Gouldian Hen going bald...

[ranchnanny]

Dutch yes she has raised chicks and is a good breeder and a good mother but I don't intend to breed her until she returns to normal if at all.

[Sally]

I don't know much about Gouldians, but with waxbills that develop that degree of baldness, I usually suspect plucking. Of course, waxbills can be more prone to feather plucking than other species, maybe that is not such a problem with Gouldians.

[Zebrafincher]

Hmm. Poor little gal! Hope she regrows her hair!

[dutch]

ranchnanny...how long have you had this hen ....how many clutches has she raised

[ranchnanny]

Dutch she has had maybe 3 clutches and I have had her 3 yrs.

[Ginene]

So sorry Sherry...hope your girl feathers up again soon.

[ranchnanny]

WOW!! a whole lot of pin feathers going on around here. As you can see from my first post on my one LG hen she was terrible..... NO feathers on her head. With the help of the finch forum members I have turned that around. I have been using Loford in their water adding F-Vite, Feather Fast, Powedered Kelp and Miracle Meal to their diet every day. One day its ground up egg food with all the above mixed in and the next day ground veggies again with the above additives. All my LG's were in a severe molt. Can't wait to see them all feathered out.

Thanks everyone for your help.....

See attached pics.

[Max]

Oh wow, what brilliant news, my poor hen is still bald but is currently rearing chicks, as soon as she is done and they are self sufficient i think she will need some time out and hopefully she will be feathery again!

[MiaCarter]

Poor girl. The vulture look isn't very becoming on her. It's surprising how small her little head looks compared to her body.
That's so wonderful that you're seeing pinfeathers already!

So it seems like the added supplements did the trick nicely! I alway did that for my gouldians, as they seem to go through very "rough" molts.
Much easier to solve than a plucking problem for certain!
After seeing your first photo, I wondered if that could be a contributor because in my experience, it's fairly uncommon to see such complete feather loss in one isolated area like that, even in gouldians. But seems the nutrients fixed it!

That's wonderful that all of your guys seem to molt at once! I know that's what's supposed to happen, but my virtually never molt at once. (All one species, except for a new society).
They tend to get the scruffies (our in-house term for molting) all at different times.
I dream of everyone looking wonderful at once! LOL

[ranchnanny]

MiaCarter I am worn out cleaning up feathers several times a day with the LG's, Owls & Green Singers molting its a chore, BUT that's life with birds...
I guess I wasn't giving them the amount of nutrients they needed sooo I got that under control.

Will post pics when they are feathered out....

Thanks All

[ranchnanny]

Wow its been a long time watching my LG's getting thru their molt.... Jeez!! I can't believe how my little bald hen looks now. With lots of Loford, F-Vite, Feather Fast, Powered Kelp and anything else I could think off they are getting back to normal.... Thank you all that gave suggestions I really appreciate it.

Now this hen was a RH but not a full RH half her head was Black with just the very top of her head red is this normal?

Before and after photos.

[Ginene]

Wow!!! She looks FANTASTIC!!!

[dayhiker]

that is wonderful news! great recovery! she's so pretty! the feathered look suits her best!

[ranchnanny]

Well the hens are moulting again.... How many molts do they have in a year?
The males look great it's just the hens looking shabby again. One red head hen just fledged 3 chicks and they are doing great. I have 2 red headed hens and a black headed hen.
Keeping up with F-vite, powered kelp, loford & feather fast.....

They did look good for a few months

[debbie276]

Gouldians molt once a year. If it is more often is it possible you are triggering a molt with their diet without realizing it?