Molding or Feather Puller?

[Medo Cekic]

Okay So my little Sun Conure is showing signs of either Pulling her feathers or her Molding. Can someone help me confirm which one it is.

Some signs are that she it touching her feather, but I never seens her actually pull them. I see her using he tounge to clean them or something, but I cant confirm is actually.
Some other one is that I did see she had a feather in her hand and she was biting it.

[lola31]

its likely a case of moulting, how old is she? my cinnamon green cheek is moulting and I've noticed that if a feather falls out while she's grooming/ cleaning she will play with it for a little while, i can definitely say that my pepper hasn't plucked them out, do you notice that there are lots of little white waxy sheaths(tubes) with new feathers coming through as this would be confirmation that she is moulting just bathe her more frequently to ease the discomfort and keep an eye out for any visible bald patches as if she were plucking she could probably give herself quite a noticeable bald patch in a short period of time.

[Medo Cekic]

She is 8 months of age. Now I do not know what you mean by little waxy sheaths. If you are talking about the those hard looking feather(not really feathers) but seems like they are ungrown. they are like white and maybe as small as half the eye of a sun conure. She has MANY of them around her head and they are very noticeable, and she has alot near her neck. I cant reaaly find any on the wing as she is very protective of it.

[lola31]

yeah i'd say (in my limited experience )that she's moulting if there are lots of new feathers growing in! try and let her bathe more often, pepper has a bath everyday and she loves it and it seems to make her less cranky as those feathers growing do seem to be very irritating for them. just keep an eye on her to make sure.

[Medo Cekic]

Yeah I will keep both eyes on her :D, and thanks very much. This is a first time my familt, and me have a Parrot, so it we cant be the best owners, although we do try. Also my bird loves to take showers. Today so far she has taken 2 showers, athough she usually takes one.

I got one last question how many times does Molting happen to a bird in her lifetime?

Thanks again, you helped me alot. I cannot go to my Vet this month as I am very busy. Recently I started getting hugeback pain and it can be a problem(X-ray will show).

[lola31]

lol I've never had a bird before either and it is a steep learning curve but all we can do is try our best, i think that birds moult twice a year but I'm not 100% certain on that one.
i hope your back gets better soon

[Medo Cekic]

Thanks you again, but if they Molt for 2 times a year would that mean that they dont ever stop Molting? How long is the Molting prosses.

[lola31]

well i've done a little more research and it appears that in nature birds moult once a year but that due to our houses being heated in winter and artificial lighting they can sometimes be confused into moulting twice. i found this article if you'd like to read it.
the conure parrot-moulting

[anbrownucsd]

Quite awhile in my experience. I would say that about half the year my senegal has a few new feathers growing in.


They take care of them on their own for the most part. The ones on their heads and their necks they cannot reach though. I've seen some people lightly twist them between their fingers, but to me, it seems you're likely to hurt the bird more than help it if you don't know how. You don't want to lose the trust of your bird this early on.

My Senegal will sit on my knee and whistle at me to get my attention. Then she puts her head between her legs...and looks up every few seconds. If I don't get the hint before too long, she'll nip me (very lightly, of course) and then put her head back down.

Thats my cue to massage her head and neck for awhile. After 20-30 minutes (its much more effective after a shower) there will be a bunch of little white flakes and few fully exposed new feathers....and one extremely ecstatic bird.

I knows its an annoyance for them, if not painful, but mine would rather deal with the sharp pain of me running a "pin feather" the wrong way a couple times than deal with an insatiable itch.

[Medo Cekic]

thanks again guys for the link and everything