Worrying about Green Cheek Conure's 1st Moulting

DeclanOH

New member
Apr 2, 2014
16
0
Ireland
Parrots
Green Cheek Conure
Hi everyone,

Rio is my first bird and I am kinda of worrying about moulting. He is three months and I heard that that they start moulting at 5 to 6 months stage of there lives. I want to know what happens when moulting occurs if anyone here knows any facts about moulting. I heard people saying you can loose the bird to while going though moulting stage. At present I have Rio on egg food and starting to change him to Harrison's pellets I am just getting worried now.

Thanks,

Declan :confused:
 

jenphilly

Active member
Oct 15, 2013
1,950
23
Lehigh Valley, PA
Parrots
BE2 (Ivory), B&G Macaw (Max), Budgie Group,
Granbirds- tiels; GCC (Monkey & Monster); Sun Conure (Loki); Bare Eyed Too (Folger); Evil Green Monster YNA (Kelly); B&G (Titan)
I might be totally in the dark, but losing a bird to a molt? Meaning a bird dying from molting?

We mist or spray our birds daily when they are molting, if they like baths, they get a bath or shower about every other day, just helps with the itchiness and keeping skin healthy. But I am not aware of anyone having a bird die on them...

They can get pretty grumpy, but with all the pin feathers can understand them being miserable and irritable...

Feed as usual and lots of fluid, be it drinking and misting.
 

getwozzy

New member
Feb 26, 2013
7,218
7
Oregon
I have never heard of a bird dying from molting :confused: just make sure they're eating a proper diet so they're getting the nutrients their body needs during and after a molt, and like jen said baths will help with the itchiness.
 

EnglishMuffin

New member
Mar 1, 2014
328
0
Vancouver, Canada
Parrots
Sootie- Yellow-sided GCC
I don't think birds can die from a molt...could be wrong but I've never heard of that in all the research I've done!

Your Rio is just a little younger than Sootie. Soots is 4.5 months old and starting her molt- lots of pin feathers right now! You definitely need to figure out how to 'crack' and flake off Rio's pin feathers- if you haven't already. It will ease the discomfort of growing new feathers, plus it feels lovely having a cuddle and it's a great bonding activity! He'll thank you for it ;)
 

MonicaMc

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
7,960
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2
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Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
Cockatiel - Casey 2001;
Wild Caught ARN - Sylphie 2013
When your bird starts going through a molt, you'll notice little feathers here and there within the cage and around the bird. Sometimes the bird may be preening and will "randomly" pull out a feather.

You can tell a loose feather that the bird has remove vs a plucked feather by watching your bird and listening to him. When a bird plucks a feather they will visibly "jump" and squeak at the same time. It's painful to remove an intact feather! But a feather that is in the process of molting will come out quite easily and will not bother the bird in the slightest.

You'll notice new feather growth, known as pin feathers. They might look like grains on rice stuck within the birds feathers! (click here!)

When he molts out his wing and tail feathers, blood feathers will take the place of the molted feathers. They are called blood feathers due to the blood supply in the quill which helps to provide nutrition to the growing feathers. If these break, it could result in a bloody mess! If a blood feather does break, then you'll want to quickly stop the bleeding, or, if you are feeling confident, and it wont stop bleeding, to grab the feather near the skin and quickly yank it out. Done correctly, it will stop the bleeding. It should not leave an open wound as the birds skin should naturally close up, cutting off the blood supply to the area, so that they don't bleed out. (click here for cockatiel blood feather and mature feather!)

Once a blood feather is done growing, the blood will recede back into the body and the quill will shrink in size and harden. (blood feathers are soft, mature feathers are hard)



Now I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that people say that a bird could die while molting *because* of potential blood feather problems. If a blood feather breaks, and the blood doesn't coagulate, then the bird could bleed out. A blood feather is just a hollow tube filled with blood and the supply comes right from the body! The other potential for death is if a bird were to get an infection through the broken blood feather, and the infection goes septic.

Both cases are extremely rare to occur and result in death. Birds with liver problems or lacking in vitamin K may be more likely to bleed out than others, but again it rarely happens. I have yet to hear of a bird die from a broken blood feather.



If Rio has a half clip or not clipped, his chances of breaking blood feathers are lessened, due to the fact that the mature feathers around the blood feathers help to not only support that feather, but to also protect it. Clipped birds are more likely to suffer from broken blood feathers due to the fact that there are no feathers supporting the new growth. Birds who break their tail feathers may also have this issue when new feathers grow in.



