First Couple of Molts

[PrettyPax]

I'm curious, how often and roughly when does an African Grey start its first molt? What does it look like?

[Irishchicky]

my grey is going through molt now and the only word that describes her is shabby. Plus when I scratch her I can feel the pins. The guy I adopted her from says this is her first but she is 14 months so I don't know if it's true .

[PrettyPax]

Thank you for your reply. My Grey is also 14 months old and I'd say that "shabby" is definitely the correct word to describe her right now. Her chest has nothing but grey fuzz on it and some of her feathers on her wings are looking a bit frayed.

I was looking for images on the internet of African Grey Parrots molting but didn't find anything useful, as most of the pics were of Macaws and Cockatiels.

[mjames74]

Does it vary bird to bird? Mine is 2 in April and haven't seen anything yet. When sitting on my leg she has little wax sliver looking things on my leg when she preens sometimes. But no down feathers or anything like that yet.

[Janfromboone]

Tobie was 15-16 mos when he started to molt. He stopped for a while and then started again a month or two later and is still molting but not as heavy.

[Raposa]

Jenna is 13 months old, and she has had a couple of brief mini-molts, one where her tail feathers got pretty scraggly and one where her wings did. Right now she looks REALLY scraggly all over her body; her chest and back are pretty rough looking. Her head and tail seem fine, though. I called the breeder when this started and she said it was Jenna's first major molt and would mostly be over with in a couple of weeks

[PrettyPax]

Sounds like it differs from bird to bird. Are there any pics posted of a grey molting?

[Jaco1007]

My 15 month old AG molted for a few months then stopped for a month and now seems to be starting again. Is this normal?

[PrettyPax]

Jaco1007, my bird is also 15 months old and has followed a similar pattern. When she first started losing her chest feathers I thought it indicated a picking/plucking problem. I was pretty worried because it happened over the course of a couple weeks. Now, she is looking much better because the feathers have grown in on her chest, however she is still in the process of the same molt which has gone on for several months now. It took nearly a month before I noticed the pin feathers.

 

Can any one tell me how long a bird's first major molt can last?

[Char]

I am no expert but maybe the experts will come along shortly and elaborate. Whisper just went through her first major molt at about 13 months. It lasted over a month. She lost a lot of feathers including some big ones but she never really looked that shabby. The vet confirmed she was molting when she went for a checkup but it was pretty obvious.

 

It has tapered off now to just a few feathers here and there. She has not molted her tail feathers yet but I wish she would as they look terrible and I feel it will be soon because they just look dead and dull.

 

Birds do molt all year long but just a few feathers here and there and then have a major molt yearly (I think).

 

It is my understanding from reading that if a bird is kept in temps that are too dry and warm. you know dry heat it will cause molts to be extended and too often.

 

I am going out this week and get a humidifier of some kind. I was going to wait because I thought warm weather was here and I would not have the heat on so much but looks like we are in for some more cold weather so I might as well go ahead and get it.

 

Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/02/16 02:19<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/02/16 02:20

[Jane08]

Here are photos of our grey with his very first molt at about 7 months old. It went on for months the first molt.

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/44845-skin-condition.html#44845

 

You can see that his neck looked the worse when he molted and then his wing feathers strated to get all frayed as well. I didn't notice any difference on his chest area.

 

He is now molting again and he is 2 years old. This molt is not as bad as the first one and I really only see it when I bath him and can see all the pin feathers. Sometimes when he preens near me I see a patch that looks bald and then I move his feathers and see that all the pin feathers are there.

[SchroedersJen]

Schroeder tends to molt 1/2 of his feathers at a time, over a period of about 2 months....then the other half fall out 4 months later. As a result, I end up having a calico looking TAG. He spends a lot of time outside and his old feathers get very faded and new feathers are nice and dark. He looks a bit scruffy at the end of his 2 months, but never too terrible. Mostly, he just looks strange. <br><br>Post edited by: SchroedersJen, at: 2009/03/27 03:19

[lovethatgrey]

I think that Emma is going through her biggest molt so far.

I've been finding bigger feathers on the floor as well as some tail feathers too. She is about a year old and there is no way I would describe her as shabby looking at the moment. Some of you have even seen videos of her.

 

This is just my humble opinion, but I do thnk that each parrot experiences their molt differently.

 

I also think that the region where they reside can play a factor in terms of frequency as well as the general health and diet of the parrot before the molt occurs and during the molt too.

[cflanny]

ZZero has been molting for over a month and hes only 10 months?? we have lost and gotten lots on his head and back of neck, He is doing his shoulder blades now. I think its a molt cause I find mabey 4-6 grey feathers a day and tons and tons of down. he has tons of pins and his feathers seem very healthy . We have one new solid red tail feather also

 

Is this way to early for him??

[Sallas]

Saphira is one year this month and for the last two months she has been pretty shabby looking, but now she is starting to look a little better (thats good for her birthday pictures!!).

 

Now Thorn is three months younger than her, so I am expecting him to start in about a month.

[Tycos_mom]

My birds can and do look fairly shabby sometimes when they are molting espiecaly if its a really heavy molt right now my African ring neck is going to be a year old in March and he looks so bad. I know in a month or so he's going to be as gorgous as can be once he get all those old feathers out. and mabie he will even get his rings I doubt it though I have to wait another year for that. Tyco went through a mini molt this year but nothing big so she didn't look Shabby at all.