Questions: beak peeling and is this a molt?

[galaxee]

Casper is our 7 month old senegal parrot. She is our first feathered family member (we have had cats for years) so we're not very experienced with what to expect yet.

I've noticed that her beak is peeling a bit, mostly on her right side, and was wondering if that was normal or if I should be doing something about that. Her personal mission in life is to destroy anything made of wood so she's quite tough on that beak. Would that be the cause? She's getting her nutrients, she has been on Harrison's high potency fine for at least a month now and eats steamed vegetables daily or every other day. Plus the occasional pasta or cereal or beans.

Also, 2 nights ago I noticed a few down feathers in the bottom of her cage. Last night there were 12 in and around the cage. And this morning when I got up there were already 4 more. All down and no contour feathers. We were told to expect a molt around the 1 year mark, is 7 months a little early? She gets a shower 2-3 times a week with one of us and seems to like it well enough.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated, we do want to be sure we're taking the best care of her we can. TIA

[Monica]

Peeling of the beak is normal, and beak trims only need be done if a bird has an overgrown beak. Otherwise, no need to worry.

As for molting, you could very well be seeing the start of a molt. If that's what your seeing, you'll need to be giving Casper more frequent bathes to ensure that any new feathers that come in wont be so itchy.

[Lisa B]

monica already got ya, so I will just add that Peeling of the beak is very much like peeling of your nails. the beak grows continuosly and is constructed of many layers. Air gets in between the layers and the older, layers flake off.
Chewing on her toys is actually helping the process.

[Kristi]

I don't think this will really help the peeling (it is a normal process), but I sometimes put a tiny drop of vegetable oil on my fingers and rub it into my birds beaks, especially in colder weather when the air is dryer. They seem to enjoy it and their beaks look really nice for a while.

[galaxee]

thanks guys, i feel much better now. i wasn't sure whether i should be worrying! i will try the vegetable oil on the beak even if it won't do anything for peeling. and if she is starting to molt we will give her daily showers. she seems happy after her showers, beak-grinding away in her towel.

[The Outlaw]

And, I'd like to add that my GW is starting to molt yet again. It seems to be almost non-stop, but she's looking better with every molt. Sounds pretty normal to me, too.

[BirdFace]

My 7 month old Sennie started molting about a month ago and is still at it. Lots of new pin feathers and is asking for (demanding) scratches more than usual :)

[lyz2814]

My 7 mo sennie is shedding down, but only has a few pin feathers so far. Since she was sick, I was on the phone to the vet all like "omg, there's down everywhere, is this a symptom, should I bring her in?" lol.

[CALVINS MOM]

My birds are molting this year more than ever. Seems they get done one and go into another. I truly believe it is the weather doing this. Heck, I have tulip bulbs that are growing about 6 inches high right now. This weather is tricking nature into thinking we are going into Spring (which is yet another time my fids molt).

[jessica313]

shadow has also been molting a long time.. i think its been 2 months at least... hes still got a ways to go to. still loosing and growing more feathers every day..
oh, here is a question i have about molting...
do birds loose all of their feathers during every molt? this will give me an idea of how much more shadow has to go.. becasue i can tell a big difference between old feathers and new because the old feathers and stress bars and the new ones do not