Aussie Finch Forum

My long tail hen has no feathers on her head I have watched and the cock bird sits next to her and pulls them out. Has this happened to anyone else?

Jason300 wrote:My long tail hen has no feathers on her head I have watched and the cock bird sits next to her and pulls them out. Has this happened to anyone else?

Hi Jason, i have seen this happen with a few species but more so with green strawberry's,double bars and orange breasts. With the green strawberry's it was a frustration and dietary problem and was fixed by feeding smaller oily weed seeds (greens & grains) rather than large commercial finch mix.
With the others, imo it's a protein deficiency so you need to feed more livefood or protein mixes as the offending bird could be using the feathers for that reason. Also give plenty of seeding grasses roots and all and they will spend hours going through it finding micro bugs as well as eating the green seeds.Others my say it's a Iodine deficiency also. Craig

GREEN STRAWBERRIES?!!!!!!!!!!

I am having the same problem with my goulds. Bare heads,looking really scraggly. I think it is moulting time.

Ken.

toothlessjaws wrote:GREEN STRAWBERRIES?!!!!!!!!!!

Yes i had them and bred them years ago,i bought a few pairs from Tiaris's dad and picked up odd plucked birds from dealers and breeders that ended up with just one plucked bird. The secret was their diet. Craig

Craig52 wrote:

Jason300 wrote:My long tail hen has no feathers on her head I have watched and the cock bird sits next to her and pulls them out. Has this happened to anyone else?

Hi Jason, i have seen this happen with a few species but more so with green strawberry's,double bars and orange breasts. With the green strawberry's it was a frustration and dietary problem and was fixed by feeding smaller oily weed seeds (greens & grains) rather than large commercial finch mix.
With the others, imo it's a protein deficiency so you need to feed more livefood or protein mixes as the offending bird could be using the feathers for that reason. Also give plenty of seeding grasses roots and all and they will spend hours going through it finding micro bugs as well as eating the green seeds.Others my say it's a Iodine deficiency also. Craig

Thanks Craig , I'm feeding mealworms and a lot of greens currently I'm not sure what else to do I might just have to watch and see what happens. That's for your help