Juvenile molting?

rockyj

New member
May 25, 2022
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Cockatiel
Has anyone else’s tiels gone through a partial molt as a juvenile? According to the breeder, Rocky should only be about 15-16 weeks now, but we’re definitely doing a small molt.

So far he’s lost quite a few downy and contour feathers, as well as about 4 or 5 from his crest. As for new feathers, I’ve found a new tail feather that’s already about half way uncased (some old ones have bent but none have been shed yet), an emerging pin feather above his wing, and some pin feathers at the front of his crest (note the tiny bald spot right above his cere).

I could see if the age the breeder said was off by a couple of weeks, but I think we’re definitely too young to have our adult molt.
Also suspecting “he” is actually a she, but not sure so still going off breeder’s best guess until the vet tells me lol
 

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BirdyBee

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Jan 7, 2022
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Current birds:
John
Snowy
Pippen

Past birds:
Grumpy
Sunny
Griffen
Jeff
Gertjie
Has anyone else’s tiels gone through a partial molt as a juvenile? According to the breeder, Rocky should only be about 15-16 weeks now, but we’re definitely doing a small molt.

So far he’s lost quite a few downy and contour feathers, as well as about 4 or 5 from his crest. As for new feathers, I’ve found a new tail feather that’s already about half way uncased (some old ones have bent but none have been shed yet), an emerging pin feather above his wing, and some pin feathers at the front of his crest (note the tiny bald spot right above his cere).

I could see if the age the breeder said was off by a couple of weeks, but I think we’re definitely too young to have our adult molt.
Also suspecting “he” is actually a she, but not sure so still going off breeder’s best guess until the vet tells me lol
Usually cockatiels moult at 6-9 months.

I think the bird may be a bit older than breeder said it was.
 

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