# Losing feathers



## taylorr872 (Oct 5, 2008)

I noticed my pigeon has lost some feathers on his head and chest today. I didn't see any other sign of bugs on him, just some missing feathers on his head and chest. He does itch himself occasionally w/ his foot though. I saw that my local petco carries a permetherin spray. I was thinking of bringing him into my home on Thursday while I'm off from work for the holiday and giving him a bath and then spraying him and letting him stay inside for the day to dry (I live in NY and its cold here now! I'm afraid if I spray him and then put him back in the coop he'll get cold and/or sick).
He is a banded pigeon that I recently caught- is there any chance the feather loss could just be stress or molting? Does bathing and spraying sound like the correct course of action, even if it is 'just in case'? 

Thanks!


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

How old is the bird? Here's a picture of one of mine that is molting. They can look pretty rough for a while. That may be what's happening to your bird. You can spray it anyway,....won't hurt anything. 

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=321949&postcount=3


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2008)

i too have a couple that have lost almost all their head feather due to the molt so that what I think is happening here so dont worry to much as of yet but if they dont show any regrowth of feathers in the next week you can spray for miteage but wouldnt really worry about it just yet


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

My yard around the aviaries has looked like someone cut open a bunch of pillows for awhile now.  They don't all moult at the same time but drag it out all summer so I have a thick layer of feathers on the grass.


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## taylorr872 (Oct 5, 2008)

My pidge is about a year old, and while his head isn't as bald as the pic posted by lovebird I guess its along those lines. I think I'll bring him inside for a little spray later in the week if it doesn't seem to clear up, just in case. Thanks for the info, I'll post some pics if it seems to get worse.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

taylorr872 said:


> My pidge is about a year old, and while his head isn't as bald as the pic posted by lovebird I guess its along those lines. I think I'll bring him inside for a little spray later in the week if it doesn't seem to clear up, just in case. Thanks for the info, I'll post some pics if it seems to get worse.


I'll try to snap a picture of the same bird tomorrow. It's only been 6 days (7 tomorrow) since I took that picture and there's already a VAST improvement. ALL birds don't molt quite that heavy and all at one time. I really have no idea why one bird molts different than another, but they do.


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