long molt????

[je0409]

so i'm not sure if this is where to post this, but I have some concerns about my gcc. i've had her for about five months, and as far as I know she's been molting for about four of those months. maybe i'm wrong about something and I don't actually fully know what molting is as she's my first bird, but she's been consistently losing a bunch of feathers and growing new ones. I just feel like this is a long time for a molt because everywhere on the internet says it should last around two months. also it seems like just one flight feather on each side has grown out. when i look under her wing i can still see clipped feathers. is any of this normal?? should i be worried? any advice??
(for reference- i'm unsure of her actual gender i just use female pronounds to refer to her. she's about to be a year old in a few days. she's on a diet of greens, vegetables, wild rice in the morning usually sprinkled with egg food and she gets zupreem natural pellets in the evening. she takes her own baths every few days, but if i see that she's dusty or i feel like it's been awhile i have some molt spray that i'll mist her with)

 

[ParrotNuts]

Juvenile birds ussually have long and extremely difficult molts as it is their first molt and they're changing to their adult colours. . Not much to worry about . Also, did you have some dietary changes in the recent past? They can trigger molts (sometimes long too).

also it seems like just one flight feather on each side has grown out. when i look under her wing i can still see clipped feathers. is any of this normal?? should i be worried? any advice??
(

That is how birds molt naturally, so as to retain flight even while molting

 

[Shezbug]

Molt spray? What is this stuff you mention?

If your baby has only replaced two flight feathers then you have some serious molting yet to come... they do tend to drop non stop smaller belly feathers a lot especially if they're fed a good diet.
Your description of molting sounds pretty normal to me too. Just wait till you think your bird might have exploded overnight cos I promise that is coming along to amaze you sometime soon

 

[ParrotNuts]

Molt spray? What is this stuff you mention?

Searched the web for it, says something called Ecotrition...

 

[je0409]

Juvenile birds ussually have long and extremely difficult molts as it is their first molt and they're changing to their adult colours. . Not much to worry about . Also, did you have some dietary changes in the recent past? They can trigger molts (sometimes long too).

That is how birds molt naturally, so as to retain flight even while molting

Thank you so much!! You've definitely put my worries to ease. I do a lot of research, but a lot of the times it's hard to find answers to such specific questions such as this. Also, as I've had her I've been learning more and more about her dietary needs so her diet has changed quite frequently. She's been on a stable diet of the same pellets and varied chop ingredients for a month or two now though, so I think she has adjusted. Thanks again!! (plus unfortuantely I did not get her from a breeder but from a local PetCo where she was not being treated very well. I don't like giving places like that my money, but I live in a very small town with little to no pet stores and I couldn't just leave her there!!!)

 

[je0409]

Molt spray? What is this stuff you mention?

If your baby has only replaced two flight feathers then you have some serious molting yet to come... they do tend to drop non stop smaller belly feathers a lot especially if they're fed a good diet.
Your description of molting sounds pretty normal to me too. Just wait till you think your bird might have exploded overnight cos I promise that is coming along to amaze you sometime soon

Oml.... that does sound very amazing lol. Thank you for the advice. As a new bird owner I have a lot of questions and it's not always the easiest to find answers by just googling everything XD Also the molt spray is just water mixed with aloe vera and some other humectants to help relieve itching during her molt. I picked it up because I heard that aloe vera is good to help birds going through a difficult molt.

 

[Shezbug]

Also the molt spray is just water mixed with aloe vera and some other humectants to help relieve itching during her molt. I picked it up because I heard that aloe vera is good to help birds going through a difficult molt.

I’d personally just stick with water.
If the spray you have is the one I found on google then it has lanolin in it too.
If you provide enough bathing opportunities then your bird has all it needs

 

[je0409]

I’d personally just stick with water.
If the spray you have is the one I found on google then it has lanolin in it too.
If you provide enough bathing opportunities then your bird has all it needs

OH NO! is lanolin bad for parrots?? i havent heard anything about it and I tried looking it up just now and can't find any information. now I feel terrible I definitely don't wanna do anything to hurt my bird. that's really unfortunate because it really helped with her itching but if it's bad i will definitely stop using!!

 

[Shezbug]

@je0409
I have no evidence or information about the particular product you have being no good or dangerous, it’s just simply my preference to not put unnecessary products (natural or not) on any of my animals.
You do need to be careful adding oil to birds skin and feathers though.
I would never want lanolin (or any other oil) sprayed on my bird to help something that most birds have no real issues with and certainly no issue so severe that it’s in need of remedying... my way of thinking is that if they’re a little itchy for a few days it means they scratch or rub and knock the feather shafts that need to be opened so they’ll feel better soon enough.
My personal preference is to keep a lot of those fancy things away from my pets as they’re not necessary 99% of the time. Nature has provided exactly what animals need in the wild for a very long time and I just really have a hard time believing that humans can ever better it- in my experience, putting fancy sprays and soaps on my (much hardier) ferrets, cats and dogs has only ever caused an imbalance in their natural oils. When I was a kid I was made to wash my dog with fancy herbal scented and medicated soaps and she always smelled like a gross decaying foot and her fur was always yuck- when I got old enough to leave home I stopped her weekly baths with those fancy soaps and scents and she never ever smelled bad again unless she rolled in dead animal. After speaking to a fair few vets who ate not in the habit of recommending those fancy pet store products I honestly believe most of those things are for the human not the animal.

Each to ones own I guess and I’m really sorry if the way I worded my previous post made you worry- that honestly wasn’t my intention.