Please help!!! Molting or plucking?

[Skye]

Hi everyone! Lola has lost many feathers today while grooming herself. Is this normal? When birds molt do the feather fall off while they are preening themselves or is this plucking? I am trying to not make a big deal out of it when it happens in case it is plucking. She is about ten months right now. Is this when they start to molt? Please help!

 

[Abomination]

It may be hard to say, where was it losing feathers. And when was the last time it has molted may help indicate when the next may occur.

As a side note, I'm hoping you have foraging toys, something to keep him distracted haha. Either way, most of the questions should pinpoint a bit better!

 

[BoomBoom]

7-10 months was when my sun started his first heavy molt. It's normal for feathers to come off when they are molting. A lot, but not so much that it leaves patches on the bird where all you could see are the fine, down feathers. Common spots for pluckers are the chest, legs and tail. Look at the tips of the feathers. Do they look chewed off?

 

[riddick07]

She is around the right age to molt. Does she have pins coming in? If so then it could be irritating to her and causing her to pluck a bit. Baths help with that and you can also help her with the pins. Even without pins she can be molting since some lose a bunch of feathers and then replace them. They can lose a lot of feathers while preening in a molt especially a heavy molt.

I'd be surprised if it was plucking but is there any reason you would think she was plucking besides the bunch of feathers? Does she seem unhappy or bored? Has anything changed in her environment? Do you spend less time with her recently? Is her diet fine? Have you noticed her over preening recently?

Can you upload pics of her so we can see how she looks right now?


I will also mention if you notice a patch of down not to be overly worried. If she is just losing a bunch of feathers right now and not replacing with pins it is not uncommon to see a patch of down feathers since there is nothing coming in to replace them just yet. My conure Monkey likes to molt this way. She always looks like a scraggly mess in a molt.

 

[Skye]

She doesnt have patches or any chewed feathers. Since I've had her she has had mangled tail feathers from not being careful with them so other than that all her feathers look healthy. She has plenty of toys and gets more than enough attention (my mom thinks she gets TOO much attention haha). I noticed her losing a few down feathers here and there the past week but it did not bother me too much because I was told by the vet that it was normal. However, today she lost 4 colored feathers in just one hour. When we brought her home she was already six months old so I have never seen her molt before and am not sure what a molt looks like (she is my first bird). I haven't noticed any pin feathers growing in besides a few near her face but this was not where the previous feathers were lost. Her diet is pellet based with added fruits and veggies, although I struggle with getting her to eat most vegetables since she prefers fruits.

 

[MonicaMc]

Generally speaking, when a bird plucks out a feather, they may 'tense up' before they pluck it out, then yank it out and make a 'squeak' like noise. It's painful pulling a feather out!

When a bird is molting, the feathers naturally come out on their own with no pain what-so-ever. If a bird is preening and comes across some lose feathers, they may pull these feathers out so as to keep the rest of their feathers neat and tidy.




Birds can have light, medium and heavy molts. A light molt a bird may only lose a few feathers a week, if that. A heavy molt they could lose 10, 20 or so feathers in a day!



As long as you don't see anything that definitely looks like plucking, and there are no patchy areas (i.e. areas that are whiter than normal, or perhaps bald areas where there weren't any before), you shouldn't need to worry!



However, it wouldn't hurt to give your girl some extra bathes during this time!

 

[Skye]

okay this makes me feel much better! lol. but has anyone ever noticed black spots on some of their birds feathers? I read that this may mean a deficiency. Lola does not have many of these black spots but I am ashamed to say I have not been the best at convincing her to eat her veggies so I worry she isn't getting all her necessary vitamins and minerals. Her favorite foods are banana and mango so i do have to admit I might be indulging her too much on these and this could be why I have a hard time with giving her more variety. Opinions?