Molt? and tearing up rope perch

[Sweet Louise]

I have 2 questions:
There are 18 feathers on the bottom of Louise's cage. Mostly small and the whiter ones from her chest/body. I'm sure she has molted before-feathers and foofies are a normal find. However, I have never had so many in one day. She is about 8y/o. Is this normal? Feathers don't look chewed, they have full stems and no blood. They vary a bit in size and she doesn't have any bare spots.

Second question. I have a guest cage for when her brother visits. I've left it open for the past 2 days, and she goes back and forth. In the guest cage, there is a rope perch. She has been tenaciously chewing it on both ends, and another toy in there - she's after the cotton rope there too. Lots of damage to the rope.
Is this safe? I am also thinking that I need to close up the guest cage so she doesn't view it as her territory--she bullies her brother when he is here (they are never out together--but are teaching each other words and sounds).

Thanks for any advice/thoughts/experiences.

 

[Mizzely]

Sounds like molting to me!

Rope fibers can accumulate in the crop and lead to crop impactions, so if she's chewing it, I would remove it

 

[cnyguy]

Louise is probably having a major molt. My late CAG Scooter used to shed so many down feathers at times it looked like a snowstorm had hit. She would always chew up the larger feathers she molted so any that she might have plucked out were indistinguishable from the ones naturally molted.
Scooter used to chew up her rope perches too. It never really caused any problems besides demolished perches. I tried to discourage her because there is a chance that some threads could be ingested and that would be a problem. I never quite understood when she had so many things more suitable for chewing up, she always preferred the rope perches. If Louise is really obsessed with destroying the rope perches it might be a good idea to switch them out with wooden ones.

 

[Tiki Tiel]

A way to tell if a bird is molting, is to look to see if there’s a good amount of pin feathers. My birds don’t get them unless they are molting.

As for the rope, my birds had the same problem, and I just used vets tape to wrap it. It worked really well for me, so if you’re willing to try it.

 

[Sweet Louise]

ok, will remove the rope perch and the cotton strung toy (restring it with leather)--thank you. She removes all vet wrap, she is a lovely bird but can be a stinker.
And thank you for the reassurance on the molt. I'll look for pin feathers. Louise will ride around on you shoulder all day and will step up, other than that she is a no touch bird. That is one of the very few things that end in a bite.