Please tell me this is molting :(

[ingrehd]

Recently I've been finding a lot of white feathers and green feathers (the entire feather--no blood) at the bottom of Morgan's cage.
The other day when he flew to his cage one of his tail feathers fell out as well.
I'm really worried that he might have started to pluck (I've been working a lot of hours lately and no one in my household has the balls to take him out of his cage) , but I'm hoping that he's just going through a molt

The lack of feathers/a lot of white feathers under his wings has been like that since I got him

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

Are there pins coming in?

 

[ingrehd]

More white feathers?
There is a lot of those under his wings and I can see some if I move around the green feathers on his chest.

 

[Kalidasa]

Is blood on the quill an indicator that the feather was plucked? How can you tell if its been plucked or if it just shed out?

 

[SandyBee]

Sounds like molting, everything you said is consistent with that. If there is no bald patches then it is molt. The white feathers under the wings a lot of birds are like that including Bosley, not sure why.

 

[ingrehd]

When I called the Vet the only information they could provide me with was that the major red flags were blood on the quills, bald spots, and feathers that looked all chewed up. She told me not to worry about the last one because most of Morgan's chest feathers are all tattered up because of his excessive preening and crappy 15 year long diet

 

[SandyBee]

She is exactly right. Spring and Fall are typical molting times too. Also you said that a tail feather came out when he flew, that is a typical molting thing as well. Soon you should be seeing New pin feathers.

 

[BillsBirds]

The feathers under a birds' wings are sparser, and lighter, because that is how they cool themselves. Birds don't sweat. And his wings are heavy and insulating. That's why our birds hold their wings out when they are hot. It ventilates the body, and with sparser feathering, the body can be cooled quicker. That area is protected by closed wings, so less feathers work for cooling the body down.

 

[SandyBee]

Thanks Bill, I was wondering about that.

 

[Kalidasa]

Thank you guys so much! Because I was wondering about that. I was checking very feather, but not really sure what to look for, how to tell if it was plucked or not.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Morgan is most likely going through a molt. No worries!!

 

[MonicaMc]

I would suggest giving him a good soaking bath! Then, after he dries and preens, then re-examine him!