Painted finch that can't fly -update

[lyn2233]

Hi, I wrote about my painted finch that is having trouble flying, I caught her and when I spread her wings out the right side has 3 main feather missing and the left side has two missing. I noticed a feather sticking out of the wing and they must be falling out. Does anyone know why and if there is anything that can be done to fix it.

[Mickp]

any sign of the missing feathers inside or outside the aviary.
only time I had anything like this was when there used to be heaps of cats in the neighbourhood or wattle birds/butcher birds.
if you have any perches/branches that are very close to the wire on your aviary it might help to move them a bit, so that your birds cannot sit so close to the wire.
what other birds are housed in the aviary with her, maybe she got to close to someone elses nest

[lyn2233]

Thanks Mick, i do have a couple of butcherbirds that come and cause a bit of trouble getting on the wire but I do not think that is causing the missing feathers.As I said when you pull the wing out there are main feathers missing. The butcher birds cannot get to the finches as they always fly to the back of the aviary.I will keep checking on her each day. I have two aviaries both 2.5w x2.0 d x 1.8 h one has 2 pairs of Stars, 4 red parrot finches, 1pr cordon bleus, 1 pr orange breasted waxbills. The other aviary has 2 pairs of painted finches and 3 pairs of zebras. The zebras are the original finches I bought 5 years ago I don't know if they are causing trouble as they are very bossy. Both aviaries have 10 birds in each I am not sure if the zebs are causing a bit of stress to the Painted Finches I am in the process if getting another small aviary to house them and just have one aviary for my Painted Finches. I will keep you posted on any developments.

[Matt]

I tend to think you might have an aggressive zeb on your hands. Late last year, I had all my hens together and there was a red headed Gould that had attacked 2 others in a similar fashion to yours where the primaries were ripped out. The other victim wasn't so lucky. It had it's leg broken off and later died. Try keeping an eye out for purpetrator and remove it asap.

[lyn2233]

Thanks Matt, I do have a very aggressive female she chases everyone. I saved her from the RSPCA and has always been very bossy, I will take her and her mate out and put her in a large cage for awhile and see if that makes a difference.