Lovebird losing feathers - advice?

Hi all,

I have a blue masked lovebird that has been suffering from a feather loss problem in the last 8 months I'd say, and is bald in specific areas - the legs (gradually extending to wings), the tail and a very small patch on his head. He also sometimes bleeds from his tail feathers as he has a blood feather there (I've attached a picture). I've also noticed in the past week he's been sleeping more often than usual, and I'm quite worried.

His diet mainly consists of seeds (he prefers the millet ones though), cuttlefish bone, leafy greens, multivitamin in the water and recently have been feeding him corn. Sometimes we also feed him dried pineapple. I'm not sure if it's a diet problem, but I don't think this is the problem for his feather loss.

Moreover, his mate (a lime fischer) does not appear to have any feather loss problems. So, I'm assuming that his problem isn't contagious, or that she is resistant to whatever he has.

The bald areas on his body doesn't seem to be inflamed, only a bit scaly. (I've also attached a picture of this).

I googled some common feather problems and I think the one that his symptoms most closely matches could be ringworm.

Does anyone have any experience of this with their birds? We were trying to help him without bringing him to the vet, mainly because of the expenses. We are willing to bring him to the vet if we have tried other options first though.

Thanks!

Hi BlueYellowGreen!

I have been having a very similar issue with my female olive lovebird. It started with plucking/loss of the feathers around the feet (Like your image) and is now underneath the wings. Ive taken her to the vet as shes also gained about 10 grams of weight for no reason...the vet suspected liver trouble or "fatty liver", and the plucking due to stress. The diet you feed him actually sounds very good! So Im not exactly sure what could be going on. It might be worth getting him checked out just in case. Especially if hes been sleeping more than usual. Thats what made me bring in mine :/

Also, females tend to pluck the leg and belly area before laying eggs. Are you sure your lovey is a male?

Hi Wingnut!

What did you vet end up giving you to help your lovebird? I haven't seen my bird plucking so I'm assuming it's not that. He's has a few blood feathers so I'm definitely going to take him to the vet soon.

Also I'm very sure he's a male, as he does the mating dance and also mates with the female lovebird.

Thanks for letting me know your experience!

Have you had your bird tested for PBFD ?
If not, I would have a CBC and a PBFD test run.
Also, did they do any sort of skin swabs?---it could be fungal...

Also-- you can't use the cage-mate as a determiner of contagion. There are many viruses that can take up to 10 years to impact one bird, while impacting another within weeks. Birds can also be asymtomatic carriers (meaning they can spread disease without ever showing symptoms).

Thanks noodles123,
I'm still trying to find a vet for him, and bring him in the week hopefully. But I'll be sure to ask about those.

Hey Blueyellowgreen

If you start to see skin, the bird is plucking.

Lovebirds molt twice a year usually in the spring and the fall.

The bird probably has between 3000 and 5000 feathers.

During a molt all the birds feathers will be lost and replaced.

That's why you will see a high volume of feathers “on the floor”.

One reason I say is don't get a bird if you don't like to vacuum.

Your bird’s feathers are like human hair, in that they are dead so to speak.

New feathers however need blood in the feather shaft to grow.

If a feather breaks while there is blood in the shaft, it is called a blood feather.

The remaining portion of the feather that is attached to the bird should be removed to stop any bleeding.

Birds have unique circulatory systems and can bleed out to death more rapidly than most animals.

You may also need to change your behavior when petting your bird on the head during a molt.

A sure sign of molting is feeling tiny prickly needles when petting the top of your birds head.

Some birds find head scratches relaxing during a molt, others find it annoying.

You've been warned.

It's important to know the sex of any bird.

One of the reasons is that molting requires a lot of calories to produce amino acids, which feathers are made from.

Amino acids are derived from proteins.

A brooding hen who is possibly producing an egg or a clutch will need additional calories to satisfy the needs of producing eggs whether a male is present or not.

High-quality bird food which includes pellets, a good supplement never hurts and a calcium supplement (don't rely on cuttlebone) like liquid calcium in the birds water is always a good idea.

Lovebirds are easy to sex.

Give your lovebird a piece of paper and if it makes confetti out of the paper it's a boy.

If your lovebird makes long strips of paper and puts it under "her" wings, it's a girl.

In any case please, ensure your bird has full spectrum lighting no higher than 6 inches above the cage on a timer set for 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

This helps keep a lovebird or any bird for that matter more centered by enabling its circadian rhythms synchronized to a reliable light source.

hope that helps