4 weeks old chick lost all body and tail feathers

Moderator: Mods

Post Reply
Terje
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 4:15 am

4 weeks old chick lost all body and tail feathers

Post by Terje »

10 days ago I got a 4 weeks old baby for hand raising. She was pulled from the nest and brought straight to me within the hour. I have hand fed before, but this was different, she was terrified. I barely got any food in her the first day, and she lost all emerging feathers on the body and tail. From the next morning it went better, but her body weight at the time was only 90 grams. Now, 10 days later she's eating with gusto, has perked up and gained 15 grams, and is not scared any more. It will take time I guess before she is feathered again (what can I expect? Her head and wings are covered, the rest is just thin down right now. The vet suspected that she was probably already under fed by the parents and that combined with dehydration and the stress of the new situation caused the loss of feathers seriously, they dropped off by touch, like autumn leaves. Have anyone seen anything like this before? After 24 hours of me getting what food/liquid I could into her, it stopped.
MissK
Posts: 3011
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:46 pm
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

Re: 4 weeks old chick lost all body and tail feathers

Post by MissK »

I have no idea about this, but I did see my adult Canaries molt very hard due to stress.

I was keeping 3 Canaries in stacked cages, since male Canaries are territorial and unfriendly to each other, so they were out of sight of each other. I rotated the cages regularly to keep them all comfortable being on human level, as the stack was high and I'm short. I changed the cage locations to be in the same room as the parrots, and the bird on the bottom started a hard, unseasonal molt. I didn't understand. Because it was part of my regular cage maintenance, I soon rotated the cages in the stack, and immediately the bird who became the bird on the bottom did the same thing. I consulted experts who scoffed at the idea that Canaries could be stressed out over being housed in the same room as parrots, but when the time came to rotate the cages again, and the third bird ended up on the bottom, guess what happened? I put them all back to the original location and never had that problem since.

For what it's worth.
-MissK
Terje
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 4:15 am

Re: 4 weeks old chick lost all body and tail feathers

Post by Terje »

She is doing a lot better. Her breast bone was razor sharp, but she is now gaining weight and muscle, eating well and the last two nights slept perching. No more feather loss, but she will probably take longer to fly due to having no tail feathers right now, but her flights are coming in nicely - and she seems strong and feisty.
Terje
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 4:15 am

Re: 4 weeks old chick lost all body and tail feathers

Post by Terje »

I've had her for 3 weeks now, and the feather loss - as far as I can figure out - was from severe dehydration/lack of nutrients, they fell out like dry autumn leaves within 12-24 hours after she arrived - then it stopped (as I was on 24 hour watch with her the first couple of days, making sure she got enough formula to rehydrate and recover), it had already started in the transport box, in which she was for less than 2 hours so I believe that she was underfed by the parents for a short while before. She's doing very well now, and finally I can see some new feathers coming back. She got a new layer of down feathers growing as well. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a feather pin. She's got a great apetite and eats a mix of formula and crushed pellets with water that I feed with a spoon, and have started to nibble on dry pellets and seed as well. She'll be 7 weeks on Monday. I'll take a pic one of these days.
Terje
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 4:15 am

Re: 4 weeks old chick lost all body and tail feathers

Post by Terje »

I'll make this short: 12 days ago, she passed away. I had an autopsy done and tests for diseases - it turns out she had PBFD. Since I live relatively small (one bedroom apartment), there is now a chance that more of my birds have it (I have 5) - the next few months I will have to separate everyone and have them tested, first time a month from now and is anyone is positive, another 60-90 days after that. I'm beating myself up here, I should have tested her even before bringing her in. It's a rookie mistake but nevertheless one that I really wish I didn't learn the hard way. :cry:
MissK
Posts: 3011
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:46 pm
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

Re: 4 weeks old chick lost all body and tail feathers

Post by MissK »

Ah, Geeze. Sorry about that.
-MissK
GeveZe
Posts: 142
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:39 am

Re: 4 weeks old chick lost all body and tail feathers

Post by GeveZe »

Sorry for your lost :(
Post Reply