What do you do after an off-season molt?

[sheeluhwhet]

Peeps appears to be done or close to being done with his off-season (and first) molt. Which brings me to my questions:

What do you do after an off-season molt?

Should I readjust his daylight hours for summer?

If i do increase his lighting hours, would it be safe if he ends up molting again?

I found this calendar online on lighting hours for canaries, is it accurate? Should I use it?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this post

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[JLcribber]

There's no such thing as an "off season moult". They moult when they do. If your bird is on a healthy diet there is nothing you need to do for feather health. If your birds get any sunlight through a window that calendar doesn't mean much. It's meant for a closed artificial environment (basically a breeding environment).

 

[sheeluhwhet]

There's no such thing as an "off season moult". They moult when they do. If your bird is on a healthy diet there is nothing you need to do for feather health. If your birds get any sunlight through a window that calendar doesn't mean much. It's meant for a closed artificial environment (basically a breeding environment).

Hello! First of a , thank you for replying, i really do appreciate it. I do agree that health is a huge factor in feather growth, However, I politely disagree in terms of birds simply molting when they do--with canaries at least.

Although, it is my first time having a pet canary, I have done by best to find as much information as I can to better care for him.
Based on the websites and forums I could find, molting is very variable depending on the bird, its species, size, etc. So far, the molting information I've found on canaeis state that they tend to molt during late summer and early fall. Therefore, molts out of that period are considered as off-season molt. Also, from what I've found, canaries have an internal clock that is affected by temperature as well as the amount of light they receive; which would explain why they would molt during a specific time in the year. Off-season molts are usualy triggered by certain factors such as poor health, change of temperature, too much light, stress, etc.

Peeps most likely wasnt able to molt normally during the summer due to several reasons: 1) stress from moving in with me, and 2) errors I made as a novice pet owner: I kept my house cold, and I tried to reduce the sunlight in our home since weather in my area tends to become extreme.
Another reason why I know it was an off-season molt is was that it was timed during winter holidays, when more people were visiting in and out of our home. He got very stressed at the time, and I did not know about proper lighting either. A lot of things happened to him last year which mustve delayed his molt until winter.
If I am incorrect, however, I'm more than happy to accept and learn something new.

In terms of diet, Peeps gets he's canary pellets, seeds, eggs, and friend greens. He gets about 2-3 hours of excerise outside his cage, and songs continuously. He is quite healthy in that respect.

 

[JLcribber]

So far, the molting information I've found on canaeis state that they tend to molt during late summer and early fall. Therefore, molts out of that period are considered as off-season molt. Also, from what I've found, canaries have an internal clock that is affected by temperature as well as the amount of light they receive; which would explain why they would molt during a specific time in the year. Off-season molts are usualy triggered by certain factors such as poor health, change of temperature, too much light, stress, etc.

That may be true in the wild but your bird lives in an artificial environment with artificial lighting and artificial heat/cooling. Lots of things to throw that theory out the window.

Your bird is very young, losing baby feathers and growing adult plumage so that is not unusual at all. That is not "off-season". Feather moulting coincides with breeding season. They don't moult while during a hormone cycle because all their energy goes into that. It usually starts right after the nesting season.

 

[Davi]

Peeps appears to be done or close to being done with his off-season (and first) molt. Which brings me to my questions:

What do you do after an off-season molt?

Should I readjust his daylight hours for summer?

If i do increase his lighting hours, would it be safe if he ends up molting again?

I found this calendar online on lighting hours for canaries, is it accurate? Should I use it?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this post

Great questions! My first thought was a very silly one, so apologies in advance for sharing it: "Grab a broom and get ready to make a pillow"

 

[sheeluhwhet]

That may be true in the wild but your bird lives in an artificial environment with artificial lighting and artificial heat/cooling. Lots of things to throw that theory out the window.

Your bird is very young, losing baby feathers and growing adult plumage so that is not unusual at all. That is not "off-season". Feather moulting coincides with breeding season. They don't moult while during a hormone cycle because all their energy goes into that. It usually starts right after the nesting season.

Ah right, I overlooked the fact that he is young. His feathers do look far more prettier now, just in time for breeding season.

This is still new experience to see since I've never seen him--or any bird at that matter--go through a molt until now. It will be a year since he became part of the family in about two months. I'll keep a close watch on how he goes through the breeding cycle. Would it make any difference that he is currently not with any bird??

 

[sheeluhwhet]

Great questions! My first thought was a very silly one, so apologies in advance for sharing it: "Grab a broom and get ready to make a pillow"

Ha!! Thanks for sharing lol He's so tiny though! I have been keeping the feather I manage to save in an altoids box lol

He liked to chew on the ones he found, but often times they just fell off of him whenever he took off, so I saved those ones lol

 

[Serin]

Hi. Yes, there is definitely such a thing as off-season molting for canaries.

These birds are not like parrots which can molt at any time. They are meant to molt one time a year in summer or early autumn. If they do it at any other time it is problematic. Canaries should never be exposed to artificial light after sunset and their daylight cycle should always match outside conditions.

An off-season molt is not necessarily harmful but is still best avoided. At this point you will want to get him on twelve hours of light, assuming you are in the northern hemisphere - or basically, just follow the sun, cover him or put him in a dark room at sunset and let him wake at sunrise. He will probably molt again in the end of summer and that's ok - it's the time he should do so. Don't change the lighting to exceptionally short days or long days, that will only mess up his body clock more.

 

[sheeluhwhet]

Hi. Yes, there is definitely such a thing as off-season molting for canaries.

These birds are not like parrots which can molt at any time. They are meant to molt one time a year in summer or early autumn. If they do it at any other time it is problematic. Canaries should never be exposed to artificial light after sunset and their daylight cycle should always match outside conditions.

An off-season molt is not necessarily harmful but is still best avoided. At this point you will want to get him on twelve hours of light, assuming you are in the northern hemisphere - or basically, just follow the sun, cover him or put him in a dark room at sunset and let him wake at sunrise. He will probably molt again in the end of summer and that's ok - it's the time he should do so. Don't change the lighting to exceptionally short days or long days, that will only mess up his body clock more.

Hello, thanks so much for replying! I was pretty confused there!!!

Yes, we're in California and the daylight hours are getting longer again on normal days. He's been getting about 10 hours of daylight up until now, but I've been gradually increasing it.

The weather is fickle at the moment and we've been getting some rainy and overcast days, so I've been doing the daylight adjusting manually. So far I've added about 15 minutes of daylight before I cover him for the night. I'll be changing it to 30 minutes later this week, then an hour, so on and so forth.