Questions on molting.

[optimisticStar]

Mario went through his molt few months back, but didn't lose so much feathers as described and whatever he lost they were small feathers mainly. Presently he has been losing feathers for about a week and a half now... 1st week he lost huge amount of very small white feathers and now he is losing medium size feathers. He looks half of what he was:

Questions:
- Does this sound like a heavy molt? Is it normal for a molt to last long? I am worried, I thought it will last about a week but it has gone over a week.
- He is pearl pied tiel. He lost all of his pearls from one wing and still has it on other wing. Do the pearl feathers grow back after molt? Just curious.

 

[sunnysmom]

It sounds like a heavy molt to me. Sunny will usually have one heavy one and then some little ones throughout the year. He actually just started molting again today. And I wouldn't worry that it's over a week. Srtiels, one of our members, recommends adding some brewers yeast to their food during heavy molts to help with the stress of molting. I actually just gave some to Sunny this morning. And I'm afraid since Mario is a boy, his pretty pearls more than likely won't come back. Females retain their pearls and males lose them, although pearl pied males may sometimes keep them longer than regular pearls.

Pied - Just Cockatiels!

 

[Toffee's owner]

My birds a pied as well and ALWAYS got down type feathers in his cage. In fact, I clean him out in the morning, the same day his cage is srsly back to how it was before (minus the poop)
Hes like a burst feather pillow most times... 'poof shake' and little down feathers fluff out everywhere

 

[Monica]

Birds can lose feathers year round, so that in itself is normal. It is also normal for them to go through an actual molt once or twice a year.

I feel as if some of my birds have been molting for *months* now, although they aren't losing as many feathers as they were, previously.... like it's getting lighter now.

 

[Smbrds]

I remember when Baby would have a heavy molt. Almost looked like a spiked chicken. But then it seems part of that was from those colored pellets I had him on. Now that I got him on the natural ones, his plumage is more smooth and silky and not very many pin feathers. Not molting as much could also attribute to that.

I still think I should give Baby a bath once a week. It'll also allow him to get more sun.

 

[Blue & Spud]

Ahhhh good to know, My little spud lost nearly all of her tail feathers the other day she was obviously finding them annoying and was scratching and when she flew away there was a pile of tail feathers left behind. She has been losing down feathers for weeks though so I wasn't too shocked but it's weird seeing her with only a few short tail feathers.

 

[Robyn]

Mario went through his molt few months back, but didn't lose so much feathers as described and whatever he lost they were small feathers mainly. Presently he has been losing feathers for about a week and a half now... 1st week he lost huge amount of very small white feathers and now he is losing medium size feathers. He looks half of what he was:

Questions:
- Does this sound like a heavy molt? Is it normal for a molt to last long? I am worried, I thought it will last about a week but it has gone over a week.
- He is pearl pied tiel. He lost all of his pearls from one wing and still has it on other wing. Do the pearl feathers grow back after molt? Just curious.

It can sometimes last a while Rileys first molt was a heavy one and lasted 7 months he has recently started yet another molt hopefully it won't be as long or as heavy