Feathers falling out...

[cflanny]

All seems well with ZZero hes eating, sleeping, playing and talking talking talking. but heres what I think is wierd.

 

We have had series of mini molts, started with his neck, then head then around his shoulders. when I have seen this he alwasy has tons of pins there ready to replace the space. The last 3 days or so when I am scratching his head the feathers seem to just fall out? several at a time. is this mabey a calcium issue??

 

I have also seen 3 red feathers in a week( they are not chewed or broken)1 large one and 2 small. I remmeber reading that he shouldnt even lose these feathers till hes 18 months or so, this is our 3rd actual tail feather in 2 months.(ZZero will be 1 at the end of this month).

 

Somthing just seems off when these feathers just fall while scratch time?

 

he is on a a great diet and I always try to give him dark greens and he gets a egg once a week.

[chimaysmommy]

Wow that really is strange...Maybe cut back on the egg? Just something that my vet had said to me that stuck out--he had a grey come into his office overloaded with protein because his owner was feeding it to him all of the time. Once per week seems like a pretty reasonable frequency to me, but you never know. He has me freaked on the egg thing so I stick with dark greens and broccoli to get calcium into Chimay, and his birdie bread always have a ton of eggshell in them. Maybe call the vet and ask them what they think?

[cflanny]

upon a closer inspection I do see pins. I also have a message into my vet. mabey i am just parnoid it just didnt feel right to see them just fall outlike that. please let me know if you think I am just paranoid.

[Dave007]

Tail feathers---there's no set time when they're supposed to fall out. It be 8 mts, 18 mts or anything inbetween. This also applies to flight feathers. Tail feathers and flight feathers don't come under the same category of feathers that fall out at regular times. Those feathers fall out all year long when they die. It could be one feather, 2 feathers 3 feathers,4 feathers.

If your bird is molting right , that doesn't mean that it will molt all of it's feathers at one time when it's so young. Baby feathers are constantly being replaced by the first layer of adult feathers which will then fall out in the first major molt. A complete even adult molt occurs after the age of 1 to 1 1/2 yrs and each molt looks the same. Messy.

The amounts of eggs that are given have nothing to do with molting feather. An excess of calcium or a small amount of calcium doesn't speed up or slow down molting. One thing has nothing to do with the other.

Scratching his head will always loosen weak dead feathers and as long as the pin shafts are there, you can be guaranteed that more are on the way

 

"""" remmeber reading that he shouldn't even lose these feathers till hes 18 months or so,"""""

 

That's not true

 

PS--anything concerning molting only has to do with external situations.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/06/09 23:00

[cflanny]

ok I think I am just a paranoid freak!! I want so much to keep my baby as healthy as possible.

 

Thank so much for the response Dave it was perfect and put it all in perspective. I htought mabey somthing in his envirment wasnt right when I compared him to other greys. This just proves all greys are different

 

Thanks Dave and Chimay

[ranaz]

Dave the saver...thanks for the info

I have a question for you:

My Bird Kookie looses a feather or 2 every other day, mostly small feathers but once in a while a bigger feather.New ones are growing as I can feel them when I scratch him. Hes almost 5 years old does he molt gradually or what?

 

{Nature-00020095}{Nature-00020095}

[Dave007]

Most greys lose feathers every day. Most are always very small and on the darker gray colored shade. The reason that happens is because of their naturally dry skin combined with the constant spreading of oil from their uropial gland all the time, the different feathers basically can't breathe so they fall out. This happens with adult greys much more so than young greys because older greys ( by the time they're older greys) are usually well set in their molting pattern. In other words, if you have an older bird that constantly has a major molt every 6 mts and your next store neighbor has an ilder bird that has a major molt once a year, nothing is wrong but what will happen to either bird is that they will both lose tiny darkish feathers all the time. Luckily, it doesn't cause an immense amount of mess. That happens when the major molts come through. I have one grey who's a 6 monther, another one who's an 18 monther, and another who molts at different times because he's a special needs bird who had serious feather problems in the past. Basically, what your bird is going through is totally normal.

[Char]

When a bird is molting their feather will just fall out like that especially during a petting session. Whisper is 18 months and she has all new tail feathers except for 2. She has molted her flight feathers twice. She is always losing feathers.

I used to worry over every little feather too but I have learned to relax about it. I think that because we know Greys are prone to plucking we are more anxious about the feathers being lost. If Whisper wasn't replacing them she would be bald by now.:laugh:<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/06/10 03:01

[cflanny]

Thanks everyone for the response, it just seemed odd they were so many outta the top of his head and just seemed to come off with ease. I do see pins so I am happy. ZZero has been almost in a constant state of molt since he was about 8 months on small portions of his body. I always think I hope its not too hot or too cold but I am just a paranoid mama.

 

so far when a new tail come in he gets in a real bad mood for 2 days. I asked about this before to no real conclusion but I think when they first poke out it bugs him and he just gets pissy. The other day we had 2 bad days and sure enough thats when I noticed a tail feather.

 

I appreciate all the help