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Why does ny lovebird have feather loss around her eyes?

Nernee

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My 18 week old lovebird has some feathers missing around her eyes. She does not appear to have it anywhere else. Is this a hard molt? I don't see any evidence of miltes. She is otherwise happy and active.
Any ideas?
 

Shezbug

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Can you post some clear pictures?
 

Nernee

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Can you post some clear pictures?
Hi there! I just posted a whole bunch....do u have any insight as to what is happening around her eyes? I don't see any crusting...
 

Nernee

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Can anyone give me some insight? My sweet 18 week old lovebird has some feather loss around her eyes. She doesn't have it anywhere else and seems happy and active. I don't see any crusting or anything about mites on her. Is she just having a hard molt? Are those pin feathers coming in around her eyes? Any advice would be so appreciated!!!
 

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Gigibirds

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I wouldn't worry...It's a bit hard to see, but it looks like it's just a hard molt. My parrotlet, Pistache, has had that happen before. When she was going through a big molt, she lost a few feathers around her eyes, and you could see her lack of feathers a tiny bit more than usual, but nothing was actually wrong.(she even had a vet check) Your lovebird is beautiful by the way!
 

Oscarbird

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Is this a hard molt?
Can you feel under her feathers (if she'll let you) to see if there are any pin feathers? If your bird is molting there should be developing feathers that feel like pins and are white-ish in color.
 

Zara

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I would take this bird to the vet and have them looked at.
It's unusual to have such bald areas without a reason - sometimes rubbing the cage, or a small injury etc can cause small bald patches as well as disease.
 

Nernee

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Hi everyone!
I really need some insight as to what is happening to my 19 week old lovebird. She seems to be molting but there are some balding areas around her eyes, especially her left eye. I tried to get her in to see the only avian vet in town but can't get her an appt til 2 weeks from now. In the meantime I am realky anxious about what's happening with the small bald spots around her eyes. It is slowly getting a bit bigger....I took some photos of the area and did notice some tiny new feathers coming in. She doesn't seem to be rubbing the area on anything. She is otherwise happy and active. What do I do? Is this just a hard molt? I'm terrified She will lose all her feathers. Can anyone help with some insight?
 

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Shezbug

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As @Zara mentioned in your other thread it could be from numerous things but without a vet check it’s hard to say what the definite cause is.
 

Zara

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Three threads merged to contain all responses and info in one place.

As I posted on the first thread;
I would take this bird to the vet and have them looked at.
It's unusual to have such bald areas without a reason - sometimes rubbing the cage, or a small injury etc can cause small bald patches as well as disease.
To add to this, I have never seen bald patches anywhere on my birds during a normal moult, even the first moult. Never bald patches around the eyes. Only when my birds had injuries they have had bald patches, or minor brood patches on one of my hens.

Some species of parrots can get little bald patches during moults, but from my experience with my own 7 roseicollis lovebirds, my uncles 14 roseicollis lovebirds, my friends 34 roseicollis lovebirds and my neighbours roseicollis lovebirds, I have never seen such thing.
I am not trying to scare you. But if you haven´t seen an injury in that area, and if your bird is alone and no other birds around to pluck that areas, and your bird is not rubbing their face on something a lot, then I would definitely be heading to the vet for some testing. I´m not saying it doesn´t happen, but it certainly is not common.
 

Deeny

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Hello,
Did you get an answer? Did you take him to the Vet? I really want to know, because the exact same is happening to my Roseicollis Lovebird (age; turning 8 years old this month), even the same eye (left eye). But with him it started with the skin around the eye itching and reddish. He would scratch it against my fingers, e.t.c. He had/has blood lice, so I at first thought maybe the bird spray I used on him and disinfected his cage & toys with got there (because he loves head massages and also massages his own head against his toys, e.t.c. It happened on the day/the day after I used the spray, so I blamed the spray. But now some time has passed already and there is still baldness there + the spot seems to get a bit bigger/the baldness seems to be spreading).
I know mites cause bald spots around the eyes of birds, but I don’t know if blood lice cause them too and couldn’t find the answer online. And there is no crust or anything on the skin, thankfully.
 

expressmailtome

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Hello,
Did you get an answer? Did you take him to the Vet? I really want to know, because the exact same is happening to my Roseicollis Lovebird (age; turning 8 years old this month), even the same eye (left eye). But with him it started with the skin around the eye itching and reddish. He would scratch it against my fingers, e.t.c. He had/has blood lice, so I at first thought maybe the bird spray I used on him and disinfected his cage & toys with got there (because he loves head massages and also massages his own head against his toys, e.t.c. It happened on the day/the day after I used the spray, so I blamed the spray. But now some time has passed already and there is still baldness there + the spot seems to get a bit bigger/the baldness seems to be spreading).
I know mites cause bald spots around the eyes of birds, but I don’t know if blood lice cause them too and couldn’t find the answer online. And there is no crust or anything on the skin, thankfully.
I am sorry to hear about your lovebird. Unfortunately, you will most likely not receive a reply from this member as it has been almost two years since they logged into the forum.
 

Deeny

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I am sorry to hear about your lovebird. Unfortunately, you will most likely not receive a reply from this member as it has been almost two years since they logged into the forum.
Ohw, okay. Thank you for letting me know.

Also, I forgot to add to my original comment that I also used Beaphar special wound ointment for parrots on the skin around his eye. It made the redness and itchiness disappear quickly. (The wound ointment is safe to use on their face. They say it also helps against Scaly Face caused by mites, but mine luckily has never had Scaly Face).
I was also thinking maybe the ointment caused the balding. And maybe the feathers are growing slower because of his age.
 
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