Off Season Molting

[Crispy]

Hello feathered friends,

I'm new here, and I was hoping to reach out to get some advice.

My family purchased a canary in October of 2019. We live in San Diego. The cage is in our family room with a towel on top in front of the sliding door that leads to the backyard. About two weeks later, he was singing and happy and flying around in his cage. We took him out of his cage in January to clip his nails, and needless to say, he hated that. We realized canaries do NOT like to be held. =P But, a day later he was back to his happy self.

In late January of 2020, he stopped singing and we noticed that about 10 to 15 small feathers were on the ground. We attributed this to off season molting. Well, it's almost the end of March, and every day since then, there's feathers on the ground and he hasn't sung since. He doesn't "look" unhealthy, or balding in any ways, but these two behaviors have us concerned.

Any advice?

 

[Shezbug]

 

[Crispy]

Anyone? =)

 

[Pyropus]

Call the vet, many animals who would naturally be prey tends to hide symptoms of sickness as well as they can. If unsure my go to is always call the vet and describe it to them, then they can help you assess if you need to come in or should keep observing yourself.

 

[Shezbug]

@finchly

 

[Crispy]

A good idea, but before I do that, wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing?

 

[finchly]

Molting is uncomfortable, they don’t generally sing during it. It does tend to last a couple months; their body has to replace every single feather.

baths can help and are usually eagerly accepted. Make sure he’s getting all the vitamins and minerals he needs, and d3 from sunlight or a supplement.

I like to give mine something called Feather Fast to help with molt. You sprinkle it on their fresh food.

 

[Crispy]

Thank you for the advice!