Is this a bad moult, has anyone seen this in their ecky.

[starreys]

hi all , my male ecky Archie is 7 years old noticed this morning when i was misting him that he has a considerable sized bald patch on the back of his neck , it doesn't end there he seems to have a narrow band of baldness around his neck, i am just wondering if anyone has seen anything like this. He started plucking his down out about 18months ago when my female YC amazon arrived, he only plucks his down out and not all of it but mainly on his back and wings, he is out of his cage every day and loves to do laps around the house, he is acting pretty normal eats well but does try to mate his humans at every opportunity. I took these photos this morning.

 

[adinafloyd]

My ekkie is not this old but these pics do not look like a normal molt. The one of the back of the neck is concerning. Is he around any other parrots??? They could possibly be plucking him?? This just does not look normal to me. I would suggest bringing him to an AV. Its also possible he has a skin irritation and is scratching that spot. Have you noticed him pulling, chewing or scratching??

 

[starreys]

no avian vet is open till the 3rd of January so i have a bit of a wait but i do have 3 other parrots 2 hahns and a amazon , he has his own cage , i noticed today after i was misting him he was scratching his head with his foot, i did talk to an ecky breeder and they mentioned perhaps it was a mojo moult but from the pics i have seen it doesnt explain the big round patch at the back of his head. Ive not seen him scratch since , and all my birds are in our living area the others are fine. He is chatting away and eating just fine he gets sprayed several times a week sometimes more especially in summer and its summer here now. I have seen him pluck and over preen he has been doing that since my female amazon arrived 18months ago but he leaves his green feathers alone this patch on the back of his neck is very new and when he is dry you can barely notice it. this pic was taken 5 weeks ago.
he doesnt look happy in this pic i think after 20 pics he had enough off the close up shots this was taken this morning he was still a bit damp.

 

[Mizzely]

Is it maybe a Mojo Moult?

http://www.landofvos.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5242

http://eclectusparrots.net/moults.html

http://forums.avianavenue.com/welcome-lane/82672-eclectus-rio-moulting.html

 

[starreys]

well that is what one breeder thinks but without a avian check up i wont know for sure, i just thought id post up some pics to see if anyone has seen anything similar. He has a good diet of sprouts, fruit and vegies all fresh and he has good quality pellets but only a very small amount.

 

[Marc]

I deem he has a skin irritation,since his beak cannot reach the spot where he is currently bald. You have to take him to the vet because the root cause of this irritation can have a huge range of reasons. It can be caused by the mites,mold or simply by the stress. It is sure that it is not provoked by himself,since his beak would not be able to reach that spot.

 

[starreys]

thanks Marc i plan to take him to a vet alas my bird vet and there are only about 3 here in Melbourne is still on holiday but as soon as they are open i will be taking him i think he could very well have a skin irritation i have noticed he seems quite dry overall as i can see a few skin flakes on his feathers,not sure why that is as he gets misted/sprayed regulary but i will get him tested.

 

[sodakat]

Looks like a heavy molt to me. Mojo was a bird's name and is not really a technical name for a heavy molt, but somehow has been associated with eclectus molts.

It can take 6 month for those heavy molts with some birds. Just feed him well and bathe him regularly.

Edit: Here are a couple pictures of my boys molting. The first one is LaFitte in 2009. He looked much worse before the molt ended

This next picture is of Sully when he came to me in 2011

 

[jmfleish]

Yep, I totally agree with Kathy, it just looks like a heavy molt that Ekkies can sometimes go through and it does take a long time for the bare patches to fill in. Nothing to worry about though. Many of us have had Ekkies who hit this from time to time. Kathy probably knows more about it than I do but from what I understand, some people believe the heavier molts may have something to do with the diet at the time of the molt. Correct me if I'm wrong Kathy.

 

[sodakat]

I'm not sure if it's diet or stress (the true meaning of the word stress) which diet can affect of course. Some eclectus seem more prone to these heavy molts regardless of what's going on in their lives. LaFitte was feeding chicks in back to back clutches in 2009 so I am sure that affected his stress level. Sully's owners divorced and his life changed... maybe his diet did too. I feed a bit of tofu when my birds are molting, mixed into their fresh food dish.

