You may remember me telling you about how I've had to handrear 3 chicks as the parents stopped feeding them. Well they were doing really well, or so I thought, but they dont seem to be growing their feathers as other chicks do. There are several large bald patches on their bodies and they seem rather thin, compared to my other chicks. I have a bad feeling they have French Moult. From what I've read about it, it is caused by the chicks being malnourished. Is this because they didnt receive the milk from their mother when they hatched?? The first chick I fed from when it first hatched, but the other two were fed for about the first 2 weeks by their parents. I'm at my wits end what to do, the books say to cull any birds with French Moult. Please help!!

Do you have pictures of them you can post?

Not being an avian vet we could only guess what would be wrong, if you feel there is something wrong I would ring your avian vet.

First: I replied to your other post on the subject.

Secondly: They could be dehydrated, which is why they are thin, this also causes them to lose their feathers, similar to french moult.

Thirdly: If you want the best opinion... go to your vet

 

Good luck, I hope all goes well and remember don't give up.

Oh yeah and don't listen to that book, if they do have french moult, just keep them seperated from the other birds and wash your hands in between. And take them to the vet.

my breeder when i was in perth had that problem with a few of his birdsand was told to cull them but he just pulled off the loose feathers and they yurned out fine