FINCHforum

My male spice finch and female society finch are what I think one would call a "bonded pair" or at least they act like what I would think a bonded pair would act like. They eat together, sleep together, sit by each other all the time, they've had one "spiciety" chick, and of course groom each other daily. However, I'm concerned that my female society finch is plucking the feathers of my spice finch. He has a bare patch directly under his beak, an area that appears he would not be able to reach on his own. I put him in a separate cage to give his feathers a chance to grow back and to observe him to see if he was doing this to himself. Some of the feathers did start to grow back, but there is still a patch that has been bare for months now and I'm afraid that those feathers may have suffered follicle damage.

Is there anyway to keep the society hen from doing this besides separating them permanently? I have since added calcium drops to the water in case she's doing this because of a deficiency and I've started putting feather fast on their food as well. I regularly feed homemade eggfood in addition to a pelleted diet, seed, and greens. The society seems okay. I just feel bad every time I see his bare little neck (which you can only see when he stretches it--so it's not that noticeable.) He is about 7 years old, my oldest finch.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

You can seprate the two until the feathers are fully grown back on your male spice finch. In my experience once feather plucking starts than it is very hard to stop it and if feathers are plucked often than they wont even grow back, leaving a permanent bald patch.