Eclectus bald patch

We have a male eccy, not tame, which lives along with a hen on our back verandah. He was quite scruffy when we got him, his plumage has improved a lot, but he has a bald patch on his back (I mean bald- pink skin shows) which is edged in what looks like dark grey bumfluff. He looks great when wings are folded, from front and back, but the bald spot is quite visible when he flies.

Our other eccy, Alex, who is tame, always looks scruffy apart from right after a moult. In between, his chest is in disarray and always has missing/shortened tail feathers. Joey, the other guy, has a perfect tail and I can see quite plainly that the feathers have yellowish tips. Alex, on the other hand doesn't appear to have coloured tips although it's hard to tell since the tail is so daggy. I suspect Alex is a SI/RS cross while Joey appears to be pure(ish) SI. Joey has red around his eye, Alex, no distinct colouration (maybe yellowish/tan).

Has a vet seen the bald spot? My vet says that Rosie's baldness(in the same area as your eccies) could be caused by hormones. It may also be caused by the feathers being plucked so much that the feather follicles are now destroyed.

Copperarabian said:

Has a vet seen the bald spot? My vet says that Rosie's baldness(in the same area as your eccies) could be caused by hormones. It may also be caused by the feathers being plucked so much that the feather follicles are now destroyed.

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I haven't seen him plucking at all, Copper. Compared to our tame guy, he looks superb until he flies or opens his wings and you can see his back. I do think it's odd that the patch is pink and quite smooth. Of course it's possible he plucked previously, he's certainly a nervous and timid bird (one of the reasons we put the eccy pair on the back verandah, from a large cage) was that he appeared to be terrified of the hen (who is quite a bit larger, in fact I think she's a red-sided/PNG, not SI like Joey). He does preen a lot (well, more than scruffy Alex) The hormone thing is interesting, I'm not sure of his age, I was told about 3 years.

I did wonder if it wasn't genetic- given we have a deformed Princess, and Joey has a deformed foot as well as the bare patch, one of his front claws is short and straight, not long and curved as it should be.

When I first adopted Rosie she was plucking, but she rarely does so anymore. As you said, just because you've never seen your eccie pluck doesn't mean he didn't in the past. Rosie also has a weird stumpy nail, it's on her bad leg that was previously broken but never set by a vet. Can you take a photo of your birds foot?

I went through and found some photos of Rosie's baldness as a example for you. She rarely ever plucks anymore, and otherwise has excellent feathers. (her legs are also bald)

Joey's patch doesn't look like that Copper- it's smooth with no feather follicles at all that I can see. I'll try to get a pic of his foot- not easy when he's so timid.