Whitedovefeatherlosshead

QuestionEdit

We rescued a white dove 3.5 yrs ago and she lives inside with us; she has open cage w water and seed where she goes to eat.OTher than that, she perches mostly on ceiling fans ( not connected any longer to electricity) and open bedroom doors or simply walks around the bedrooms. She's molting now and this time I noticed extensice loss of head feathers, above her beak and between eyes, extending tocrown of her head. Is this related tonutritional deficenciy? ( same food, temp, enviornment entire time) Should we be cocerned? Her appetitie is good so is strenght, head movement and cooing the same. Should we be concerned?I would appreciate input, in case we need to take her in.OR is the molting more pronounced withher age. Thank you,Debbie

AnswerEdit

Well it's hard to say. Three and a half is probably middle age for a dove so it could be related to age. Birds do take longer to molt when they get older.

I am not an expert on domestic bird molting so I can't be of a lot of help. Make sure her food is what she would eat in the wild. You might want to supplement with some fresh veggies if the books call for them. You can get a book on pigeons and doves at most pet stores.

If you know a good one, ask someone in there that handles the birds, or call around your town for a local pigeon breeder. They can answer this much better than I can! It doesn't sound extreme to me since she seems fine in all other respects but like I said, I am not sure.

Hope you can find an answer.