Beginning to molt????

[Suz Stickville]

In the past several day.. I have been seeing white down feathers in Shamrock (aka Shammy) cage....

I am seeing more each day....

I have checked him over and see not signs of plucking.. and I know that he has not molted at least his flight feathers in over a year since before his orginal owner died....
The person that had Shammy for over a year never got him clipped ... For his safety I took him to be clipped the day after I got him and it was discovered he had a light clip and was just trimmed harder and more flights cut so he could not gain altitude or fly for any distance..

I am use to the molting of my tiels and have never seen the white down feathers like this all over the place....

Is this the beginning of a molt for Shammy???

And if so what extra care and dietary needs will he have during this time....

He gets a thorough mist bath every other day....

Diet is fresh fruits, soaked and/or sprouted organic grain/seed mix, fresh veggies, cooked bean,grain,pasta mix with veggies and peppers.. and in evening and till I wake in AM pellet/ parrot seed mix with safflower/ no sunflower..

Diet varies with addition of cooked quinoa with fruit (instead of fresh fruits for breakfast or dinner), scrambled eggs with peppers every other day and birdybreads...

[Kathy]

My IRN looses the white downy feathers during his molt. also, he molts once a year, so yep it may be the beginning. Where do you live? Seems like a late molt if you live in Noth America.

[Cindy215]

Yes the days start getting longer on the 15th so YOUR bird is particularly in tune with seasons. Curious do you give him a strict natural daylight schedule fincluding dawn and dusk. (this is a great thing). I think IRNs are sensitive, too.

Molting season follows breeding season which in the NOrthern Hemisphere is April- say, July/August. Yes I've heard some IRN people say it's in the winter but I disagree.

IF you adjusted or changed his photoperiod that could have thrown him in molt early, too.

IF (just if, now, lol)...you feed excessive proteins (cant tell from your excellent diet description how much of each)....then he could be in a fake molt IF IT WERE ONLY pinfeathers. The down tells me molt.

I know a few Canary people who's birds started a bit early too, They are REALLY sensitive to photoperiods.

I'd offer alot of baths misting. And you can increase his proteins a bit when you see real molting since feathers are all protein. I mean beans, lentils, mung and adzuki are all I feed mine for the digestive tract.
A bit of egg if you must, but I believe animal protein is too tough on the liver and kidneys.

IME each feather takes about 4 days but the facial and other pins like all around the eyes and head are the bear. He may be sad or cranky irritable now, too. Take pity LOL.

[Ringneckmom]

Suz it is a molt and he will really look like crap for a while. As beautiful as they are, they sure look awful when they molt. I posted pics for you on another board.

Cindy - you do not have to believe us IRN people if you do not want to, but I know for a fact that they do start in the winter months. I know several IRN breeders locally and their birds do start breeding and working the nest in the winter months. It does not mean that they don't also breed in the early spring months, but owning several IRNs of both sexes - I do see the hormonal behavior of breeding in the winter months.

[stepht25]

Kirby is also molting at the moment. Lost the last of his long tail feathers the other day. It's so funny to see him with a short tail. Extra showers and a bit of aloe vera to help with itchy pin feathers. Kirby also likes to get a bit of extra beauty sleep during his molts.