I'm Guessing My Sun Conure, Sunny, Is Molting. Any tips? I'm A Bit Concerned...

[Pens]

Well, for the people who don't know, he's only five months old. I started seeing needle/spike/pin like feathers on him and I've read that this means he's molting and will get cranky. Is that why he's biting my fingers twice as hard as before? One bite drew a bit of blood. How would I help him with his molting? I put him near a bowl of warm tap water when I took him out of his cage, but he just drank it twice and refused to go in the bowl. I heard that it's easier for them to molt when they bathe. Sunny will not go take a bath at all. He's also addicted to sunflower seeds so I'm going to put him on a pellet diet starting tomorrow and use the sunflower seeds as treats. He spends about 70% to 80% of his time picking out the sunflower seeds.

I'm sorry for all of these questions, but I am a nervous and worried new bird owner

 

[Bobioden]

When Maxx is going through a molt I put him in the kitchen sink with filled with 2 inches or so of water, and use the sprayer running very low on him and he LOVES it.

Baths are the best thing for them as it loosens the pinnies up and makes it easy for your bird to remove them.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

A fantastic thing to do is bring your bird in the shower and let them stand on the shower door. That way they are out of the water but get all that fantastic humidity that is great for their feathers, skin, and sinuses. Also not all birds like to bath in bowels, mine rarely enjoys getting wet but when she does it's from a mister.

Try to choose pellets that aren't colored, Zupreem natural is ok but has sugar in it, I feed Rosie a mixture of Harrison's and Totally Organic pellets. Do you have a way to weigh him? Unless he's eaten pellets before he might not recognize them as food. Try adding the pellets to his food slowly over the course of a week.

 

[94lt1]

Your bird is new like my sun conure, starburst he's only 7 months old..

The shower idea^^^_ is a good one.. you can also GENTLY help your bird, use your fingers and gently help by breaking the feathers loose... if you're to rough, the bird will lash out at you.. its a delicate position

If I recall, you have just gotten your bird, and he hasn't been with you long.. but ours went into a moult almost immediately too, started getting yellow and orange every where.. he still is..

My advice is this, the longer you have your new friend, the more you will know him, and he will also settle in and before long, you'll be communicating with each other as second nature

But for now, the shower idea is a good one and misting him with a spray bottle will help too

Sorry for the book, its just my flock has taught me so much...but every bird is different... that's why they're so awesome

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

Everyone's advice is great. If he'll bathe, with or without assistance, he should get some relief and it will also be a good distraction from the focus on the seeds, becuase he should want to take care of his feathers and preen more.

I have been through dozens of molts with Pritti, and it's nevery pretty (pardon the pun). He gets moody, cranky, happy, tired, hyper, very food fussy, all of the moods. If he is a cuddler, you can see if he'll spend time just scratching his head with you. Pritti loves to rub his head ALOT on anything when he's loaded with head pinnies -- my fingernail, corner of a box, a toy, a perch, etc.

Good luck. It'll all be find.