Excessive preening

[Squid'n'Sponge]

Our Zebra Finches have recently been over preening themselves to the point that one of them is becoming bald around his tail area. They have also been losing feathers in other areas. We have 3 males and have recently moved them into a large cage. One of them does have a history of pulling the feathers out of the other two but we separated them and they now appear to be fine together. We don't think they are over crowded as we could easily fit another bird into the cage.Why do you think this is?

[lovemyfinch]

I wish I could help you with your question, but I haven't had this problem so far. I do have one female shaftail that I bought a while back missing most of her feathers around the neck area, this ws apparently because her female cage mate wanted to mate, she still looks like a little vulture 3 months later.

[dfcauley]

Could they possibly have mites?

[L in Ontario]

What size cage are they in?

[Squid'n'Sponge]

Well we dont think they have mites because we have no idea whre they could have got them from and apparently you can see them on them? the cage is roughly 80cm by 46cm but we're not sure how high it is. But its high enough that they cant be bothered to sit on the bottom unless the bath is there whereas in their old cages they used to sit on the bottom sometimes.

[Finch Fry]

Your cage size is not suitable for 3 finches. At MOST, 2 finches. Even then, all male zebras is always a recipe for feather plucking and aggression.

Your first course of action is getting a larger cage or separating them out into 2 cages of at a minimum the size this current one is.

Good luck!

[Squid'n'Sponge]

Thanks for your comments! They seem to have settled down now I think they were just a bit stressed from being caught and put into a new cage altogether cause they havent all been together for some time. They have plenty of toys to keep them amused so hopefully they will get along great!!

[Sally]

Keep a close eye on this trio. Three male Zebras will often have problems--two of them will buddy up and pick on the third. Bald areas or missing feathers are signs of feather-plucking. Overcrowding will also cause this.

[Squid'n'Sponge]

Ok thanks will do

[Squid'n'Sponge]

Well the old culprit is up to things again. Cyril has made Alfie basically bald from his tail half way up his back. Joe also has a bald patch. We are going to seperate them again and then see if they get on together again but if not then Cyril will be going:(