FINCHforum

It appears as though self-mutiliation is happening, though I can't be sure.

About a month ago, one of my females lost ALL her belly feathers overnight. I was shocked and thought something was seriously wrong, but they grew back fairly quickly and she was acting fine, so I attributed it to a very harsh molt, which all of my crew seem to be going through this season.

Well, overnight again, there is a circle of baldness on her belly, and I've been watching her preen and pluck them out! There's tons of feathers littered on the floor, but they look like little poison darts sticking out of the paper--I guess there's some kind of bird-secretion at the tips of the feathers, so as they're falling to the floor, they're adhering and sitting "upright" on the paper.

Anyone know what the HECK is going on here?

GouldieFledge

Is she in breeding mode?
Are other birds around her breeding?
Are there new birds in the flight with her?
Is she getting enough Vitamins and Minerals in her diet?
Are any other birds acting like they're itchy, jumpy or uncomfortable?

Sometimes females in breeding mode, will self pluck to line a nest if there are no nesting materials.

If there are other birds breeding around her, she might be going into breeding mode. What colour is her beak?

If there are new birds in the flight, she might be stressing for some reason. Is anyone picking on her?

Some birds will self pluck, if they are lacking certain Vitamins and Minerals in their diets,

Sometimes birds will act itchy, jumpy, and pull out feathers, if they are suffering with feather mites or lice.

Now, as to the feathers being sticky....
That's an odd one .
Usually feathers that fall naturally or are plucked, just sort of float and settle somewhere, either flat or in a fluff curl, they don't stand up straight and stick to paper in an upright position.

I would try to grab a few feather and check them against a strong light, to see if there is any evidence of some little critters on the feathers, or anything else for that matter of fact.

Good luck.

Is she bathing normally?

lovezebs

She's not in breeding mode/going into breeding. There have been stressors recently--I was treating them for mites, my dog stepped on one of my guys, if you rememeber---so I had him moved to a separate cage, this female in a separate cage. When the male was finally stable enough to safely have a friend, I placed her in the cage with him.

They were all in a large cage, but I have since moved them out due to the scaly mite issue (I want to fully disinfect their original cage). So, I have two in a 30x18 and another two in a 30x18--smaller cages with less stuff/less room.

On top of all this, she was the WORST as far as handling for scaly mite treatment, she hateeeed it. She became more and more aggressive w/me every time I'd handle her, viciously attacking my hands/qtip during treatment. I finally gave up, because it was just stressing her out too much.

So there's been a good amount of change. And now that I think about it, I actually not seen her bathe at all, though she is normally the #1 bather.

The feather thing is totally bazaar.

GouldieFledge

I have never seen anything like those feathers.

I wonder if our Debbie276 has ever seen something like this. She's been keeping and breeding Gouldians for a lot lot longer than I have.

Is it possible she has feather mites?
Personally I would contact Laraine at www.ladygouldian.com and see if she or Kristen can steer you in the right direction for what could be wrong and how to treat.

Best of luck

lovezebs debbie 276 thanks for your help.

I feel like anything's possible at this point. I tried to look at the plucked feathers, there's nothing visible to the naked eye. I was spraying the birds/cage with avian insect liquidator for a while, but haven't in about a month now.

I have diatomaceous earth sprinkled around/in their temporary cages. My owls I just bought are brand new, so it's not something they picked up from them (and they're in a quarantine room anyway). Laraine helped me diagnose one of my gouldians a while ago, maybe she'll be able to help me out again.

GouldieFledge

I really hope you get some answers back.

I think your girl is plucking for a reason.
What does the skin on her bald spot look like?

I'm really very curious about those feathers, and what's the sticky substance on their tips, seeing as I have never seen this before.

What were you treating her with by the way for the scaley mites?

lovezebs

The first time the sudden baldness hit, I thought her skin did look bad in a few areas--blackish. But then I saw more and more pins with each day, so I figured "weird...but I guess she's alright". This time though, I think her skin looks normal/pink; not irritated, "sticky" or wet...just naked.

I'm hesitant to handle her now because of how her worked-up behavior was getting. I don't want to stress her to the point of heart failure. She's my original gouldian

Regarding the scaly mites--I was treating with S76, applied to the beak with a q-tip. If there was any loose scale build-up, I would gently scratch that off (alas, they did not appreciate my efforts) and then apply. It was only my two males that had obvious symptoms, the females just had a slight scaliness to their beaks. While their legs looked fine to me, I applied the S76 here as well. I wiped all the perches/toys etc in the cage down with Virkon-S disinfectant, and sprayed both the cage and the birds indirectly with Avian Insect Liquidator.

I'd say it'd been about a month of no improvement. They were all agitated, molting hard--I guess this feather-plucker took it harder than others. I couldn't figure it out, but assumed the cage was the source, which is why they're all out in the small cages now. Those have diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the cages and in the bottom of their pans. Since moving them out, it DOES appear to have had some improvement on their condition (except for this girl).

I'll have to see if I have some stomach images of her.

GouldieFledge Have you looked into using some neem oil? I've had amazing results from that on heavily infested wild passerines and their cages.

GouldieFledge

Poor baby.
There is definitely something bothering her.