Injured Zebra

[The Maltese]

Have rescued a female zebra finch from the petstore.

She is a jolly one and hops around the cage bottom but she is totally unable to fly as she is missing feathers and all (see attached pic).

I am not aware of how she came to be injured but would anyone be able to tell me if given time she would be able to fly again? how much time? ... and can i do something to help her get better?

[w.l.]

Are you sure she is injured?
The horrible condition of her feathers is enough to stop her from flying. No idea how that happened, hopefully not genetic. I'd try pulling out some feathers to see if they regrow normally. It should only take 2-3 weeks, and if they do, I'd pull out the rest to replace, too.
Without pulling them out it can take many months for the feathers to be changed by moulting.

[Ricardo Ronsini]

It looks like feather mites work.

[wildbird]

Are both wings like that? If so, maybe check feather mite information. I wouldn't pull feathers, as may cause bleeding. Safer to let them molt out.

[w.l.]

wildbird

Sellers here pull flight feathers of finches sold to kids as toys all the time and I have never seen one bleed.
I occasionally ended up taking in such birds to keep until their feathers grew back and they could fly and be released, and that always happened in a few weeks. The brief stress/pain of getting the feathers plucked is well compensated for by not having to live a wretched flightless life for several months, I'd say.
Of course if the condition was caused by mites, the bird should first be treated for those.

[wildbird]

How could anyone who cares about birds sell them as toys to kids? How cruel.

[w.l.]

wildbird

They don't care about birds.
It's just business. And the birds are seen as objects.
Most cultures don't share our Western compassion towards (certain) animals.
I hate it, too, but that's life. The World is a cruel place.

[lovezebs]

The Maltese

Do you have a picture of this bird's other wing, and another of the whole bird?
I would like to see the general feather condition of this little one.

Personally I would hesitate to start pulling out the feathers. Pulling a blood feather, could result in a bigger problem than a few shredded feathers.

To me, it looks like the feathers were caught in something, but no idea what.

Waiting for pictures.

[The Maltese]

Due to popular demand I am attaching a new pic of the zebra showing a perfectly fine side, wing and (in my opinion) healthy feathers.

My diagnois so far:

I do not think it is feather mites because only one wing is 'damaged'. On the other hand, are feather mites contagious? do I need to isolate her?

I do not think it is coming from the pet store owner either.

What do you think should be the soution, pull out the feathers? They are all primaries and not sure you can pull these out.[album][album][/album][/album]

[lovezebs]

The Maltese

I would not pull out the feathers.
Let nature take it's course, and they will be replaced in time.

[wildbird]

Follow Lovezebs advice. Nice little bird.

[wildbird]

It looks like an injury, not mites. No need for isolation. Good luck with her.

[Sheather]

I would pull the primaries given their very bad state. They'll return in a few weeks. I had a society who ended up looking just like this after an encounter with another aggressive bird - I plucked the spines out and new plumage replaced them way faster than it otherwise would.

[wildbird]

W.I.: Well that culture must be like the neighbors that moved next to me. I was finding song birds that were shot in yard. It was found out that he killed at least 28 birds that we know of in a couple of days. These were migratory Robins, Red Winged Black Birds etc. I don't have to tell you what I think about people of that culture.

[MisterGribs]

Really, really don't pull the feathers! PLease ;A; It's a huge gamble.. I once pulled some feathers on a scrub jay that had pine pitch in them. They didn't bleed that I noticed but the poor thing screamed, and because I damaged the follicle, one of them grew back wrong and it caused a horrible feather cyst. Please, please don't do it!

She could be overgrooming that one side. It could be feather mites, or it could be caused by a lack of some nutrient causing her or other birds to eat her feathers.