Feeling Anxious

[Nychsa]

Greetings Everyone,

 

For you experienced grey friends, I sure hope you can provide some words of wisdom today. Bella's molting is really making me anxious! :blink:

 

Every day she seems to loose one to three feathers, her pretty long ones, and her lovely red ones. I keep eye balling her like a hawk to make sure its not from plucking, but as far as I can tell it isn't.

 

She continues to horse around, play hard, eat like a horse, follow me around and jabbers and jabbers and jabbers. She loves to dangle upside down from my fingers rocking back and forth giving me loud "kisses". And then she'll waddle after something and loose another feather and I freak out :unsure:

 

This is SO nerve wracking not having seen a bird molt before - not knowing 100% that this is indeed a molt! I think I'm driving myself crazy :huh:

[judygram]

Calm down Terri, if its only a molt you have nothing to worry about as she won't lose them all at once. Have you checked the ends of the feathers to see if the ends are frayed or chewed looking? Don't stress out about this or she will know something is amiss, as long as she is acting normal in every way and it seems she is, don't sweat the small stuff, just ignore it:whistle: :laugh: :silly:

[Nychsa]

LOL Judy I need a hug!!!! LOL! The ends of the feathers are not frayed, they look perfectly fine. I have downy feathers everywhere too. Oy, I know she picks up on my body language instantly, so I'm trying not to let her know how nervous she's making me, but this is driving me crazy! I hope she's not uncomfortable. She seems to have an ear itch constantly. Her poor little head is full of those new little pins coming out and I can't help but thinking that must itch something awful!

[judygram]

XhugsX coming your way Terri!!

 

Bella is definitely molting and maybe you can bathe her more often now and use the aloe vera juice too, that seems to help them more than anything else.

 

I'm more concerned about you than Bella, she seems to have everything under control and you are the one about to fall apart, get a grip woman as this is going to happen from time to time!!:laugh: :whistle: :silly:

[Nychsa]

:laugh: thank you for the hugs Judy!!!! Yes, I'm a wreck about this! :unsure: :unsure: Geezum I love that little bird so MUCH! Anything that even remotely looks like it could cause her discomfort drives me crazy! I think I better go to the gym, and get a vigorous work out and then drink a bottle of wine afterwards :S

[Acappella]

Does she let you give her head rubs against the direction of feather growth? Dorian loves it when I do this, and when I feel a new feather coming in I give that spot a bit of extra attention. I don't know if it helps the feather come in, but he turns into a contortionist to give me better access to these spots so it must feel good.

[judygram]

Sounds like a plan Terri, work off some of that stress, wish I could go with ya, I could use a drink too!!!:whistle:

[Nychsa]

Hi there Acapella - yes, Bella loves getting her head and neck scratched in the opposite direction of her feathers. That's where I saw all those new little feathers coming in. They feel like little pieces of plastic and look like tiny needles. When I give Bella a head scratch she rolls her head in all different directions so I get her under her chin, her throat and all over, she puts her beak straight up in the air and does this kind of open mouth kind of thing, closing her eyes - almost as if she's saying "aaahhhhh" :laugh:

[Nychsa]

Yow know Judy, they have a wine maker here in Tallahassee who will do custom wine labels - maybe I need to get him to put a picture of Bella on a bottle and that will be my Bella-is-driving-me-crazy relief bottle

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Terri,you will see an increase in he loss of the little white downy feathers.Tail feathers certainly drop out during the molt,they normally start with the down feathers comimg out, followed by the smaller head feathers and nape feathers. The the wing and tail feathers are usually last.New pins will start to form which you will be able to see,They push the old feathers out.sounds very much as if Bella is molting.Enjoy youre wine Terri

[Sevi]

I'd say she's definitely molting. Whenever Edison molts I always go through a little bit of panic... Especially when I look at the bottom of his cage and somehow there are feathers that I don't remember seeing earlier.:blink:

 

I agree with Judy and Acappella, give her some extra head rubs and a few more baths. They get so itchy when new feathers are growing in and the casing is so powdery.

I also save any flight feathers Edison may lose during a molt since he's fond of using them as a tool for rubbing his head. Perhaps you can try giving one to Bella?

[Nychsa]

Thank you Tracy!! The downy feathers have been coming out for a while, so maybe we're coming to an end of this molt already? She's lost three red feathers over the past two days and two of her large wing feathers. But I can't tell where they were. She doesn't look like she's lost any feathers. I'm wondering if she'll loose the feathers that were clipped by the breeder. If she does, I think I'm going to leave her flighted. The house is quite large, with 9 foot ceilings and I'm putting an outdoor lanai in place. She'll be able to fly around a good deal. What do you think?

 

See Sevi - I'm feeling anxious as well.... it is disconcerting seeing those feathers all over the place!

 

I bathe Bella every other day, and I know she enjoys that. We'll do a good soak again today.

 

She does like to play with those long feathers that came out. She picks at them, but quickly looses interest. She's fixated on two toys I have right now for her that require she figure out how to open them to get the walnuts. So, she'll play with one thing for a few minutes that head back to the two puzzle toys. She got so mad at one of them the other day she rolled over on her back, and beat the stew out of it with her feet while yelling at it at the top of her lungs! Scared the dogs away!

