The "heavy molt" thing...

....BB's Uncle DJ told me something I found quite interesting,ande I am curious to know if anyone else has heard the same thing or not.

He told me that when a birdie goes into his/her heavy molt stage,that is his/her "birth/hatch" molt..the clothes cycle has come full circle,and the heavy molt is like the very first set of sleeves/fluffies that the fid began growing as if it were the first set of clothes..if THAT makes any sense

Has anyone heard/read such a thing??
Maybe our resident Amazon Snob/encyclopedia of wealth and info.and all-around good guy 'Boats?


Jim

I am not sure what your trying to say.

A heavy molt is = to first molt, baby feathers to adult feathers.

I do know that some molts can be light just a few feathers here/there and sometimes it looks like a feather pillow blew up inside the cage.

I have seen that the heavy molt takes it's toll on a bird. they sleep more and are less active. I also think that a heavy molt effects an older bird more that it does a younger bird.

When Luck had his most recent Heavy molt he was very down. Not doing his normal things. I know he is at least 16 years old but could be much older.

Bingo's recent heavy molt also caused him to sleep a lot and he was not playing in his box like he usually does. Bingo is about 34 years old.

Once that first set of feathers are in place, that will be the last time that the Parrot will ever loose all of their feathers and replace all of their feathers in one single cycle.

The foundation of: The Need to Survive! Assures this reality. Even in the most extensive molt, this assure that the Parrot can at 'all-times' fly and keep basic body temperature.

Although, during an extensive molt, it may seem like your Parrot has exploded or had a dozen of this its best feathered friends stop by to add the the drifts of feathers. If fact, your Parrot has lost a good number of body, and downy feathers and 'some' flight feathers.

Exceptions: There are a couple of Bird Species, which live on Islands that are predator free, which do loss the majority of the Flight Feathers. But, this is very rare. I'm not aware of any Parrot Species that are part of this very small group.

Hope that helps!


Insert: The transition from baby feathers to Adult feather occurs over several molts. Once the baby set are in place, the Parrot will never loose all of its feathers for a single molt.

texsize said:

I am not sure what your trying to say.

A heavy molt is = to first molt, baby feathers to adult feathers.

I do know that some molts can be light just a few feathers here/there and sometimes it looks like a feather pillow blew up inside the cage.

I have seen that the heavy molt takes it's toll on a bird. they sleep more and are less active. I also think that a heavy molt effects an older bird more that it does a younger bird.

When Luck had his most recent Heavy molt he was very down. Not doing his normal things. I know he is at least 16 years old but could be much older.

Bingo's recent heavy molt also caused him to sleep a lot and he was not playing in his box like he usually does. Bingo is about 34 years old.

Click to expand...

Thanks Wes...you said it clearer then I could lol. I believe that was what DJ was getting at..a fid loosing ALL of his/her clothes at once (sleeves and fluffies) instead of a few here and there.
That of course makes sense.



Jim

This is an interesting topic. I've seen a few posts about molting here that sounded like the birds are doing a once a year all out feather switch. I didn't think that's how it worked but I was questioning myself : )

I've never seen a bird go completely naked - but one of my chooks currently looks amazing.....three weeks ago the poor girl was a turkey...Nothing on the neck all the way down to the foot. Rest of her was fine, no mites etc and plenty of pins, but by golly she looked odd. So did my inlaws 'too, one of the IRN's, and one of my mums budgies. Not as bad as the chicken, but still much heavier than normal. Thinking of starting a molt diary to try and spot patterns etc! I'm sure our crazy weather played a part in it this time around.

Interesting topic. I don't think any parrot naturally molts all it's feathers at once, but some years they certainly do seem to loose more some years than other years. I have never noticed it was cyclical which years they have a heavier vs lighter molt, but it's entirely possible in such a long lived creature some kind of pattern exists that no one has ever really noticed or identified. I know supposedly every cell in the human body is replaced every 7 years, who's to say a similar cycle doesn't apply to a parrots molts?

My moms 45+ y/o DYH just had an extended, heavy molt last fall. She sent me some "during" and "after" pics and the poor thing was very disheveled all over and even had thin patches on her cheeks and head. Kiwi also had a rather rough molt this year, but I noticed no thin patches anywhere on him. My moms bird is back to being her normal gorgeous self now, but I think her advanced age is now starting to make molts more difficult, longer and it takes her body longer to replace the feathers she lost (hence thin patches)

There are three primary drivers to a molt and depending on whether one or all the drivers are in place. The molt will be any where from light to extensive.

- The overall health of the Parrot! This driver is the most important as a Parrot that does not have the chemical /mineral stores on-hand and that the current diet is not well balanced and/or the volume is low and inconsistent. The Molt will be very light and only critical flight feathers will be molted. In the reverse, when the Parrot has an abundance of stores and consistent quality diet, they will molt as large a molt as needed or required by the other drivers.

- The 'Statement of A Healthy Parrot' just prior to Mating Season! Presentation is everything and an excellent display of Feathers makes that statement.

- Variation is Weather! Very Hot, Very Cold temperatures will place very different demands of the amount of downy and body feathers required.


Body and downy feathers tend to be molted in the Spring and Fall with minor adjustments durning the year!

Flight Surface Feathers of the Wings and Tails molt year around. There is a very specific pattern to their molt and that pattern will never allow the molting of a Flight Feather to effect the ability of the Parrot to Fly. This can be seen in the loss of Wing Feathers from both Wings being fairly close to each other based on their position on either the left or right side.

In addition, if the Parrot is molting Wing Feathers, rarely will Tail Feathers be molted. And, if Tail Feathers are being molted, rarely will Wing Feathers be molted.

Flight Feathers are molted over 'years' from as few as three to as many as seven or longer 'depending' on the overall health of the Parrot and its available stores.

Enjoy!