no tail feathers on star finch

[sean]

I am hoping some of you more knowledgeable aviculturalists can help me with my problem.
I have two star finches in a flight cage; 1 male and 1 female. The cage is 30" (long) X 17.5" (wide) X 16" (tall). This is almost 5 square feet of cage space.
The male has bitten off the beautiful tail feathers of the female. No other aggressive behavior has been displayed. Aside from this, the two co-exist in harmony.
I have actually seen him do this and he almost does it playfully (not to anthropomorphize the issue).
This two are feed a steady diet of finch seed, dried spinach, egg food, some crushed oats, flax seed, and the occasional diced fruit/vegetable as well as spray millet.
has this every happened to anyone else with stars?
what could i possibly do to prevent this?
will her feathers grow back and if so, how long will this take?

[L in Ontario]

My pair of Star Finches have not done any feather plucking but I've only had them for 4 months. I'm thinking your male is in the breeding mode and is looking for nesting material - using her feathers. Do you have nestboxes available to them? If yes, do you have lots of nesting material for them? If there are no nests available, I'm not sure why he'd be doing this... could still be wanting to breed.

Either way, I'm sure she will grow back the tail feathers the next time she go through a molt.

[B CAMP]

sean
First welcome to the forum,I have a question where do you get dried spinach, I only give my birds fresh spinach once in awhile as I have been told it has some effect on the birds ability to retain calcium in they body, maybe someone else will give there opinion on this

[sean]

i get my dried spinach from a neighborhood pet store. i have known the guy for years. that is also where i get their finch mix and oats. do you think the dried spinach has anything to do with it?

regarding the male; i have not provided any nesting material at all throughout the season because i didn't want them breeding. it would make sense, theoretically, that he would be attempting to use her feathers as nesting material. I suppose that i should have thought about that before her feathers were all gone!

how (and during what season) do birds begin to molt? is that the only time when they grow new feathers?

[B CAMP]

I don't think the spinach has anything to do with the plucking .I just never heard of dried spinach

[Sally]

I have two star finches in a flight cage; 1 male and 1 female. The cage is 30" (long) X 17.5" (wide) X 16" (tall). This is almost 5 square feet of cage space.

Actually, it is 3.75 square feet, as you don't figure in the heighth, just length and width. This size cage is best used for just two finches, though you can have more under certain conditions. I have a Star hen which has just lost her tail, and she is in a flight cage with only other Star hens, no males present at all. The tail will grow back, I have had it happen with other finches, but to tell you the truth, I have no idea now how long it took--it was months, though, not weeks.

[Christopher Smith]

Sean I think he is looking for nesting material. My stars use a lot of feathers in their nest building. I bet if you give them some more nesting material, including feathers, the male will stop plucking her.

[nachoman]

I got a female zeb from a pet store prob 6 weeks ago and she had no tail feathers or head feathers. I just felt sorry for her and thought she would have a better chance at life with me instead of ending up in there bin because no one would buy her. She almost has a full head of feathers now and i think the tail is just starting to begin it's come back. Taking a long time though.

[FinchezRule]

My male star often times plays with the females tail as if he's lining a nest...hopefully he doesn't pull them out!!! I guess i'll have to throw in nesting material and nesting sites soon.

I have a male crested Society missing his tail and he;s a funny looking bird. He looks like a little ball with a mop on his head, although his tail is every slowly coming in.