Canary pulling at breast feathers?

[KazzySoro]

Hi guys, i have a female yellow canary who has started to pull at her breast feathers. She has been doing it constantly for about a week now. Everyone i have asked has told me just was just preening herself, but she ISN'T. I know how a bird preens and this is different. She pulls at her breast feathers and even holds them in her mouth while flying around. She has been in an avairy, and today we took her out and put her in a budgie cage... now she's stopped doing it... does anyone know what's going on please? Thanks

[finches247]

Hi,
Does she have a cock bird and a nest She could be plucking her feathers as nesting material if she is not provided with nesting material or you not keeping material topped up or else it could be mites.
Henry

[jusdeb]

Yep what Finches said ... see if some extra nesting material helps if not then maybe she has a plucking issue .

[kenny66]

I have had this a couple of times with mine. I personally find that my canaries do not do so well in aviaries. Apart from males bickering it is difficult to manage their particular needs. Henry the Kiwi is probably right in that she probably wants to build a nest. Not sure of your aviary set up but there could be a number of stress related issues which cause plucking:
1. She wants to breed/needs a mate
2. Stressed by other birds and aviary situation
3. Not appropriate nesting material/nesting recepticle
4. Appropriate canary diet
4. Hours of daylight issues
If all the other issues on the list are covered the I would go for the desire to breed so I would give her heaps of nesting material and a nesting pan even if you have no male. The fact she stopped doing it when you put her in a cage seems to indicate she may be happier in that space. I know i will probably be criticised for it but I do find my canaries do much better in a more regulated and controlled invironment afforded by good sized canary cages rather than an aviary. For me I can monitor them better, feed them better, make sure they dont overbreed and ensure they have the right amount of light. There are canary experts on the forum who could probably give you a more definitive view but I hope these suggestions help anyway.

[Canary]

I have not experienced a canary pulling its own feathers.

I can think of a couple of things:

- as other people have mentioned that she is wanting to nest and may be plucking feathers. I would have thought that she would have been carrying sticks or other items beforehand to build the nest, before pulling feathers to line the nest. Try givin her some hessian or feathers and a nest and see what she does. It is still early to be breeding.

- The other option is that she may have something on her feathers, like sap. Try giving her a bath to try and clean herself or give her a light spray with water.

- check to see if she has any inflamation on the skin in the area, and if you can see any lice, red mites or feather mites (you will see lines across the feathers like rowing)

- otherwise it could be a boredom issue. Try tying some fine plastic coated electrical cable on the front of the cage. I have never tried this, however, I know of one breeder who did this on every cage to stop birds plucking each other.

[Finch_Breeder]

Agree with all the above

[JEWEL]

I had one do that. She had an abundance of feathers in her nest yet kept pulling her own out. Someone mentioned air sac mite to me ? So i treated her, and all the others for it - she stopped pulling her breast feathers out after that.

[finchbreeder]

Have had canarys for many years and never experienced this. Mostly mine have been avairy housed/1 pair per avairy. But occassionally in breeding cages. All of the above suggestions make sence to me as preventatives.
LML

[KazzySoro]

Hi guys, thanks for all the feedback. She does have an abundance of nesting materials. I have treated her for asm too actually. She did have another canary in with her, but i am not sure if it's a male. I was told it was but now i am not so sure. Her diet is pretty good as i have read up on all that. I have taken her out of the avairy and put her in a smaller cage and she stopped the behaviour straight away. I agree with everyone i do think she wants to mate but i just don't have a suitable mate for her. I have organised for her to go to someone else who has canaries and see how she goes there. I am thinking Kenny66 might be on the right track. She just doesn't like the avairy maybe. She even attacks the other canary all the time. She's a little horror LOL. She was not bred in an avairy and had never been introduced to one until i got her. Maybe it's a bit overwhelming for her?? Thanks for all the input i really appreciate it