Feather Cysts

[Shannylee]

I have a canary chick with pretty severe feather cysts. He fledged about a week ago and has since developed a big feather cyst on the back of his head, small ones around his beak, and another painful looking one on his right wing.

My canaries are in an outdoor aviary in Central FL. Don't know their breed. I call them "kitchen canaries". Mom has white edges on her wings (frosted) but I'm not sure which male is the dad. Regardless, none of my males appear to have white coloring. This clutch resulted in one dead in the nest, one that the mom stopped feeding after a week that died, and two chicks with really bad feather cysts. The smallest chick died this evening.

I'm not sure how to help the remaining chick. I pulled him out of the aviary and have him under a heat lamp. I am putting bacitracin on his cysts. He is taking hand-feeding formula from an eye dropper but is old enough to eat on his own too. I'm at a loss. Could this be nutritional, white + white mom and dad, environmental?? I have 2 other chicks that fledged 2 days ago and they are doing awesome. Flying all over, great feather condition, and look super healthy.

[lovezebs]

Shannylee

Hi Sharon,

A feather cyst, is basically similar to an ingrown hair that gets infected and can't break through the skin. They can be quite painful to the bird.

In some birds, they can dry up and fall off in time, but usually they have to be surgically removed. That said, these birds tend to get them again and again.

There are two schools of thought.
Some claim that they are due to dietary deficiencies.
Others claim that it is genetic.

In Canaries, some breeders say, that it has to do with the soft feathered mutations.

It is not recommended to breed birds with this problem, or birds who produce young with this problem.

And so....
I would keep this baby comfortable.
You could try to take him to an Avian Vet, and have these things removed, but there are no guarantees .

[Dave]

Shannylee, one feather cyst can be repaired. That many means you should put the bird down. And don't use that hen again.

I wonder if Parisian Frills get feather cysts? Or if they even get them. They look like they'd get them. I know of a Parisian Frill breeder near me, and I'll ask.

[wildbird]

Could the parents be closely related? The bird deserves the chance to live. No one knows what the out come will be.

[Sojourner]

It's my understanding that these are painful for the bird, and chronic. Sure our pets "deserve a chance to live", but forcing them to live in pain changes the equation rather drastically.

[wildbird]

It is not for humans to decide who lives or dies. The bird would choose life. I never heard of an animal commiting suicide. No one knows the out come. Even vets and doctors are wrong many times.

[lovezebs]

Shannylee

Hi Sharon,

How is the baby doing?

[Shannylee]

Dave, thanks for the info.

Neither chick survived. They seemed to have feather cysts and other issues. The smallest one never developed beyond a 4 week old chick and they were 6 weeks old. Strange. I'm in the process of screening my aviary in case it was mosquito/spider borne. The other 2 chicks (from different parents) are doing great and another pair is feeding 3 chicks.

[Shannylee]

lovezebs, neither survived. So weird. I've had chicks go down before but I've never seen anything like this. Lumps and bumps all over these chicks yet I have 2 other chicks (from a different pair) that are perfectly healthy. They are all in the aviary so they live in the same environment. Same food. Same water. Same exposure. Clutch of 4...all dead but 2 very healthy chicks and a pair feeding week old chicks that seem to be healthy too.

[lovezebs]

Shannylee

So sorry about the babies Sharon.

Might be some sort of a genetic thing.
I wouldn't breed that pair again if I were you.