Molting question

[nkrbkr]

Hi everyone. I posted in my thread earlier in the week about the beautiful tail feathers I found at the bottom of Ava’s cage. Since we have only had her since June, this is her first molt with us. After looking more closely, all three of the feathers are from one side of her tail. When she fans her tail, there’s an obvious bare patch. I find this odd, as Button (my lovebird) always molts symmetrically and gradually so that bare patches are never noticeable. As this is our first molting season with Ava, I just wanted to check to see if you all think this is abnormal as well? They don’t appear to be plucked, as the shafts are all clear and undamaged.

 

[nkrbkr]

Do you think she could have had a night fright and dropped the feathers? I found them at the bottom of the cage when I was getting the birds up in the morning, so they dropped at some point overnight. The birds sleep in the bedroom right next to ours, and my husband said he heard Ava “floofing” her feathers that night. She is quite loud when she does that, so maybe she had a fright and he mistook it for her shaking her feathers. I don’t have any experience with night frights in birds, but I’m going to order a night light, just in case.

 

[LaManuka]

Peachie’s been losing a bunch of tail feathers lately too, I keep them cos they’re so pretty! So far she’s lost three from one side and only one from the other, and they’re all nice and clean on the ends like Ava’s are,. So I don’t think you’ve got too much to worry about, the others will probably drop soon

 

[DonnaBudgie]

The quills look like old molted feathers not plucked feathers. Symmetrical molting isn't always the norm.

 

[nkrbkr]

Thank you both for your replies!