 

[starreys]

thanks Kathy and Jen, my other birds are moulting too but his seemed so extreme but thanks for the pics Kathy he has never gone through it before and i was thinking perhaps with his hormone levels going so crazy the last 12 months and his need to mate that he may very well be feeling quite stressed too. Sometimes he goes to the floor of his cage and taps the floor with his beak for a long time i know if he could have his way he would prefer to be out all the time but he doesnt like my other birds and will harass them , he has also in the past bitten one of my hahns on the beak ,so he comes out always under supervision .

 

[Maxsmom]

Not knowledgeable on this but would like to wish your parrot well with a swift return of feathers

 

[sodakat]

thanks Kathy and Jen, my other birds are moulting too but his seemed so extreme but thanks for the pics Kathy he has never gone through it before and i was thinking perhaps with his hormone levels going so crazy the last 12 months and his need to mate that he may very well be feeling quite stressed too. Sometimes he goes to the floor of his cage and taps the floor with his beak for a long time i know if he could have his way he would prefer to be out all the time but he doesnt like my other birds and will harass them , he has also in the past bitten one of my hahns on the beak ,so he comes out always under supervision .

Maybe he can have his out of cage time in another room? He sounds wonderful to me... I like the assertive males.

 

[Momto3boys]

I have nothing to add to this but I rememeber when I first heard about the "Mojo Molts" and thought "WHOA, that would freak me out".

I can understand why you were concerned, I hope he gets through this molt without too much trouble and is beautifully feathered again in no time

 

[starreys]

thankyou he is the best flyer he does laps all around the house i cant have his cage anywhere else in the house but when he is out and its just me home he will go where ever i am so he is never restricted. I just dont leave him unattended he is beautiful and very precious to us he loves people ,i have thought of getting him a female as he does have this incredible urge to mate but i dont want to end up in a situation where down the track they cant stand each other and i have to have another cage in the house as the current house is not that big. At any rate he is going to the bird vet once they re open on the 4th of Jan.

 

[stephwin]

Looks like a heavy molt to me. Mojo was a bird's name and is not really a technical name for a heavy molt, but somehow has been associated with eclectus molts.

It can take 6 month for those heavy molts with some birds. Just feed him well and bathe him regularly.

Edit: Here are a couple pictures of my boys molting. The first one is LaFitte in 2009. He looked much worse before the molt ended

Did LaFitte scratch the back of his head a lot during this molt or did the feathers just fall out? The reason I ask is that Slimer is developing a very similar “bald spot” in the same place as LaFitte in this picture. His spot is probably half the size of LaFitte’s currently, but it’s definitely grown over the past few months. He is also developing the same type of spot right around one of his ears, but it’s very small.
We were at the vet a few weeks ago and she said there was no irritation or anything that would indicate why he would be scratching so much. She thought it might just be something that has developed into a habit over time. He scratches the back of his head constantly, but he doesn’t really scratch anywhere else. The rest of his feathers are in pretty good shape.

 

[sodakat]

Did LaFitte scratch the back of his head a lot during this molt or did the feathers just fall out? The reason I ask is that Slimer is developing a very similar “bald spot” in the same place as LaFitte in this picture. His spot is probably half the size of LaFitte’s currently, but it’s definitely grown over the past few months. He is also developing the same type of spot right around one of his ears, but it’s very small.
We were at the vet a few weeks ago and she said there was no irritation or anything that would indicate why he would be scratching so much. She thought it might just be something that has developed into a habit over time. He scratches the back of his head constantly, but he doesn’t really scratch anywhere else. The rest of his feathers are in pretty good shape.

Yes, he scratched the back of his neck throughout the hard molt. I think that prolonged it. It eventually ends. Try not to obsess or worry.

 

[starreys]

well i took archie to the yet this morning they are running 3 tests on him one has come back negative already that is the chlamydia test the other two PBFD and polyoma take 2 weeks before i hear but the vet is leaning towards a sinus infection although Archie has not sneezed once and looks pretty healthy and lively. They also checked his faeces and that was fine too.

 

[starreys]

i forgot to mention they gave him a broad spectrum antibiotic infection via a needle he wasnt impressed luckily we went out of the room so he didnt see us as the bad guys,and suggested i keep him in the bathroom when we shower as the steam would do him good.

 

[starreys]

i just realised i spelt one test he had done incorrectly it should read polyomavirus.