. I always give veggie at least once every two days. Vitamin (Fruitty Patte from Versela laga) and cuttlefish bone are always present in the cage. Liquid calcium and egg shell are given regularly.

Thank you all for the comments and thoughts.

[dutch]

Finchkeeper

Do you supplement their diet with vitamin d3?

[Smurf]

Are the affected birds all young of the same age and related by any chance ? i've seen something very similar with young white canaries bred from 2 dominant white parents, about 1 in 4 chicks showed something similar when growing flight feathers which was assumed to be caused by fatal genes.