Molting?

[Elviraion]

Hello,

Elvira, my Turquoise Yellow-Sided Green Cheek is 16 weeks old now and I am wondering if she's starting to go through her first molting? I've read about Juvenile Molting, so I don't know if it is that and what time of year conures go through molting. For location purposes, I'm in Georgia (USA). I've been finding feathers on the bottom of the cage now.

She is super active, always moving around, and constantly eating her pellets and chop that I supplement with HempWell (seed) & Vitakraft Egg Food. She only gets seeds when she's outside of her cage. When I read up on molting I read that they need more protein during this time so I am going to add some nuts to her pellet dish, she'll just LOVE that!

She is very spirited when she plays with her toys. Has a day cage and a night cage. She is very interactive and chatty. Nothing about her behavior has changed except that she's very, very, picky about where she's given skritches.

I will attach more pictures to this thread in a few hours, but I wanted to get the ball rolling.

Thanks in advance for any responses and Happy Holidays!

 

[zERo]

Hello,

Elvira, my Turquoise Yellow-Sided Green Cheek is 16 weeks old now and I am wondering if she's starting to go through her first molting? I've read about Juvenile Molting, so I don't know if it is that and what time of year conures go through molting. For location purposes, I'm in Georgia (USA). I've been finding feathers on the bottom of the cage now.

She is super active, always moving around, and constantly eating her pellets and chop that I supplement with HempWell (seed) & Vitakraft Egg Food. She only gets seeds when she's outside of her cage. When I read up on molting I read that they need more protein during this time so I am going to add some nuts to her pellet dish, she'll just LOVE that!

She is very spirited when she plays with her toys. Has a day cage and a night cage. She is very interactive and chatty. Nothing about her behavior has changed except that she's very, very, picky about where she's given skritches.

I will attach more pictures to this thread in a few hours, but I wanted to get the ball rolling.

Thanks in advance for any responses and Happy Holidays!

Can you post of a pic of the feathers you see on the cage bottom?
Also does she have pin feathers? Especially on her head and neck.

More protein is important while molting, however, don't give her an entire nut, I only give my GCC Tom maybe a little less than 1/4 of a nut twice a week or less, some nuts offer lots of calcium and protein BUT they also have lots o fat too.

I would offer boiled egg while molting too, say 1-2 times a week.

 

[Elviraion]

Can you post of a pic of the feathers you see on the cage bottom?
Also does she have pin feathers? Especially on her head and neck.

zERo,

Its funny you asked for pics of the feathers that I saw on the bottom of the cage because it was the cage cage cleaning that I JUST did tonight that prompted this post. I did save one feather because it showed her resplendent turquoise color. I've taken a few pictures of for the thread.

When I have her out in a few, I'll take pictures of her front and back especially around her chest and head.

BTW, thanks for the feeding tips! Love that your little GCC's name is Tom because that's my name IRL. *laughing*

 

[Elviraion]

Can you post of a pic of the feathers you see on the cage bottom?
Also does she have pin feathers? Especially on her head and neck.

More protein is important while molting, however, don't give her an entire nut, I only give my GCC Tom maybe a little less than 1/4 of a nut twice a week or less, some nuts offer lots of calcium and protein BUT they also have lots o fat too.

I would offer boiled egg while molting too, say 1-2 times a week.

Here's some additional pictures I just took of Elvira.

I included the cage set up just in case there's something in the cage that could be done better or differently. She plays with ALL of those toys, I kid you not when I say that she is wild for her toys.

 

[zERo]

How funny!

That feather looks normal and like it just molted out, probably having her first molt, can be a pretty rough few months.
Just saw the pics, I don't see pin feathers but when they appear it'll be really prominent around pn the forehead and back of the neck.

 

[Owlet]

I dont have much ot offer other than advice on the cage. I am ONLY seeing dowel perches. I could be missing the normal ones but I would recommend ditching the dowel perches and getting him natural perches.

 

[wrench13]

Hi there! Yeah pretty normal feathers, meaning not the floofy kind, which get shed all the time. Hard boiled eggs are a good natural protein source. Another good one is actual chicken bones ! Salty loves a good leg bone and will gobble up the marrow with single minded determination. We strip it of any meat but some folks even give them with some meat still on it.

She is gorgeous!

 

[Elviraion]

I dont have much ot offer other than advice on the cage. I am ONLY seeing dowel perches. I could be missing the normal ones but I would recommend ditching the dowel perches and getting him natural perches.

 

[Elviraion]

I dont have much ot offer other than advice on the cage. I am ONLY seeing dowel perches. I could be missing the normal ones but I would recommend ditching the dowel perches and getting him natural perches.

Here's pictures of the other perches in her cage. I welcome all the feedback I can get because I've not had a bird in a long time and I'm learning a lot of new things as I go from reading and, obviously, my own experiences as they happen.

 

[Elviraion]

Hi there! Yeah pretty normal feathers, meaning not the floofy kind, which get shed all the time. Hard boiled eggs are a good natural protein source. Another good one is actual chicken bones ! Salty loves a good leg bone and will gobble up the marrow with single minded determination. We strip it of any meat but some folks even give them with some meat still on it.

She is gorgeous!

Wow, I had no idea about the chicken leg bone, but I'll try that the next time we have chicken! She's a real pig so I'm sure she'll have a field day with that when it happens!

BTW, Thanks for the compliment! It has been interesting to watch her colors change as she's gotten older.

 

[HeatherG]

I think one or two dowel perches is ok.

Those feathers look normal to me, too. Not pulled when immature.

Looks like a very fun cage!

 

[Elviraion]

Close-up Pics of Elvira as requested:

 

[HeatherG]

What a pretty bird! And she would coordinate so nicely with my Willow. Hmm. Do you need a bird sitter?

Of course I am just kidding. The turquoise green cheeks are lovely. And I see that she has a giant bird castle as befitting her bird princessness.