# Feather loss



## mryl (Oct 11, 2001)

I have 8 pigeons.
This is my first breeding pair. All has gone well, babies (4 now) grew like crazy, look great. 
Before the eggs hatched mom and dad looked fine. Now both, particuarily the dad, have bald spots on their chests.

Could this be from feeding the babies? Lack of vitamins? It is not all over the bird, just patch on chest. These are the only 2 pigeons that have bald spots. 

Is this normal??

Thanks for your help.
Mryl


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## bigbird (Aug 19, 2000)

I do not think this is of any concern.
It could be from feeding the babies, it could be from fending off other birds, etc.
Continue to watch them, place some water near the babies so they can learn to drink early.
Regards,
Carl


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Here is one which developed very bad feathering - anything like this?

John


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## mryl (Oct 11, 2001)

*Picture*

You can see a little of the bald spot in this picture ( I did not realize I could attach one, never thought of it!)
Spot is about 2.5-3 inches long.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Could be rubbing against nesting material - sounds a bit long to be from just sitting egg or brooding.

The pic I posted is in Cynthia's aviary, from March last year. I brought some tobacco stalks to replace the twigs for nest material, and after this one (Blackie) molted, her feathers have been fine (so that's about a year now). We thought mites, but never saw anything, and only one other bird had a very slight bad patch. Whether it was the twigs being rough on her breast feathers or what, I just don't know.

JOhn


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## Christina Coughlin (Dec 29, 2002)

What are your temeratures outside like? Mine have not raised babies in about a year (I only want this one pair to and they wont nest) but mine had that happen when it was still kind of cold out in the mornings or at night. That is the "brooding spot" as a older bird friend of mine calls it. And they pick the feathers out of this one spot on the chest that provides the most heat to the eggs/young. Mine only did it last year when I had suprise valentines babies and it was kinda cold out in the mornings about in the 30's to 40's (cold out here, 100's are normal here!  )

My parrots do the same thing (only single girls with infertle eggs  ) but this one Quaker hen takes it over the top and just pulls all hey feathers out. But since they started this with the second clutch (is that right?) it might be some kind of bug causing them to be ittchy or the bug is chewing up the feathers.


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## mryl (Oct 11, 2001)

*"Brooding spot"*

 I first noticed bald spot after first clutch. Found feathers in the nest box too.
It does look like they are they are picking there feathers, they have tobacco sticks for nesting.
My other birds and babies look fine. I thought only parrots would pick their feathers out of boredom. We had a cold spring, few nice days but not too many. Sticks don't look too cozy!

Thank you for your help!
Mryl


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

I have seen something similar on a pair of my Old German Owls (both hen and cock bird). Their naked patch is higher than the brood patch, about where their frill is (sort of mid crop). It is noticable when they are cooing and their throat swells.

Regarding feather plucking, I haven't seen that, but I have noticed that there seems to be an increase in molted feathers when they are ready to lay eggs. I figured it was to give a little padding to the twigs. If the skin doesn't look irritated and the spots haven't changed since you first noticed it, this could be normal for them.

Congratulations on all your healthy babies!


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## Snowbird (Jun 24, 2004)

Have not seen this but what Christina said is well known--they may pull the feathers out of the brood spots which are literally hotter spots on the pigeons body designed to give maximum heat to the egg.

General feather picking in parrots and other "pet" birds is one tough problem--it is symptomatic of anything from allergies, parasites, bacterial infections, cysts in the feather follicles, vitamin deficiency, hormone problems, low humidity, boredom and pent up energy, psycholigical problems (from a say a bad wing clip that leaves the bird vulnerable to hard landings), and attention seeking. This is the short list!


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