# pigeon has a bald spot



## katiescritters (Mar 20, 2006)

Hi

One of my pigeons has a spot above his left eye that has no feathers. The right side is fine,I haven't seen him rubbing it or anything. Is this anything to worry about? If it is, what could it be and what should I do about it?

Thanks,
katiescritters


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Where exactly is it? At the base of the cere and going upward and backward? Also, how big is it? Can you take and post or email a digital picture? Incidentally, the medical term is "alopecia".

Pidgey


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## katiescritters (Mar 20, 2006)

Hi Pidgey

The spot is about a half an inch above the cere, towards the top of his head. It's about the size of a dime, and is round. No other part of him is affected and he is by himself, so another pigeon isn't picking on him. I'll work on getting a picture.

Thanks,
katiescritters


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

*Scar Tissue*



katiescritters said:


> Hi
> 
> One of my pigeons has a spot above his left eye that has no feathers. The right side is fine,I haven't seen him rubbing it or anything. Is this anything to worry about? If it is, what could it be and what should I do about it?
> 
> ...


Hi Katiescritters, Some times a young squab will get badly scalped,and will never grow feathers in that spot(the head area). This may very well be what happend to this bird.The area is best discribed as scar tissue. GEORGE SIMON


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Well, that brings us to the question of whether or not he always had it or is it a recent change with no history.

Pidgey


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## katiescritters (Mar 20, 2006)

Hi

This is a new thing. He has had it for a few weeks, and the spot seems to be spreading. It's kind of around his eye now, but it's not going down the back of his head yet. It's not one big spot but seems to be two or three smaller spots. I'm still working on a picture.

Thanks,
katiescritters


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

That doesn't sound good, then. Go here and look at these pictures:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=81687&postcount=31

That pigeon eventually died, probably from some creeping infection. They will lose feathers for a few reasons including external parasites but also from infections and inflammation. I'd probably try Metronidazole (10 to 30 milligrams per kilogram of pigeon, twice daily) for a week and see if it starts clearing up.

Pidgey


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

*Feather Pulling*



katiescritters said:


> Hi
> 
> One of my pigeons has a spot above his left eye that has no feathers. The right side is fine,I haven't seen him rubbing it or anything. Is this anything to worry about? If it is, what could it be and what should I do about it?
> 
> ...


HI KATIE, I did some reading and came up with this feather pulling thing. In the book "THE PIGEON" by LEVI, on pages 410 and 411. Levi discribes a condishion he called cannibalism(feather pulling) pigeons do not eat their young, but on rare occasions do pull pin feathers from the young and do eat the pin feathers. My guess is the parents are lacking some thing in their diet. I do think that this feather pulling might make an intresting tread. While it is a rare accurence it does happen .The Palmetto Pigeon Plant, a squab farm back in the 1930 and 1940 had 28 pair out of 7000 pair that did this. I would think that you may have to pull the young from the parents. GEORGE SIMON


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

george simon said:


> HI KATIE, I did some reading and came up with this feather pulling thing. In the book "THE PIGEON" by LEVI, on pages 410 and 411. Levi discribes a condishion he called cannibalism(feather pulling) pigeons do not eat their young, but on rare occasions do pull pin feathers from the young and do eat the pin feathers. My guess is the parents are lacking some thing in their diet. I do think that this feather pulling might make an intresting tread. While it is a rare accurence it does happen .The Palmetto Pigeon Plant, a squab farm back in the 1930 and 1940 had 28 pair out of 7000 pair that did this. I would think that you may have to pull the young from the parents. GEORGE SIMON



I've had this happen with two different hens in my loft. I posted about one way back yonder........LOL. I would have to find the thread but don't know how to post the link to it. In both of my cases, the hen pulled feathers from the back of the neck and along the back. It's time for me to go to the loft so I don't have much time right now. I would like to see pics of your baby. If the hen is doing this, it's pretty easy to catch them in the process. I'll check back later.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

How old is this pigeon, anyway? Is it a youngster or an older bird?

If the bird is older it could be mites. I had a bird with a bald spot and Scatt got rid of it.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Well, Katiescritters said in post #3 that this bird was alone so I didn't think it was being caused by another bird. If she took it to a vet they'd probably look very closely with a magnifying glass to see if they could see ectoparasites as well as scraping the bald spot onto a slide and then looking at that under a low power microscope for the same reason.

The worst case scenario, however, is something like canker in the sinuses or some kind of skin infection. That link that I posted shows a bird with an alopecia that we actually don't know the cause of, but I do remember Calvin saying that there was a lack of feathers under the wings which the bird shouldn't have had at that age. That would probably have been due to a parasite. I'd have to go back and read the thread again but I don't think we know why the bird didn't make it.

Pidgey


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

OK. After reading the whole thread, I guess you've got some other kind of problem. Not something I've seen before, so I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help. Sorry.


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