Ask Lafeber

Lovebird losing feathers

We have two Lovebirds we got on December. They are about two years old. One of them had lost some wing feathers and had a white spot of underneath little feathers which the breeder said he was modulating. Otherwise he has green outer feathers everywhere else. This spot had not yet grown any green outer feathers. Now it looks like the white onesmight be getting longer, but that he has lost more green outer feathers so the white underneath feather area is getting bigger. We are concerned. Should we be? What should we do about this if anything?

Hi Karen,

It sounds like the bird may be plucking out his own feathers. Or possibly the other bird is picking on him. I’m not sure, but I think you are describing being able to see his white downy feathers? It’s never normal to be seeing any patches of downy feathers or bare skin on a bird, even during a heavy molt. It’s an indication of feather plucking, which has many different causes. The bird could be stressed or bored, or as I said the other bird might be doing this. Or he could have some type of infection, or even a virus as there are a couple of viruses birds can have that cause feather issues. The best thing would be to take him to an Avian vet for tests to rule out any medical cause.

Brenda