Zebra Finch Feather Loss

For concerns related to avian illness and wellbeing.
Post Reply
zebrafinch13
Pip
Pip
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 12:43 pm

Zebra Finch Feather Loss

Post by zebrafinch13 » Thu Nov 07, 2019 10:34 am

Hello,

I have a female Zebra finch named Brownie who I have had for around nine years. She lives with her son, Feather. Yesterday, I noticed that Brownie is missing a lot of feathers.

She is missing feathers from just above her right ear, down to the start of her right wing. She is not missing any feathers on her left side. I'm not sure what I can do to help her and would like some suggestions.

She doesn't fight with her son often, and hasn't had a fight with him since she entered birdy menopause a year ago. She has not laid any eggs since her menopause, where she laid an egg the size of a Q-tip and then stopped laying. It is not an egg problem, because that was quite some time ago.

Their Cage is 20 inches long, 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall

A plausible concern is that she was attacked by a cat three years ago, but she has recovered. She has a bit of a crooked tail because of the attack, but otherwise no visible health problems. I'm not sure if they are related because that was quite some time ago.

She is not flying around as much as she normally does, preferring to sit on a perch in the middle of the cage. Which is a little abnormal.

I have not changed their diet for the past two years, and the second zebra finch is not displaying any symptoms. So I don't think it's diet.

At the moment we have seperated them, and she is in a second smaller finch cage with a nest box (Which there is not in the bigger cage, but she likes to sleep in it) and some perches. She has eaten this morning.

So.. Any ideas on what I can do for her and what's going on with her?

I took a photo of her, it's a little blury, she didn't like the camera. It's also not that good a photo of her condition, I didn't want to catch her again and stress her out.
Attachments
Brownie.png
Brownie.png (93.15 KiB) Viewed 636 times

User avatar
lovezebs
Mod Extraordinaire
Mod Extraordinaire
Posts: 18214
Joined: Sun Dec 15, 2013 11:51 am
Location: Calgary Alberta Canada

Re: Zebra Finch Feather Loss

Post by lovezebs » Sun Nov 10, 2019 9:56 pm

zebrafinch13

At 9 years your girl is a senior bird.

It is possible that her son is plucking her feathers when you're not looking. Plucking, is not always an aggressive action. At times it can mean just overzealous preening.

Adding some hard boiled eggs to the diet is a great source of protein which helps with feather growth. Also you can purchase Featherfast on line, which helps promote new feather growth and healthier feathers.

If at all possible I would highly recommend a larger cage for your birds. The minimum size recommended for two birds is 30x18x18 inches, with 30 inches being the length from side to side.
~Elana~

Linnies~ Canaries ~ Zebras ~ Societies ~ Gouldians ~ Orange Cheeks ~ Shaft Tails ~ Strawberries ~ Red Cheek Cordon Bleu ~ Goldbreasts ~ Red Brows ~ Owls ~ Budgies ~ Diamond Firetails ~ Javas ~ Forbes Parrot Finches ~

Post Reply