Greys molting

[DRB]

So I've made my rounds on the site, reading tips and info, also reading the web in general and I've finally gotten to the molting process.

My Perjo is 19 weeks old, and I know she will molt. But after all my reading it sounds as if she's never going to have a full body of feathers, almost ever. If they molt every year, and it can take months to complete and months for new full feathers to come in, to me that sounds like it's a perpetual molt.

That sucks.

She looks great right now, is she gonna look like a beaten and tattered bird half the time, or even a 1/3 of the time?

Please tell me no.

 

[ScooterV]

Ours is 11 years old, or older, and had her for five months and not seen any "tattered" look like I recall from my Amazon I had as a kid. Just a bigger mess.

Maybe her body was out of whack having been given up, time stuck in a cage, then the new home but we saw nothing initially. A month ago we simply saw a much higher level of powder, down, followed by more breast feathers on the floor. She then started dropping tail and flight feathers which seem to grow back WAY too fast. I think she is close to 100% now on new flight feathers anyway, but has never looked scrubby.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Smokey,my Timneh,when she molted,she lost a lot of fluff,looked a little ragged sometimes but always came out looking purty in a few weeks.

Jim

 

[Scott]

Unless Perjo has some sort of underlying condition, the traditional moult ought not be terribly disfiguring. I've seen varied degrees of moults with Greys, and the bulk of feathering remains intact, though the process may be prolonged. Think of it as the perpetual renewal of a forest; over time the trees are replaced, but the entire thickness does not disappear.

Moulting is an excellent opportunity to bond more closely with Perjo, as removal of the keratin sheaf with your fingernails is a form of grooming. That of course assumes Perjo will permit this! One must wait until the feather is mature and does not have blood in the shaft where it meets the skin!

 

[DRB]

Perjo had first visit with vet today, everything went well, her health is great and weighed in at 426g as a 19 week old.

He advised me the molting period can be a good time for bonding better even if you're well bonded with your bird. He also told me not to stress to much about the molting process, and said if a bird has a good diet and a comfortable living environment the molt(s) should go without a hitch and be relative short lived.