FINCHforum

Ole' wise ones...

About a month ago, I noticed my owl lost many of her down? feathers (the little ones!) and I thought maybe she was molting..although it is on one side and her white areas are now salt and peppered colored. Then, I noticed her picking. And then she has lost some wing feathers..same side. She happen to fly into the safety cage today and I nabbed her. Upon inspection, I found some bumps..not scaly, medium sized, and up higher, a bundle of pins (?) or feather stems grouped together at skin about 1/2-1" long. She's been operating at about 80%, but with the heat and unusually poor air quality (fires) in LA, all the birds seem stressed. But Olivia (my owl!) in particular.

Any ideas? I treated her with Scatt. And, will pump up the flock's sulfer/calcium...bone and oysters always available.

Appreciate all replies.

Neither old nor wise here...

How old is the owl?

It takes 6 weeks (roughly) to grow new feathers from the time they are lost/plucked. Pin feathers will be seen within a week or 2 of loss if they are growing new feathers. So seeing pin feathers means they are growing back. Although, I never heard of an owl molting, then again, what do i know.

Thanks "young" Finch fry! Thanks for your thoughts.

She is two and a half. I wonder if there are degrees of molting? My birds certainly lose feathers seasonally...her feather loss was extreme coinciding with summer...oh well, I can't say for sure.

The pin feathers were not everywhere (as when new feathers come in)..certainly some of the smaller feathers were there..so not like when they go bald..it was a tight cluster of new feathers (probably looking at something completely normal! lol). Maybe I can get some extra hands to take a photo. The other palpable bumps were also of concern.

My first thought was a vitamin deficiency (isn't that always the case!) or parasites.

Some photos may defnitely help in this case. I was thinking the feathers were growing back too but the bumps - I don't know.

Can you describe the bumps? Do they look flesh colored or as if there is something in them (like cysts)? I've never heard of owls getting feather cysts (ingrown feathers), but you never know. Hope the fires are staying away from your part of town.....