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Post by Scratchpost on Dec 12, 2022 9:02:14 GMT -7
Hi all,
How will I know when Aka has finished his baby moult? I know how much time it takes roughly but I also know that each parrot is different.
Will there be a stark contrast to before and after? My thinking was to watch the tail feathers and see when all the baby feathers with dark marks at the bottom have been replaced and the flight feathers that are darker to give him the 'band', at the bottom of the wings. Are these good indicators or should I be looking for something else?
Thanks.
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Post by Haz on Dec 12, 2022 9:13:27 GMT -7
I would go by when all his tail feathers are all red rather than black tipped.
Chy never has a full moult. She just loses a couple of feathers at a time unless she has a panic attack and thrashes around her cage. Then she loses blood feathers.
Haz
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Post by Scratchpost on Dec 13, 2022 12:56:09 GMT -7
Hi Haz,
Ok thanks. I have noticed a few blood feathers in the cage now, but I think that's because he is a bit off-balance. I know they are supposed to lose feathers equally to balance them out, but his funny foot messes with that. He also lost the middle tail feather so he's a bit off-balance with that too.
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Post by Jane on Dec 14, 2022 4:05:00 GMT -7
So Aka has lost several of the new feathers?
Monty can't grow primary flight feathers, they start to grow but always fall out malformed.
Jane
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Post by Scratchpost on Dec 18, 2022 4:44:10 GMT -7
Hi Jane,
No, as far as I can tell he is only losing his baby feathers. The tail feathers I find all have the dark spot at the end. I found one or two new/adult flight feathers with one adult tail farther last week but I found those after he fell while preening so I expected as much. The other feathers that I find are the baby tail feathers and his baby wing/flight feathers.
We had him clipped the last time he went to the vet so it's easy to tell the old flight feathers from the new. I'm also finding the small head feathers but I don't see any bald patches so I assume these are the baby feathers since if it was the adult feathers there will be bald spots given how many I find (about 3-6 a day).
We have decided not to clip him anymore. When these new adult feathers grow in we'll leave them. He still falls about two or three times a day because of his foot, even with flat perches, so I want him to be able to catch himself when he falls. My husband and I catch him when we are home (because you can hear when he falls by wing frantic wing flapping) but we can't catch him every time if we aren't home, etc. I'll start worrying about his flight feathers if I find the intact ones at the bottom of his cage during and after the moult. As far as I can see, his feathers grow normally. No deformities or anything. The vet said he might have an issue with the feather/wing where we found the feather cyst the last time, and I need to look out for that but so far, no more feather cysts in that wing or anywhere else. It's funny, he falls while sitting on perches, but he has no issue climbing around his cage and using his toys as perches. His cleft foot helps him when he climbs and swings on his toys, not so much on the perches.
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