Is he molting, or something else?

Hello everyone, I have a question for you all. I have here a sun conure that is looking a bit ruffled (literally.)
He is NOT mine, but I see him frequently. I work with animals all the time but not so much with birds. His feathers are very ruffled all over, particularly on the chest and wings. I can see the gray down feathers in these areas too.

I was wondering if he is undergoing some kind of medical issue, or if it is stress related, or maybe he is simply molting?
He has been like this for quite some time, I would almost say a month or a month and a half +.
He is young, no older than half a year. He is as sweet as can be, he loves people and always gives kisses. Very sweet little guy. My knowledge on conures is limited though so I wanted to find out if this may be a problem worth looking into via veterinary trip. Thanks to all that can help!

Here are pictures:

Oh man. Is he around other birds?
That does look like more than just molting.

Doublete said:

Oh man. Is he around other birds?
That does look like more than just molting.

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No, he is by himself.

I also think that looks like more than molting. Is he playing with his toys? Getting lots of out of cage time? Has he been to an AV recently to rule out any underlying medical cause (mites, allergies, illnesses ext...)?

Well, I guess I better explain the full situation....


I work at a pet store as a regular sales associate. Yes, one of the chain ones. This sun conure is one of our for-sale animals. We have had him for approximately 3ish months but I will have to double check on that. I am fully aware that our enclosure for these birds is less than desirable. He has been living in an about 3ftx3ft hex cage/pexiglass enclosure with a perch and a few wood toys. I have no control over this.

That being said, he does not get the luxury of lots of attention, out time, humidity levels and spraying, regular vet visits, etc. He does get handled frequently, but never for more than around 5 minutes at a time, usually (but not always) in the mornings when the animals are being fed. He does get loved on every now and then by associates who have gotten attached. He also gets taken out occasionally when a customer wants to see him. His enclosure is also in a high traffic area.

He has not been to any vet to my knowledge since he has been in our care. We do have a vet we take our animals to, but I would need to convince the management that he needs to see one. Everyone seems to think that he is simply molting, and I wasnt sure but he does appear pretty abnormal to me. I want to be able to go to them with a good reason as to why he needs to see a vet, and not on just a hunch.

My knowledge on birds is limited, I work mostly with reptiles, but I do know basic care.

Im not management, so I dont have much power to get him what he needs. I just want to help this little guy and I can do what you guys suggest to the best of my ability, but remember I have limitations. I can always try to talk to the management too.

His feathers are not healthy. In the interest of good business- management should take him to the vet to rule out any disease, because if they sell him as a diseased animal that's just bad for all involved. Including the bird.

Im more worried about the health of the bird than anything, I dont want him through any kind of suffering during his stay here. Thats not how it should be. But you are right, that would be a good reason to explain to management, and it wouldnt be good for anyone involved. Ill try to see what I can do as far as getting him a vet trip.

Can you possibly get us some pics of the feather shafts of those feathers that have already fallen off? Might provide a better hint as to whether they were plucked or not. But it really doesn't look like a regular molt to me, either.

Also, I just want to say that it's good to see someone going out of their way to help a bird in distress. A lot of people would've just ignored the situation.

Anansi said:

Can you possibly get us some pics of the feather shafts of those feathers that have already fallen off? Might provide a better hint as to whether they were plucked or not. But it really doesn't look like a regular molt to me, either.

Also, I just want to say that it's good to see someone going out of their way to help a bird in distress. A lot of people would've just ignored the situation.

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I agree with Anansi. It is very good to see a petstore employee trying to help the animals. I used to work for a large chain petstore too and it pained me greatly to see the treatment of so many animals.

It has been stated already, but I do second with other opinions. This does not look like an ordinary molt.

Anansi said:

Can you possibly get us some pics of the feather shafts of those feathers that have already fallen off? Might provide a better hint as to whether they were plucked or not. But it really doesn't look like a regular molt to me, either.

Also, I just want to say that it's good to see someone going out of their way to help a bird in distress. A lot of people would've just ignored the situation.

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Shoot, I will have to get a picture tomorrow when I go in. Does it have to be any particular type of feathers? Most of what I saw were down/contour feathers, dont know about flight. Ill see about it when I go in again though.

Dont get me wrong, the other employees here do care. They just dont know how to care. Their intentions are good and they mean well, they just dont know that symptoms like this could lead up to something much worse. They just think that its not anything serious, that hes just molting, and that its normal. They dont have the experience to know thats not the case. They pretty much think im crazy when I say its anything other than that lol.

There has never been an intentional case of animal cruelty while working here, but there have been many, many cases of animal endangerment/neglect due to lack of knowledge or experience....

No, it wouldn't have to be a particular type of feather, just as long as there are several examples of the ones that he's lost. And the important thing is a clear view of the shafts.

I really commend you for going out of your way to help this little conure. Another thing you could tell management, it's possible the conure's condition is something contagious that could only be determined by an Av Vet. If there are other birds in the store, they are also in danger, not to mention the bird owners that visit the store and then expose their own birds. It's only a possibility, but one management may choose to consider.

Good luck, I hope you can help this little guy. Thank you for trying.

Okay, I got feather pictures and a few others as well. That is the enclosure hes in right now, and a few more of him from a better angle. So how do you tell if the feathers are being plucked by looking at them?
What do you guys think?
Let me know if the pictures arent good enough. I can try to get better ones.


I tried to put these in a spoiler tag to reduce post size but I dont think this forum has them.

Poor guy doesn't look healthy. I wouldn't buy him thats for sure.
I would make sure the mgr knows that he should be checked out to make sure he isn't comtagious. And make him look pretty so they can actually sell him.

Looks like it could be a hard molt.....That said, you mentioned working with reptiles,

Might consider cross contamination or bringing something home to the bird that might of irritated it ? Just curious.

Hawk it's a petco/petsmart bird. Management needs compelling reason to take the bird to be seen by an AV. But yes I'm sure the associates that handle him also handle e reptiles and they usually are an aisle away.

That is correct. This bird is a large pet store brand bird, and is indeed right next door to reptiles. Employees do handle both. Question, what kinds of illnesses and parasites can transmit between the two?

Mites would be the first thing that comes to mind with him close to the reptiles. Easy enough fix too (make sure to mention the easy fix part to management)

I asked because we recently had a parasite, cryptosporidium, diagnosed with our leopard geckos. I wasnt sure if that was transmittable to birds. It is a very scary parasite to have.

I am sad to say that our management is pretty dead set on it being just a stress thing, and she is probably right. I doubt this bird is liking having to be stuck in a pexiglass tank cage thing all day, not getting a whole lot of attention. I just wish he could be brought to a vet to get checked out just in case.
I mentioned mites to her, and she said its not mites because mites start at the feet. I dont think thats true, correct me if im wrong. He is also the only bird that has this problem though. Also a lot of customers walk past the cage, sometimes some will stop to look at him and play with him through the glass, so he does get some form of attention. I just dont know if its enough.

He was actually sold the other day before being returned the very next day after. The guy who bought him couldnt end up keeping him because the landlord said no. Its a little sad because he said he never saw him pluck his feathers at all while having him, and he really seemed like a good guy that was going to take care of him well, got a nice big cage and everything. Really should have checked with landlord first though.

Maybe all our little conure needs is some TLC to distract him from plucking. I just hope thats all it is. He is such a good bird and I really hate to see him look like this, I feel like hes getting worse because now his flight feathers are looking ragged.

How much is this bird and where in Louisiana are you? I would consider giving this bird a proper home, depending. You are welcome to email me at [email protected].