Help!

[Newringneckowner]

Have recently purchased a lovely 4yo blue ringneck male. We were initially keeping him inside, however for the past week or so, have kept him outside (under shelter). The feathers on the top of his head have started to become sparse, and also around near his ears. He is still eating & drinking, but does seem a bit quieter. The feather loss has only just started about 4 days ago. But I want to know what I can do, before it gets too bad. I can't see any mites/lice, and he does not have contact with any other birds. Any ideas....???

[ringneck]

My wild female ringneck who is also housed outside under a shelter went through the same molt. I did notice though that she HATES baths!

I stated to give her a bath every other day and it worked. The feathers started to come back. I was almost ready to take my female to the vet but the feathers started to grow back. IRN skin is very sensitive and anything can irritate the skin, which can lead to feather plucking.

Ringnecks NEED a bath to maintain top quality feathers! I am not kidding! If you have a Ringneck that does not take a bath for a few days the feather get scraggily. It’s amazing what a bath will do!


I.C.

[Tweets]

Sky has a bit of flu at the moment. Doc says she should be better soon. I dont want to shower her now as it might make the flu worse..
What do you think?
Its becoming winter now, so the nights and days are getting much colder..

How long do you think it will take for her feathers on her chest and under her wings to grow back?

[indian ringneck]

I wouldn't think it's feather-plucking ( http://members.dodo.com.au/~johanp/Feather-Plucking.htm ), as he isn't in contact with another bird and he cannot pick the feathers on his own head. It might be PBFD, an incurable disease, but there's also another virus that i'm not too sure about, it leaves bird's heads bald, but i'll have to go into the subject more to make an accurate statement for you .