Sun conure molting?

gibson981

New member
May 21, 2012
18
0
Indiana
Parrots
Apollo the sun conure. Hatched in mid-January.
Is my sun conure molting? For about a week, whenever I bring him out to play or walk up to his cage when he is playing on top, I notice that there are a couple of loose looking feathers. If he flaps his wings, those feathers float in the air. Also, for the past few days, his play is a little more aggressive. I give him a once over at least every couple of days. I never notice any bare skin patches. If he is molting, is there anything I should be doing for him? Humidity? Heat? Cold?
 

DebsFlock

Banned
Banned
Jul 19, 2012
633
2
Los Angeles County, near Palmdale
Parrots
Scooter -- male Green Cheek Conure "Normal" but that's a matter of opinion! Hatched in March 2010

Scotty -- Male Cape Parrot hatched somewhere between 2007-2009 we think

Caballo Blanco -- male C
Baths are good during a molt, but they are also good everyday anyway. To be honest, the only thing I really notice when my guys are molting is that there are lots of feathers on the ground/cage/playtop and that they get itchy pinfeathers. I try to help with the ones on the head and neck when they are mature enough to remove the sheaths. I've never noticed major mood swings and I think if nutrition is already good, there isn't any need to change up anything. It may sort of work the other way, in fact, when our found cockatiel started molting I thought he'd never stop! I suspect being well-nourished triggered him to drop every feather he owned, but he looks really good now.

It's a normal process once or twice a year... just like shedding in a mammal. If it starts to be a continuous molt, you might try installing some lighting on timers, but other than that it's not something I really fuss over.
 

Kantia

New member
Aug 18, 2012
176
1
UK, Leicester.
Parrots
Tich. A Green-Cheeked Blue Conure. Hatched 6th May 2012 <3
Is my sun conure molting? For about a week, whenever I bring him out to play or walk up to his cage when he is playing on top, I notice that there are a couple of loose looking feathers. If he flaps his wings, those feathers float in the air. Also, for the past few days, his play is a little more aggressive. I give him a once over at least every couple of days. I never notice any bare skin patches. If he is molting, is there anything I should be doing for him? Humidity? Heat? Cold?

Normally during a molt you won't find any bald patches. Tich is going through one right now and I find half a dozen feathers a day.
As DebsFlock said, baths are very good for molting. And they can reduce the itching of new pin feathers.
 
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gibson981

New member
May 21, 2012
18
0
Indiana
Parrots
Apollo the sun conure. Hatched in mid-January.
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Ya. I keep a ceramic bowl on his play top with 20 ounces of water in it. It's big enough that 20 ounces is only as deep as half a dime wide. Plenty of room in it for him to splash around.
 

bettietheripper

New member
May 3, 2014
73
Media
4
1
SoCal
Parrots
Sun Conure (Pipa), hatched 12/31/13
My conure is going through it right now, and she's very moody. A lot of loose feathers and, what I'm assuming, are pin feathers (literally look like white-ish pin shaped hard sticks) all over her face and neck. At least I hope they are pin feathers!
 

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