I recently got a baby love bird black masked violet i believe is around 6-8eks. I am hand feeding. She seems to be losing feathers around her neck area and plucking her chest. Other than that she is active and fine.
Hi Laurie,
If she is actually plucking her feathers at that age, it would not be a good sign. More likely, this may be related to being hand fed. She may be getting formula stuck on her feathers and is just trying to eat what is there. If you over feed her, she might be regurgitating some afterwards, and getting it on her feathers. Also, the crop area is visible on chicks that are still being hand fed, and that area will be the last to have a full feather covering. At her age, you need to be working on weaning her. Offer her a variety of foods to try. She needs a nutritionally balanced daily diet such as pellets or our foraging diets. You can cook some brown rice and add frozen mixed veggies and offer this to her, warmed up. You can also offer greens, chopped veggies and a small amount of fruit. Offer her the warm food & the rest of these foods each morning about an hour before you hand feed her. Leave her alone, where she can’t see or hear you. She will begin to try these foods while waiting for her formula. Repeat this an hour before each feeding. Soon she will be eating entirely on her own and will reject the formula.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
