Keeping a bird as a pet is steadily increasing in popularity with the popularity of keeping pet birds really starting to grow at a fast pace over the last couple of years.
Due to more and more people adding a pet bird to their family, we have seen a correlating spike in the number of people reaching out with various questions about how they should be caring for their pet bird.
More recently, there has been a spike in the people reaching out and asking questions about their bird losing feathers around its eye so we wanted to publish this article to help our readers.
There are a number of reasons that your pet bird may be losing its feathers around its eye ranging from problems such as infections or mites to having something it in its.
Although less common, there are some nutritional deficiencies that can cause your bird to lose feathers and in some cases, depending on the species of bird you keep, it may be natural as part of your bird molting.
We would usually recommend that you try to book a video call with a veterinarian as soon as possible if you do notice that your pet bird is losing feathers around its eye.
The video call is usually cheaper than a trip to your local vet and you can often request a booking with an avian specialist vet and have them assess your bird via the camera on your smartphone.
This will help you diagnose the problem as well as get you started on the best course of treatment as soon as possible.
Is It Normal For A Bird To Lose Feathers Around Its Eye?
It can be normal for a bird to lose feathers around its eye as most bird species will have a molt phase each year.
Some species of bird will go through multiple partial molt phases where they will lose feathers from certain parts of their body at a time.
If your bird is having a partial molt on its head then it can be common for the bird to initially lose feathers from around the eye and under the beak first.
Although much rarer, it can be “normal” for some species to lose their feathers in older age but this is rarer for birds kept as pets as they tend to have a better diet with plenty of vitamins and minerals.
Still, it can happen and this kind of looks like a human with thinning hair rather than the bird actually losing its feather. In some situations, it can happen on the head of the bird giving the impression that they are losing their feathers.
Unfortunately, some bird breeders are not keeping strong breeding lines for the birds that they produce so the birds that they sell can end up having various genetic problems.
Although this is not healthy, for a bird produced by weak breeding lines, it can be normal for them to start to lose their feathers in some situations without there being any other issue with the bird.
This can be very hard to diagnose as the cause of your bird losing its feathers though and it can be common for a veterinarian to overlook it as many people initially think that they purchased their bird from a reputable breeder only to find out about genetic problems in their bird way too late.
Why Is My Bird Losing Feathers Around Its Eye and On Its Face?
It can be common for a bird to lose feathers around its eye due to having a bacterial, fungal or parasitic infection.
The most common parasitic infection that can cause a bird to lose feather around its eye are mites but you are often able to see the mites on your bird helping you diagnose the cause of the problem.
Less common causes of a bird losing feathers around its eye include having something stuck in its eye, natural molting, and problems with the nutritional intake of the bird.
Stress and anxiety in young birds can cause them to lose their feathers but this is usually all over their body rather than in a specific area.
Technically, elevated stress and anxiety in a bird could be a cause of the bird losing feathers around its eye but we would not recommend that you put much time into investigating this further unless your bird is losing feathers from other areas or is acting scared or stressed in other ways.
If you keep multiple birds in the same cage there is a chance that the other birds may by picking feathers out of the bird that you can see is losing feathers. This does tend to be rare though and it is not usually specific to feathers around the eye of the bird either.
You will often be able to see the other birds bullying the bird that is losing its feathers too making it easier to confirm this as the cause of the bird losing feathers.
How Can You Stop A Bird Losing Feathers Around Its Eye?
If your bird is losing the feathers around its eyes due to an infection then the correct medication from your veterinarian will be able to quickly treat the problem.
If the feathers are being lost due to having something in the eye of your bird then you may still need the assistance of a vet to correct the issue as it can be difficult to remove gravel or even seed husks from your birds eye by yourself.
Thankfully, the commercial bird food products on the market right now are much better than they used to be and many of them are very close to being nutritionally complete.
Still, many people do choose to feed their bird food that they have made themselves often causing their bird to have issues with a nutritional deficiency that can cause problems such as losing their feathers.
Usually adding a vitamin supplement to the diet of your bird or switching them over to a nutrient-dense food mix will be able to fix this problem and stop the bird losing feathers around its eye.
Please realize that it will take time for your bird to regrow the feathers around its eye that it has lost too. Many people presume that their bird will get its feathers back quickly but it can take months for the lost feathers to grow back in with older birds taking much longer to regrow lost feathers.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over why your pet bird is losing its feathers around its eye to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand the more common causes of feather loss on the head of a bird as well as how to treat them. Thankfully, for the most part you are usually able to quickly and easily treat the problem with your bird and in time, its feathers can regrow with ease.
