Need help on feathers

[Jayyj]

Guys, need some help / reassurance here, getting worried again about Alice's feather condition.

I've had her nearly six weeks now, and she's clearly been molting since I got her. To begin with she had lots of pin feathers around her crest, those have all come through now. The last week or so she's been losing mainly feathers from her chest and back, and it's worrying me how many are being shed and that I can't see pin feathers in those areas. She looks quite ruffled at the moment with odd flecks of white fluff visible although no localized patches. When I'm with her I see feathers occasionally being dislodged but no sign that she's plucking - often the just fall out when she shakes. But I always find quite a few feathers in the cage when I get home form work and I've no way of knowing if they're coming out during grooming.

Her current routine is out for two hours in the morning, then I have to go to work (out for a total of eight hours), then she gets four to five hours in the evening. I know my work hours aren't ideal but prior to coming to me she spent 23 hours a day in an 18" square cage, so hopefully the current routine is an improvement. She seems happy when I'm around and we've made huge leaps in building up trust and confidence. Her diet is probably 50% veg, 30% pellets, 20% nut and seeds, which is a big improvement on the nut and seed only diet she started on.

When she saw the vet he suggested that molt period would be around two months and I realize she loses all her feathers in the molt, so I could just be working myself up over nothing. But could any of you with experience of galahs chip in and let me know what you think? I've kept the feathers she's disgarded if there's any way to tell if they've been molted naturally or plucked?

 

[Jayyj]

Couple of photos:

Today's haul, minus a couple of tiny pinks I didn't pick up:

 

[Pinkbirdy]

I Think Alice is fine . I had a 2 that plucked [and it doesn't sound like it] .Since having that experience. I have heart failure when I see a lot of feathers . But Ive learned molts can last a long time !! [and theres a ton of feathers] IMO they look like hell. If you can feel pinfeathers [their molting] . Sounds like your doing everything right [remember showers]. Your being a good Parront

 

[SoCalWendy]

Both my birds look a little ratty and moth eaten. Neither have gone through their first molt yet, but I am suspecting they are starting since I am seeing some down feathers, no color feathers yet though. All birds molt. I would think that unless you see bald spots, don't worry too much.

 

[Jayyj]

Thanks both of you, really appreciated. I find it really hard that I came into this brimming with confidence having done a huge amount of study and research, then the moment this trembling, delicate little thing entered my life everything I thought I knew seems woefully inadequate and I'm terrified of doing harm to her through my own inexperience.

Ok, deep breaths, fresh start tomorrow. It's going to be OK...

 

[Pinkbirdy]

Thanks both of you, really appreciated. I find it really hard that I came into this brimming with confidence having done a huge amount of study and research, then the moment this trembling, delicate little thing entered my life everything I thought I knew seems woefully inadequate and I'm terrified of doing harm to her through my own inexperience.

Ok, deep breaths, fresh start tomorrow. It's going to be OK...

Don't worry I feel exactly the same .You read enough info on Toos and its enough to put you into a melt down. Think of it like this [remember I said I had a plucking Too] . With mine you could actually see she was depressed too. If Alice is active in her cage ,happy to see you ,eating well and [very important] doing her happy screams and flapping. I think you have a happy bird.

 

[Jayyj]

Actually she's a very quiet bird, she flaps and screams when I get in from work, but otherwise prefers a kind of baby seal noise (arp arp arp arp) when she's exited. But otherwise she seems very cheerful - she does little display dances, presents her cheek for a kiss like an elderly aunt, can be found literally hanging off the edge of my dinner plate by her beak, and loves to snuggle up on my chest sleepily nibbling my neck, so everything about her demeanor suggests she's adapting well. She has a huge cage which she powers about in quite happily and loves anything she can chew.

 

[Pajarita]

I have no experience whatsoever with Galahs so I can't give you my opinion but if I went by the experience I have (umbrellas and lesser sulfur) that looks like a lot of feathers. But this doesn't necessarily mean that she is plucking, either - it could very well be that she is ridding her body of all that extra protein she ate when she was in an all seed diet (they always have harder molts than properly fed birds).

 

[Jayyj]

As a point of interest does anyone know the average molt time for a galah? I've seen 150 days quoted as the time it takes to completely replace their wing and tail feathers, but no idea about body feathers.