Alex first molt?

[Mchal]

I was just wondering if any one had an idea of when Alexandrine's go through their first molt?

Bert is about 9 months old now and when I got him from the pet store they had his wings clipped. I got him at 10 weeks old and since I have had him he has never been able to fly, not even glide! I know that with wing clipping, they should be able to glide but not gain height and Bert has never been able to do that. He just drops to the ground like a rock.
About a month ago he "flew" out of his cage and by that I mean he crashed to the ground and he tore off one of his big flight feathers on one side, and then a couple of weeks later the other one on the same side tore off as well.
A couple of days after that happened I had taken him outside for some sun and as I was coming inside I noticed blood on my pants and then I realised Bert was bleeding!
He started flapping his wings and he sprayed blood up the walls and all over me, it was horrifying!! :11:
So we took him to the vet and she said that the pet store had done something very wrong when they cut his wings and that's why he has never been able to fly, so anyway she had to pluck what was left of the feathers he tore off.

So my poor baby is lopsided and finding it very hard to balance and I hate it when he tries to fly because he just crashes to the ground! And I am very afraid that he is going to break his breast bone or something worse

The vet said his feathers will all grow back normally in his next molt, and he is a really happy little baby again, but for my own peace of mind I would like to get a rough idea of when his first molt will be!

I won't be clipping his wings again either, I would like him to be able to fly around the house

 

[solobaby]

poor baby the pet shop did that to my irn , i completely lost it at them.

 

[greycloud]

Poor baby!! This angers me so much! Baby birds should never have their wings clipped until they have mastered flying for at least several weeks. Flying develops muscle, coordination and mental growth.
Your baby will hopefully grow his new flights in but it may take close to 6 months or longer. You may want to place blankets around the bottom of his cage in case he falls. I am glad he is in good hands with you!

 

[odge]

All our alex's had their first moult at around 10-12 months and this is when the male's ring usually starts to show up. They moult each year near the middle/end of spring and it's the only time I ever see these guys looking scruffy.

I wonder how heavy your Alex is, cus our boy is quite tubby and will only fly if he gets spooked, but the hen, who is lighter, loves to fly onto me or the teil's cage whenever she can. Our boy probably weighs about 270-300gms.

Another thought, maybe you could ask your vet to clip the 'good' wing so that he won't be unbalanced. When only one wing has flight feathers, that wing's muscles grow stronger than the non-flighted wing.

 

[Mchal]

The vet did re-clip his other wing which I assumed was for balance. Although he still does not have good balance at all.
But good news! I think he is going through his first molt now, as he has been losing big feathers every now and then! And he is looking a little scruffy
The vet did weigh him and I honestly cannot remember how much he weighs! I am having the biggest mind blank, but I want to say around 300g, he is a bit of a tubby as well.
The only time Bert will try and fly is if he has been spooked, or if he is out of his cage and I walk out of the room and stay away too long, he will try to fly (I think it's to come and find me or because he is cranky at me for not giving him enough attention).
Thank you so much

Just another question for you, how do you alex's get along with your other birds?

 

[odge]

We handreared both our alex's with the cockatiel chicks, so they absolutely adore the tiels. I am not a believer of mixed cages/aviaries though, so we only tend to have one species out at a time. I think it better to avoid confrontations rather than tempt fate.

That said, our african grey has the run of the house (she likes to sleep in a cupboard or on "her" table) and she was on the back of the couch when we were clipping the alex's toenails, well, Harley (our Alex hen) did not approve at all and ran along the back of the couch to have a set to with Georgie. Fortunately we had a towel on hand (since we were clipping) and got her away from George very promptly so no damage was done. Georgie is quite territorial though - she'll go for the tiels if they come too close to her 'nest' and Harley is definitely the one who wears the trousers out of our 2 alex's.

We used to have one of Maroon-bellied Conures (Tizar) in a cage on top of the Alex's cage and the alex's loved climbing it and looking down on the conure (who we also handreared with cockatiels). Tizar would occasionally try and get a nip of the alex's feet, but there was never any blood drawn or any serious aggression shown. (Tizar would quite happily have taken on a pair of cockatoo's though...)

I'm not sure if this is very helpful, but I thought it best to share the experiences we've had and let you decide whether this behaviour would fit your scenario.