My Society Finch's tail is gone!!?

Question

I have had two Society finches for 5 years now. They are both male. I introduced a female for the first time last week. Everything was going fine, until i checked on them this morning. The new bird (female) tail is gone!!! There is nothing left at all. I don't know if one of the birds plucked them out overnight or if they just fell out?? Can someone please tell me what to do? Will they grown back again and is it okay for her to not have a tail?? Thanks!

Answer 1

This is probably due to introducing a female to two males without any introduction period allowed.
If a female is approached by two, to put it bluntly, horny males, and she isn't the slightest bit interested, they tend to antagonize her out of frustration.
It could be that the first week the males were figuring out their roles/dominance with each other before the female was approached, and at that time, the female wasn't able to choose herself which male she was really interested in. Because they are caged, the female can't simply fly away to express her disinterest in the male's advance and hence - she gets the brunt of his frustration.
I would suggest separating the female from the males and maybe housing them close - so the female can see and hear the males, but not be bothered by them. I wouldn't reintroduce them until the tail feathers have grown back (yes, they will grow back).

Answer 2

That does not sound right. When birds moult, they don't end up with bald patches or areas that are totally devoid of feathers... like your bird's tail.

When birds moult, they lose feathers here and there and they grow back in as others fall out. Imagine what would happen if a bird moulted out patches. How would they fly with a big patch of wing feathers missing? Preditors would have a feast! Nature has designed birds so that during the moulting proccess, they are not grounded.

I think you should keep a very close eye on your birds. I'd say she's been plucked. You should remove her if they don't let up.

Answer 3

Some birds moult (shed their feathers) until they are nearly bald - looking quite naked - and then in time they will re-grow. I don't think you need to worry about separating them, unless you see the other bird(s) picking on her and pulling her feathers out.