Please help -- Golden Pheasant Looking Terrible

[thkosan]

I have a Golden Pheasant that was a cruelty seizure that the SPCA placed with me several months ago. He lives in a 10 X 10 X 15 (high) aviary shared with three little Silkies. They seem to coexist and I have never seen any one pecking him. He gets game bird food along with kitchen scraps that he shares with the silkies (lettuce, tomato, grains). He also snacks on their food, which is a mix of poultry chow, scratch and layer pellets. The last week he has started to look terrible -- really rough feathers like he's been wrapped in a blanket and rubbed the wrong way. Today he lost his longest tail feather. He's by nature very skittish and spends most of his day pacing on the south side of the aviary. We have a multi-branched tree in the center for perching and when he is not pacing he perches. So, is he molting? Physically sick? Mentally or emotionally unstable? Do I need to take him to an avian vet ASAP?

 

[DuckLady]

Is he molting?

My yard looks like a pillow fight in progress.

How is he other than the feather loss?

 

[thkosan]

I just found a photo of a moulting Golden Pheasant on the web... and it looks like Elvis did about a week ago, so maybe he IS moulting... BUT, there are no feathers on the floor of the aviary except white ones, from the silkies. So if he's molting, he hasn't started to drop feathers other than his long tail feather.

Otherwise, he is perching a bit more than usual but only a bit. I can't tell whether he is fluffed up as he looks like a feather duster that has been attacked by a cat.