Some new owners often mistake molting for plucking when they see new feathers. It is extremely rare for young parrots to pluck, so it's not something you should have to worry about.

Here is a photo of two military macaws. As you can see, the bird on the left barbers (snips) it's breast and stomach feathers off where-as the macaw on right appears to be in good feather.
File:Ara militaris.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

And another photo of two golden conures, The conure on left has been plucking out all the feathers from his/her stomach, leaving a bald patch.
File:Guaruba guarouba -National Aviary -USA-6-2c.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Although you should not need to worry about plucking, it helps to know what to look for in case it ever does happen! Hopefully, it never does! My first conure was a mutilator, but my current two conures (4 yrs old and 20 yrs old) do not have any feather destructive behavior at all!




Hope that helps! :)
 
OP
D

DeclanOH

New member
Apr 2, 2014
16
0
Ireland
Parrots
Green Cheek Conure
  • Thread Starter
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When your bird starts going through a molt, you'll notice little feathers here and there within the cage and around the bird. Sometimes the bird may be preening and will "randomly" pull out a feather.

You can tell a loose feather that the bird has remove vs a plucked feather by watching your bird and listening to him. When a bird plucks a feather they will visibly "jump" and squeak at the same time. It's painful to remove an intact feather! But a feather that is in the process of molting will come out quite easily and will not bother the bird in the slightest.

You'll notice new feather growth, known as pin feathers. They might look like grains on rice stuck within the birds feathers! (click here!)

When he molts out his wing and tail feathers, blood feathers will take the place of the molted feathers. They are called blood feathers due to the blood supply in the quill which helps to provide nutrition to the growing feathers. If these break, it could result in a bloody mess! If a blood feather does break, then you'll want to quickly stop the bleeding, or, if you are feeling confident, and it wont stop bleeding, to grab the feather near the skin and quickly yank it out. Done correctly, it will stop the bleeding. It should not leave an open wound as the birds skin should naturally close up, cutting off the blood supply to the area, so that they don't bleed out. (click here for cockatiel blood feather and mature feather!)

Once a blood feather is done growing, the blood will recede back into the body and the quill will shrink in size and harden. (blood feathers are soft, mature feathers are hard)



Now I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that people say that a bird could die while molting *because* of potential blood feather problems. If a blood feather breaks, and the blood doesn't coagulate, then the bird could bleed out. A blood feather is just a hollow tube filled with blood and the supply comes right from the body! The other potential for death is if a bird were to get an infection through the broken blood feather, and the infection goes septic.

Both cases are extremely rare to occur and result in death. Birds with liver problems or lacking in vitamin K may be more likely to bleed out than others, but again it rarely happens. I have yet to hear of a bird die from a broken blood feather.



If Rio has a half clip or not clipped, his chances of breaking blood feathers are lessened, due to the fact that the mature feathers around the blood feathers help to not only support that feather, but to also protect it. Clipped birds are more likely to suffer from broken blood feathers due to the fact that there are no feathers supporting the new growth. Birds who break their tail feathers may also have this issue when new feathers grow in.



Some new owners often mistake molting for plucking when they see new feathers. It is extremely rare for young parrots to pluck, so it's not something you should have to worry about.

Here is a photo of two military macaws. As you can see, the bird on the left barbers (snips) it's breast and stomach feathers off where-as the macaw on right appears to be in good feather.
File:Ara militaris.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

And another photo of two golden conures, The conure on left has been plucking out all the feathers from his/her stomach, leaving a bald patch.
File:Guaruba guarouba -National Aviary -USA-6-2c.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Although you should not need to worry about plucking, it helps to know what to look for in case it ever does happen! Hopefully, it never does! My first conure was a mutilator, but my current two conures (4 yrs old and 20 yrs old) do not have any feather destructive behavior at all!




Hope that helps! :)

Yes he has a few on his head and a few around his body. Does this mean that he is starting.
 

MonicaMc

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
7,960
Media
2
43
Parrots
Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
Cockatiel - Casey 2001;
Wild Caught ARN - Sylphie 2013
Birds often lose feathers throughout the entire year, so a few new feathers may or may not mean the beginning of a molt. A true molt can be like a feather pillow exploded! Feathers all over the place!
 

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