[judygram]

Terri you need to catch some of this action on video and share it with us, Bella sounds like a real hoot to watch, I know I would love to see it and others here too.:silly: B)

[Nychsa]

Judy while unpacking I found one of my little video cams that attach to my computer (still waiting for my son's wonderous video cam surprise .... drumming fingers :whistle: ) I'm going to put the computer in the great room and see if we can't get some of her stuff on tape. She is a one bird comic show! You should hear her talking to the TV now - she goes badabadabadabadabaddddaaabadda and then she'll say beep beep! :laugh:

[danmcq]

Hi Nyscha!!

 

It's great to see you posting again. :-)

 

I believe all or most the Greys on this Forum are and have been going through a molt beginning back in late February/March.

 

The first molt, which many of us are going through with our baby Greys, is the largest. Resulting in losing all the Down Feathers you have floating all over your house and clouds of them coming from the paper tray when you pull it out (mist before pulling out to avoid this). Then next the larger Feathers start coming out from neck, mid back etc. Then a Tail Feather here and there and then a primary flight feather from one wing and then the other matching feather on the other wing, which keeps flight balanced.

 

It certainly is alarming when you start seeing all those feathers all of a sudden. Dr. Dan's recommendation, is to increase the "Sauce" proportionally, as the feather loss increases to offset the effects it has on your central nervous and mental systems.

[judygram]

danmcq wrote:

It certainly is alarming when you start seeing all those feathers all of a sudden. Dr. Dan's recommendation, is to increase the "Sauce" proportionally, as the feather loss increases to offset the effects it has on your central nervous and mental systems.

 

Now we have heard from "Dr. Dan" didn't know you had those qualifications along with all the others you have, my I am impressed, maybe YOU have been on the "sauce" too much lately!!!:whistle: :blink: :laugh:

[Nychsa]

LOL Dan! yes - I'm working my way up to 1/2 bottle! Yesterday she was sitting with me and I was stroking her and one of her lovely tail feathers came off right as I was petting her Call me crazy ,I'm saving them all :laugh: Since she wanders around the house everywhere I little white downy feathers everywhere. I imaine it would be quite the pile if it were in one place. I just gave her a bath because she was trying to take one in her water bowl. Now she's back at her water bowl trying to pull it out of the holder (she's such a little brat!)

[danmcq]

LOL Nychsa, keeping those feathers for the "Feather" fairy? Perhaps Bella will find a few tasty nuts under her pillow in the morning. :-)

 

LoL Judy - No sauce YET B) but, now that you mention it, it is 102 here right, sounds like it's Samuel Adams Red time B)

[Nychsa]

LOL Dan! I have no idea what I'm going to do with those feathers, I just don't have the heart to throw them away. Maybe my grand daughter and I will do an art project with them, maybe make a picture or something

 

102 degrees - yikes!!! Tallahassee has just been absolutely heavenly. The temps have been in the low 80's and low humidity. The beauty of the area is wonderful - large oak trees everywhere with Spanish moss hangning on them. The managerie seems to love it here too. I joined a local bird club. They baby sit each other's birds - I find that SO comforting. A wonderful couple took care of Bella and Jiggy while I went back up to Baltimore for a couple of days. They have 5 birds - their grey is about Bella's age, wonderfully adjusted! I'm loving it!

 

Cheers!

Terri

[judygram]

You mean 102 degrees Dan, is it that hot already, wow then yes it is Samuel Adams Red time but its margarita time for me, slurp.................:blink: :whistle: :silly:

[danmcq]

LOL - Yes Judy 102 degrees...yesterday, today it's going to hit 103 to 104 and then we are supposed to go into a cooling trend by Wednesday and be back to the norm for spring which is 87 to 90. Once summer hits, it will be 105 to 112 through August.

 

Nychsa - A feather project sounds like a great idea. Maybe make a "Dreamcatcher" or somethiing similar. :-)

[Nychsa]

Well, let's see - I thought about a month ago that Bella was starting to molt. She's still molting! If I pet her or scratch her neck, a feather comes off and T I find myself holding one of her lovely feathers

 

The other day two of her trimmed flight feathers came off. Those were quite thick! But the new feathers are coming in quickly and her new flight feathers are beautiful!

 

I know someone said they molt all year round, but this more significant molting does come to an end at some point no? I have downy feathers all over the place and tiny little ones!

[lovemyGreys]

Yes Terri it will ease up Be sure to give Bella plenty of baths or spraying to help relieve the irration she may have while all these new feathers are coming through.

[Tycos_mom]

I'll take one of those margeitta's a strawberry one please make it a double. Tyco and fergie are both molting right now I keep all the flight feathers and all the tail feathers from both birds silly huh. I got a bag ful in the closet don't have the heart to throw them away.:cheer: :woohoo:

 

[Nychsa]

Tycos_mom wrote:

I'll take one of those margeitta's a strawberry one please make it a double. Tyco and fergie are both molting right now I keep all the flight feathers and all the tail feathers from both birds silly huh. I got a bag ful in the closet don't have the heart to throw them away.:cheer: :woohoo:

 

 

Are you kidding! I keep ALL of them except the downy ones! :laugh: I think my grand daughter and I will make a picture or some memorabilia with the feathers.