Molting - Quick Questions

[DebT]

I've had a female CAG (Fawkes) for 2+ years now (she's 2-1/2) and a male TAG (Cinders) for 1 year (he's 4). So far I have not seen either of them really molt. I've not had greys before, had previously owned parakeets and cockatiels. When they molt, there's no mistaking it. Tons of feathers everywhere, and later they're total pinheads.

 

My questions are: When do Greys molt? Do they start at a certain age? Or do they just lose a couple of feathers here and there at different times of the year?

 

Since Fawkes "barbers" her short feathers, its been easy to keep track of them. She still shows lots of feathers that she trimmed at least a year ago!

[ziggy]

Molts are year round. The down feathers will be around often. In macaws and toos they molt around late january to the middle of march. Every third year they go through a major molt. In greys I think they are the same but not totally sure Dave007 would have a good answer for you about this.

[Dave007]

Most greys have their first *major* molt at approx 12 to 14 mts. Afterward, they molt every 9 to 14 mts. Many molt the way you describe but there are also many others that drop feathers all year long in small amounts. Basically, the cage tray always has small amounts of fluffy feathers every time you clean the tray. If you have a very well feathered bird, you won't actually see the surface breast feathers in the tray, just white fluff. You'll see wing and tail feathers in the tray periodically but there's no set time that they fall out. A feather or two here and there once in a while throughout the year. As far as the bird that's *barbering* himself, you won't see a heavy molt simply because he's doing it himself. I saw the picture. All feathers die. How long they take to die depends upon humidity, dryness of the air, how close they are to well lighted windows etc. Tiels, budgies, australian parakeets,quakers and all other long tail parrots molt differently and more often. When your birds' feathers die, they will fall out. A fresh new feather is behind the dead feather pushing it out.

[DebT]

Okay, thanks. Fawkes is not actually pulling out feathers, just trimming off the ends, so her body doesn't know they're damaged and they live on. It's very rare that I see an entire feather, quill to tip, on the floor.

[KatB]

I've recently started seeing good size feathers - 2 to 4 inches, a couple of times a week on the cage bottom or on the floor near the cage. These featers have intact quills that look like the tip of a new shoestring. Also, he's having mood swings, being very sweet and loving one minute, then pretending to want a head scratch and attacking my hand when I reach for his head. As best I can figure, Oliver was born in March of 2006. Does this sound like a major molt?

[lovemyGreys]

Some can lose feathers at any time Kat,it may or may not be a molt,my two boys apperared to loose a lot of feathers & white fluff at around 10 months.Their 1 year old now & still have their red/blackish tail feathers compared to coco & Soldiers bright red ones.