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jacinta
03-15-2014, 05:54 AM
Hi Everyone, it's been quite some time since I was here last but I have a question that I'm hoping someone can help me with.

My mum has a peach faced lovebird who is currently sitting on eggs that aren't fertile, she's been sitting for a while but just recently (last week or so) my mum has noticed that the bird seems to have a lot of feathers missing from around the front of her neck and it stops when it reaches the back of her neck. What I would like to know is why is this happening, is the bird doing it herself? Or does she possibly have mites? We think she is trying to build up a nest for the eggs, though she has access to material. We try not to encourage her to lay eggs but she is a constant layer (we have just bought some dummy eggs which we hope will help with this) due to the sub tropical climate we have here.

If anyone can shed any light on this I would be most grateful. Thanks in advance :)

michael
03-16-2014, 08:53 AM
Rather than mites (which are actually quite rare in parrots), her missing feathers are more than likely the result of her plucking a brood patch. A brood patch helps her body transfer heat more easily to her eggs during incubation.










0he missing feathers are more than likely the result of