Feathers keep breaking....

[JackBaker]

Hi Guys

I'm really at my wits end here. Basically one of my fantail pigeons is loosing his flight feathers on one of his wings. They are slowly creeping up his wing I believe, so I was wondering if anyone knows what this is and has any advice for me? Its happened over the last few months and the feathers try to grow back but either burst when they're still in the blood feathers stage or eventually snap with a bloody mess afterwards. Its only on one of his wings. The other has all its flight feathers intact. He lives with my other fantails and none show this not even his mate so I dont think its mites or anything. The housing is fine and hes in really good condition its just his flight feathers on one wing. Its been really long now for him and its got to the stage where hes struggling to fly, his nest box he chose for him and his mate is also one of the highest which doesn't help the situation. I honestly have never come across this so I was wondering of anyone on here has.? I feed them a diet which should have enough protein in it for him, and he also gets suet pellets and egg food as treats and these are filled with protein so I'm still unsure of what is causing this. Please any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank Jack

 

[cavemanrich]

From what you describe, you are doing everything correctly. At first reading, I was suspecting insufficient protein, but that is not the case.
Only thing that comes to mind is a genetic defect. All your other pigeons look fine to you.
Many peeps would suggest culling a bird like that. Well, I'm not in that club. My only suggestion is you remove from your breeding program.
Not sure how you will handle that. If he is paired up with a female, just remove and replace her eggs with plastics. You may already be aware that just removing eggs is not a good IDEA. It makes the hen lay more. Pigeons are not like chickens. When a pigeon creates an egg, it takes much of the pigeons internal resources that it needs to replace. In other words,,,,,,, it is hard on a pigeons health to be a constant egg producer.
Other option is to place a different pigeons eggs under. This way pigeons hatch, but not with possible BAD GENETICS...
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[thinkyesi]

Are you sure hes not getting pecked on? Sometime pigeons can peck on each other and pull each others feathers out. Sometimes because they fight, or just out of curiosity.
I had a pigeon who loved pulling out the feathers from certain birds. Especialy birds that were molting. He wouldnt do it in a aggresive way, but just like a little toddler being curious. Maybe you have an alfa bird pecking on him or a curious one like mine. Try to spend some time with them just watching them for a while and see if how the other birds treat him.

 

[JackBaker]

From what you describe, you are doing everything correctly. At first reading, I was suspecting insufficient protein, but that is not the case.
Only thing that comes to mind is a genetic defect. All your other pigeons look fine to you.
Many peeps would suggest culling a bird like that. Well, I'm not in that club. My only suggestion is you remove from your breeding program.
Not sure how you will handle that. If he is paired up with a female, just remove and replace her eggs with plastics. You may already be aware that just removing eggs is not a good IDEA. It makes the hen lay more. Pigeons are not like chickens. When a pigeon creates an egg, it takes much of the pigeons internal resources that it needs to replace. In other words,,,,,,, it is hard on a pigeons health to be a constant egg producer.
Other option is to place a different pigeons eggs under. This way pigeons hatch, but not with possible BAD GENETICS...
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Hi, thank you for the reply. I did fear it may be genetic but looking closer at him today I believe it may be a lack in calcium and or iodine. I will be getting some tablets for him in the next day or two of both just to make sure he is getting everything he needs. All my pigeons are my pets so I would never kill any of them, if it is genetic then like you said I will just not breed from him and him and his hen may relax forever. Unfortunately he has a chick so I will be keeping an eye out on its feathers in the future but I do believe the cock in question has a deficiency in something.

 

[JackBaker]

Are you sure hes not getting pecked on? Sometime pigeons can peck on each other and pull each others feathers out. Sometimes because they fight, or just out of curiosity.
I had a pigeon who loved pulling out the feathers from certain birds. Especialy birds that were molting. He wouldnt do it in a aggresive way, but just like a little toddler being curious. Maybe you have an alfa bird pecking on him or a curious one like mine. Try to spend some time with them just watching them for a while and see if how the other birds treat him.

Originally I did also think this, but his blood feathers have been bursting open before the feather inside has been allowed to form. He is also quite young and very strong so nothing picks on him, I do believe now it is deficiency in something like iodine in the body. This is something that usually aids in feather growth so I will be getting him some tablets. I don't think it is fighting as fantails tend to be quite docile for a pigeon and I do spend most of my free time with them and they very rarely fight. Thank you for trying to help me tho.