Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Big Birds Asks The Audience, Can You Help Us?

A blogger who lives in the Southern Hemisphere where the seasons are six months ahead of ours writes "I have about four Fife’s out of a hundred that are losing their feathers only on the front of the neck. The birds vary in age, some are even unflighted. I have never seen this before and do not know what is causing it. Could you perhaps let me know if this was encountered by someone else and how can this be treated?"

If you are familiar with this problem, let us hear from you.
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2011 at 2:22 PM

    Hi Linda
    I would suspect mite and try treating the birds with Ivermectin. I think it is some kind of mite or parasite under the skin and it chews the feather quils.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2011 at 11:31 AM

    Linda
    I have seen this on several birds:
    one had a fungus growing on the skin, one had an iodine deficiency
    and one was plucked. When feathers are plucked or pecked, a skin infection develops. An famous canary breeder told me to use a 50/50 solution of Listerine and water and bathe the area with a cue-tip. This was on the plucked bird.
    D

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  3. donaldFebruary 5, 2011 at 11:19 PM

    Hi Linda
    I live in Port Elizabeth in South Africa.I also have this problem from the over year cocks.This starts near the end of breeding season and dissapears once the birds have moulted .
    My Moulting soft food mix:
    I give soft food (Orlux Yellow Dry)with Breedmax(10grams per 150grm of soft food - including all the extras)broccoli,soya protein powder (5grms per 500grams of soft food)sprouted seed and 3 boiled eggs to my mix.This mix is about

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  4. Linda HoganFebruary 6, 2011 at 7:47 AM

    Hope you will re-send the end of your post as I did not receive the total post, mine stopped at this mix is about....

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  5. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2011 at 1:14 PM

    Hi Linda
    My guess is an iodine deficiency.I had one bird that way and gave Globals Pigeon Supply, Lugols solution which is Iodine for birds. I now give 1/2 tsp. to 2 qts. of water about every 10 days. Supposed to be good for egg hatch ability too.

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  6. Mary Roberts, IowaOctober 11, 2013 at 6:59 AM

    I would agree about the iodine deficiency. I had a hen that went completely bald, and tried Lugol's solution from the pharmacy...used 1 drop per day in her drinking water. She completely regained her feathers and was generally very healthy after this experience.

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