Society falling/lost feathers?

[Pemm]

Hi all,

I got my first pair of societies about two months ago and they've been wonderful. However lately one of them (Tom) has been falling a lot, and seems to be missing a lot of feathers on his right wing. I wasn't able to get a great picture, but you can sort of see that the one nearest the bottom isn't as feathered as the top.





His tail has been bedraggled like that since I got him and his cagemate (who had an extremely short tail when I got him, too).

He acts perfectly healthy, lots of beeping and bouncing around. He's working on their nest as I type this. It's the falling I'm concerned about. Is this a common thing with societies, or something I should be taking him to the vet for?

[chirpy]

I've had mine for a month almost (2 societies one male and one female) and I have never seen them fall over.. I hope that they are fine. I am not much help as I am new to finches but I just wanted to let you know that both of mine don't.
He is beautiful though..

[Nerien]

Do you think he's falling because he doesn't have enough feathers in that wing?

When we first got one of our societies, she was a bit ragged, but with the difficulty of getting any finches at all, we took her home anyway. One wing was about half de-feathered, and when we started watching, we noticed she was fussing with it quite a bit.

One bottle of mite spray later, used according to directions, and she stopped fussing, stopped losing the feathers on that wing, and was fine after that.

Does he clean & preen the remaining feathers on that wing a lot?

[ac12]

A couple of mine seem to always have ratty tails.
I think it is where in the cage they go, and how they sit/stand.
A small nest will also abrade and damage the tail feathers.

[Pemm]

I do think the falling is due to the missing feathers. He flew around just fine before they started going missing.

The tails haven't been much my concern, just the wing. I'll try to get a better shot of Tom's wing here soon.

I'll definitely pick up some mite spray and see if that helps, though Ruby doesn't seem to have the same problem and I was under the impression that mites spread quickly. But, anything that might help. Thanks for the advice.

[finchmix22]

Homemade eggfood (hardboiled eggs crushed with shell and all) help finches replace feathers faster and with less stress on their body systems.

[Lisa]

Just wanted to say gorgeous bird!!! Very pretty!

None of my societies have ever fallen. I wonder if he has difficulty in flying? Is it possible to let him out in a small, controlled room (maybe a small bathroom where you can easily catch him - be sure to close the toilet seat first!) to see if he can actually fly? If he can't, then I would think he probably has an injured wing.

[Ginene]

I agree with Lisa...the falling makes me wonder if its a wing, visual or balance issue. Give him some space to fly /land and see how he does.

[Pemm]

Update:

Took him to the vet, who couldn't find a thing wrong with him. A few days later I witnessed his cagemate pull a feather off his tail, which I think can be blamed on the fact I had a nest in there at the time. The nest is now gone and I've separated Tom into a smaller cage until his wings grow back. The good news is he's been in there for a week or so now and I've yet to witness any other broken feathers!

The vet also clipped the ragged secondaries and tertiaries (not the primaries) so they would at least be a little more even, and he's able to flit around the smaller cage without trouble or falling.

How long do broken feathers take to be replaced or grow back? What should I be feeding? Right now they're eating a pretty standard finch seed mix and ZuPreem pellets, though I don't think they're eating the pellets. I'm planning on ordering some FeatherFast, is there anything else I should get? I'm afraid fresh eggfood isn't something I have the means to do every day, is there a substitute I can put in for him?

I feel bad having him in the smaller cage. He seems to be doing well despite the size but I'd rather have him back in with Ruby as soon as possible.

[dcompt]

Last year when I had not had my societies long I was moving the cage, accidentally hit it against a table and (gasp) dropped it. Birds and all the stuff in the cage crashed into a corner in a heap. One bird was amazingly uninjured, but Pippin lost flight feathers on one wing like yours apparently has. He was unable to fly until he grew them back. It was months, because he didn't regrow them until late July/early August, which appears to be the usual molt time since all of them molted at that time this year. I don't know if that is normal, or there was another reason he took so long to regrow them. Maybe yours will be luckier. I wish I had seen this post earlier - I could have at least have shared this experience with you.

I think he should be ok with your other bird. I never separated Pippin, but made sure there were plenty of perches spaced closely enough that he could get around without having to actually fly - he sort of hop/flew from perch to perch and became almost as good as a budgie at moving along on the sides of the cage. For perch spacing a little trial and error will show what he is comfortable with. He will definitely be happier back with Ruby.

If you are going to be ordering Feather Fast, you might also get Miracle Meal to try if it's available. My societies love it - I just feed it dry in a treat cup and they flock to it. Here's a link at one place it's available so you can see a description: http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/produc ... lemeal.php

Good luck with Tom. I'm sure he will be fine. Societies are wonderful birds - but I'm sure you know that.

[Pemm]

Thanks so much for your insight, dcompt! I will definitely pick up some of the Miracle Meal.

My main concern is Tom does not want to take "no flying" for answer. I think the feather breakage wound up being a slippery slope for him—he broke one or two, and then messed up a few flights and broke more, etc, etc. He was missing a lot of leaps in the flight cage, and half-flying up to hang on the sides near the top still, and I think it contributed to his broken feathers when he couldn't get down again without falling. I did try what you suggested with the low perches before separating them, but the snapped feathers kept happening.

Right now they're in side-by-side cages and can hear and see each other, though I know that's not the same.

They are fantastic little birds! I had no idea finches were like Pringles—once he gets better I'm dead set on getting more.

[Zebrafincher]

Hi Pemm,

your society is very sweet. Beautiful bird. I've had issues with feather loss in two of my finches - both star finches. My current star finch, Merl, just lost a whole lot of feathers off his bottom. I think with him its due to stress (I went away for a few days and had him in a different cage at my sister's place). I'm seeing the vet this weekend, and its probably due to that and vitamine deficiencies, as he is so fussy about the feed/greems he eats, and will NOT go on a pelleted diet, even though I have tried a number of times.