First moult
Moderator: Mods
First moult
Hi just wondering at what age do irn's go through their fist moult
Can be either a light moult around a year after hatch, or a heavy moult on their second year approx after hatch.
With young birds and pet birds there are a few factors that can have an effect on a birds moult time.
Hormones, environment (weather, heat, seasons, indoors, outdoors), health (diet).
Basicly any time from 1 year through to 2 years will be when it moults, as to the severity and length you can only make asumptions, once the birds mature you can easily find their routine each year and can basicly time them to the weeks.
With young birds and pet birds there are a few factors that can have an effect on a birds moult time.
Hormones, environment (weather, heat, seasons, indoors, outdoors), health (diet).
Basicly any time from 1 year through to 2 years will be when it moults, as to the severity and length you can only make asumptions, once the birds mature you can easily find their routine each year and can basicly time them to the weeks.
Nope, when a Ringneck moults... its moults everything, generally bit by bit over the month or more. They drop a few flights then when they have regrown, they drop more and regrow them etc.. its so that in the wild they are not flightless at any time.
They have a heavy pinning on their faces / heads, as that area generally moults in one hit. You can sort of break the bird down into areas, and each area moults some or many of the feathers at a time depending on the need and importance of those feathers. Some areas are very easy to notice, others not overly so (like backs and bums) chest areas / back areas get scruffy etc etc.
Head feathers moult in one massive hit alot of the time hence why they look like death for a while lol.
Instead of repeating what another person has written here is a link that someone spent the time to put together about it.
http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/Sto ... ory_no=380
They have a heavy pinning on their faces / heads, as that area generally moults in one hit. You can sort of break the bird down into areas, and each area moults some or many of the feathers at a time depending on the need and importance of those feathers. Some areas are very easy to notice, others not overly so (like backs and bums) chest areas / back areas get scruffy etc etc.
Head feathers moult in one massive hit alot of the time hence why they look like death for a while lol.
Instead of repeating what another person has written here is a link that someone spent the time to put together about it.
http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/Sto ... ory_no=380
Last edited by Fah on Sun Nov 23, 2008 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tyeman wrote:lol yeah sorry worded that wrong i meant is the only time they can regrow flight feathers when they moult
No, if you pluck the feather for whatever reason, or if the feather finds itself removed the feather will start to grow back asap.
If the feather is simply damaged, but not removed, it will stay like that till the moult unless someone steps in. Hence why a clipped feather stays clipped until the next moult.
well thats intresting good link too thanks for that. My little girls wings were clipped when i got her at 6 weeks old since then i have read that it is better for them to learn to fly before getting clipped, better for their feet and what not when they crash land. So i take it her clipped wings wont grow back until she moults and plucking them out so they grow back would be mean and painfull
and plucking them out so they grow back would be mean and painfull I am very against premature pulling, regardless of the clip that has been done... its always best to just work with the birds situation until such a time that it moults.
Its not terribly bad for your bird that it was clipped before learning to fly, however its not recommended. Once the moult happens I would just let it learn to fly, then once learnt, i would, unless you have safety precautions in place to stop escape / damage to the bird caused by excessive speed in flying, partially clip your bird again, or just do a normal full clip again.
A clipped bird will not have feet problems unless its perching is very inadequate... ie; perches should vary in size, and preferably be a mix of dowl and rope perches, or stick perches here and there... etc... just like their diets, variety is key.
Its not terribly bad for your bird that it was clipped before learning to fly, however its not recommended. Once the moult happens I would just let it learn to fly, then once learnt, i would, unless you have safety precautions in place to stop escape / damage to the bird caused by excessive speed in flying, partially clip your bird again, or just do a normal full clip again.
A clipped bird will not have feet problems unless its perching is very inadequate... ie; perches should vary in size, and preferably be a mix of dowl and rope perches, or stick perches here and there... etc... just like their diets, variety is key.