How long does a molt last?

[goalerjones]

Hahnzel seems to have new feathers coming in every other day. He began this about a month ago. Also, if it goes for a long time is that a sign of problems?

 

[Merlee]

I never kept track of how long a molt lasts. Just think how many feathers may be on a bird and how long it takes to grow new ones. A bird's system cannot drop them all at once so you may be waiting a long time.

I never realized how many feathers my macaw had until I decided to keep them. I almost have 2 gallon ziplock bags full from this year.

 

[Jayyj]

Alice's went on forever - months not weeks. It was a real relief when she finished, as I was constantly fretting about potential plucking issues, but I'll know for next year not to worry so much. I think it depends a lot on the species though.

 

[torrap]

I wanted to ask the same question because my birds are molting for 3-4 months at least now. I am getting tired of this mess. Their white dawn feathers are all over my house.....
I am collecting the feathers and it looks like 10 birds were molting, not just 2....hehe.

 

[goalerjones]

I remember his last one. It seemed like he had feathers for me to preen every day forever, then one day I was looking for feather casings to break off for him and there were none.

 

[MonicaMc]

I usually never paid attention to how long my birds molt for.... However, I've had Jayde for nearly 6 months now (in a little over a week) and she started molting 2 weeks after I got her!

 

[GaryBV]

Hey while we're on the subject of moulting, I do see that there is a seed mixture that is called 'moulting' food - is there any benefit to using a moulting forumula and what do people think of it?