Female finch losing puffy feathers on chest.

[rafadiaz]

My female finch is with a male finch I never seen them fight they just take turns going in the nestbox.
If she is laying might she be pulling out her puffy feathers for liner in the nest or might she be molting?
Does egg laying make a finch start molting?
I have another pair that has eggs and the female has lost some feathers.

BTW Both males haven't lost feathers.

[Sally]

Are these Zebras? If so, they are most likely breeding, and the males (and possibly also the females) will feather-pluck for nest material. Zebras don't have a big visible molt like Gouldians, they lose small amounts of feathers at a time, so bare areas mean plucking.

Egg laying doesn't make a bird molt--the species that do a big molt do it after breeding season ends, but I don't think Zebras ever have an end to their breeding season!

[rafadiaz]

Are these Zebras? If so, they are most likely breeding, and the males (and possibly also the females) will feather-pluck for nest material. Zebras don't have a big visible molt like Gouldians, they lose small amounts of feathers at a time, so bare areas mean plucking.

Egg laying doesn't make a bird molt--the species that do a big molt do it after breeding season ends, but I don't think Zebras ever have an end to their breeding season!

Thankx for replying I was thinking it was because of the nest because they are in the nest almost always but I wasn't sure why she was going bald on her chest area.

P.S. I have seen "spikes" on the bald spots, are they feathers starting to grow back?

[Sally]

The 'spikes' are most likely pinfeathers starting to show on the bald areas. But if a bird is feather-plucked a lot, it can damage the feather shaft to the point that the bird will no longer grow feathers in that spot, and they will be permanently bald.

[Hilary]

If the balding is on her belly/chest there's a very good chance that she plucked the area herself - either to line the nest and/or to create a "brood spot" (bare area so skin can have direct contact with eggs to help with incubation).