Molting question

[Mchal]

I have a bit of a question, Bert is going through his first molt and doesn't look too scraggly, but there are feathers everywhere!
Anyway he had a bit of an incident where he tore out one of his big flight/blood feathers because the pet shop didn't clip his wings right (they cut way too far up so he couldn't even glide so he just crashes to the ground) and we took him to the vet and they had to put him under anaesthesia to pluck the remaining bit of that feather (because it was bleeding so bad and cauterizing didn't stop the bleeding) so afterwards we had to give him some medicam to stop the pain/discomfort so he wouldn't get the urge to pluck his new feathers.

SO anyway the point of this is that with the feathers he is losing, some of them have the hollow barb/shaft bit intact but then I am finding some that look like they have been have been torn or shredded before coming out naturally.

So is that normal? Or he is starting to shred some of his feathers?
He isn't stressed and he isn't bored (I can guarantee that ) so if he were doing it, I think it would be due to some discomfort relating to feather he tore out. But I don't really know what shredding and plucking looks like. He doesn't have any bare patches and I haven't noticed over preening or anything like that. So I just want some advice please and thank you!

 

[tabatha]

When my beautiful girl, Tabatha, had her first molt with me as her new mum (she is 3 but I've only had her for 1 year), she lost some of her fly feathers, and they came out a little bloody. I found feathers all over the bottom of her cage, so many that I thought she would be bald! When her stunning tail feathers came out, I almost cried for her. she looked so wrong, and stumpy butt! Poor thing couldn't fly so lived on my shoulder for a while. you might find he will be preening and cleaning in private, at night perhaps? A spray bottle of nice warm water helps them when they are molting...and it's a good bonding for you with him too. Remember to only use water as a good thing, not to punish them for squawking or being naughty.
Hope your boy gives you many years of joy!
Squawk!

 

[SpringCottageParrot]

We use some stuff called Soother topical spray on Casper. It comes in a blue bottle with a pump spray nozzle. The vet suggested it because he has some bare patches of skin under his feathers round his neck and the spray will hopefully stop him scratching his neck so much.
Getting it sprayed on the bit of his body that you want can be a challenge with Casper.

 

[Birdlover11]

Whenever my budgies molt I get a special bathing spray instead of normal water as it sooth es some of the bare skin and helps with the molting proccess. Of course I don't use all the time I just use it a little more when the molt as it kinder relaxis them a little bit,(imagine if your hair started falling out in patches!) maybe you could try it on your bird you could get from petco,petsmart or online .Can you post a picture?Keep us updated

 

[Ian]

Hi,

This has come a bit late after your original post - I hope the moult has been a success.

When I first got my female bird she had been given a hatchet job clip.

I had loads of trouble over 2years with clipped/new feathers not interleaving correctly and she often made a mess trying to make them right. Many snapped because they didn't have the surrounding support, especially when she was doing some of the Alex 'digging and mining' operations.

I'm not an expert but perhaps that was related to what you experienced - she doesn't pluck either.

After 2 full moults she has a 'full set' and everything is great but it felt like a long LONG time.