The first moult!

Lauraj

Regular Member
Good afternoon everybody, hope you are all well. Just looking for a bit of advice on a moulting bird!

Exciting times for us currently as Bo has started to enter his first moult! One step closer to that pretty wing growing back and him flying! Not so excited for our poor irritated boy 😂

I assume he is starting a moult, his first outer wing feather is very lose, doesn't move the same as the other wing feathers and you can see the white top part which goes into their wing (excuse me not knowing what part this is) the feather is a lot lower than the rest of the feathers so expecting this to drop out shortly. The feather is on his clipped wing.
One thing is Bo is paying a lot of attention to this one feather and it's getting him angry haha, he is grooming it a lot and grabs it near the top and gives it a little pull but it doesn't come out yet.

Is it normal for them to pay a lot of attention to the feather falling out? Don't want him to get into a habit of pulling his feathers out. Never noticed Fifi paying attention to hers, her feathers just seem to end up on the floor of her cage haha!

He is also a moody laddo at the moment, takes it out on his toys but he isn't aggressive with us, he is pulling hair more but think he is trying to groom us badly. Only wants attention on his terms but still loves his night time cuddles and tickles and works his way round the room for us all to kiss and cuddle him.

I have started to bath him more, he had one this morning.
Just wondering the best tips to get us through this first moult, absolutely in love with this little chap! 😁

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birds just love keeping there feathers tidy, one being out of place can be irritating, the good thing is he is not forcing the feather away I do hope this will be the start of all his feathers growing back
 
The best thing to do is frequent showers or baths to help him keep his feathers in good condition.

With the moulting you will normally notice a lot of feathers in the cage and outside the cage. Lots of the little fluffy ones as well as the outer feathers. Wings and tails tend to get moulted out in sequence. Depending on how far back he was clipped you should be able to see when these moult out. If it is a very severe clip though you may not be able to see them when they do moult out.

If he is playing with one particular feather it could be that is has come loose from moulting or if could be that he's caught it on something and damaged it. When mine have a mad half hour and they are thrashing themselves off their toys they can damage their feathers which then ends up coming out a few days later and replaced.

For now I'd just keep an eye on it and try and keep an eye on how many feathers you find around the cage as that will give you a good idea of whether he has started a moult. You'll also start to see little rice looking pin feathers appearing over his head and neck and on the tops of his wings. It gets harder to see them elsewhere and they end up covered by other feathers lol.
 
The best thing to do is frequent showers or baths to help him keep his feathers in good condition.

With the moulting you will normally notice a lot of feathers in the cage and outside the cage. Lots of the little fluffy ones as well as the outer feathers. Wings and tails tend to get moulted out in sequence. Depending on how far back he was clipped you should be able to see when these moult out. If it is a very severe clip though you may not be able to see them when they do moult out.

If he is playing with one particular feather it could be that is has come loose from moulting or if could be that he's caught it on something and damaged it. When mine have a mad half hour and they are thrashing themselves off their toys they can damage their feathers which then ends up coming out a few days later and replaced.

For now I'd just keep an eye on it and try and keep an eye on how many feathers you find around the cage as that will give you a good idea of whether he has started a moult. You'll also start to see little rice looking pin feathers appearing over his head and neck and on the tops of his wings. It gets harder to see them elsewhere and they end up covered by other feathers lol.

We have lost a few tail feathers through him acting crazy on his toys haha! This one looks different and looks to be growing out rather than snapped off like the ones when he has had a mad hour on a toy.

Good you said about the little fluffy feathers, we have noticed loads more of these over the last couple of days, none where he is bald or anything just little fluffy white feathers appear all over the room 😂
Yeah he had a clip pretty far up the wing which was not good, the clipped stumps seem to have grown a bit since we first got him so taking this as a good sign also.

Thank you for your reply, will keep bathing him to make it a little easier for the lad.
 
Good afternoon all,

I am assuming Bo is in moult, he had a loose feather on his clipped wing last week but he decided to fly and this dropped out on landing and looked like it had snapped on landing so put this down to a little accident. Since then a second feather on his clipped wing has dropped very low and you can see the white tip part looking to be growing down, he's in no pain and although the feather looks a bit tatty im putting it down to it been a lone feather which gets battered when he plays rough 😂 I have managed to get a photo of Bo today on his perch where you can see this feather dropped.
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I have come downstairs today and noticed two smaller feathers on the bottom of his cage. I have take a photo on a dark table, are these feathers normal? I'm excited this is the start and his feathers will grow back in soon on his wing! Hoping the feathers which have come out are normal feathers, thanks in advance 😊

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you will get all sorts, my lot are moulting and there are feathers everywhere. You get paranoid if it’s your first parrot and it kinda worries you but as long as there is no bleeding or sore skin things are normally ok.
 
you will get all sorts, my lot are moulting and there are feathers everywhere. You get paranoid if it’s your first parrot and it kinda worries you but as long as there is no bleeding or sore skin things are normally ok.

Wonderful, thank you.
I'm constantly checking him for any bleeding, he has started to lift his wing if i say let me have a look it's becoming that regular 😂 we have some of the powder to a to bleeding just incase 😊
 
He's beautiful :). As has already been said, the first moult you see might make you worry a little as it seems you can build a whole new bird out of the feathers on the floor! It's worth remembering that feathers are created to moult symmetrically, so if one day there is a large wing feather, usually within a day or 2 the opposite feather will come out too. Totally normal and means that the birds can fly better if they're "equalled" out.
 
He's beautiful :). As has already been said, the first moult you see might make you worry a little as it seems you can build a whole new bird out of the feathers on the floor! It's worth remembering that feathers are created to moult symmetrically, so if one day there is a large wing feather, usually within a day or 2 the opposite feather will come out too. Totally normal and means that the birds can fly better if they're "equalled" out.

That is good to know, ive spotted a thread about moulting so plan on having a good read tomorrow.
But haha that is true, he's lost that many little ones surprised he's not bald now 😂 Thank you though, he is a beautiful boy and he has brought much happiness! He always appears to be caged but photos out are rare as he takes anything he fancies, phones are his top speciality making it hard to show him other than a beak 😂
 
Evening all! Keeing this on one thread but exciting moment for us tonight.

Bo was out and flapping around like a mad bird then we looked and on the floor as this feather, very sad to see how his poor wings have been clipped (and this is the better clipped one of the batch of feathers) but super happy that these sad little feathers are coming out properly! Happy parrot and parrot slaves in our house tonight, won't be long until Bo is fully flighted and causing mayhem the way he was intended to be! ❤

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if the other feathers had been cut too the same length them I do think there will be no problem with new feathers growing

Unfortunately the other feathers have been cut shorter, when he stretches his wings out and up you can see the white tip parts and this is where they have been clipped to.
However when we brought him home they were very small but now you can see them as he rests, it's pretty obvious to the eye they've grown out a lot and even mum commented and said they've grown haha.
I'm holding onto hope they will grow back in properly and as i won't clip again they may get stronger the more moults he has.
Very happy that we are making progress though!😌
 
if the other feathers had been cut too the same length them I do think there will be no problem with new feathers growing

We have just put him in his cage to rest before bed but when he is back out tomorrow will attempt to get a photo of his wing stretched open.
Like i say they have grown out a considerable amount but im useless at explaining 😂
 
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