Moulting or Plucking?

[andrea.b]

Hi,
For the past few days I've noticed feathers on the bottom of the cage. So far I've found about ten. They consist of stomach feathers and grey fluff. I've only had her for a few months and I've never owned a parrot before this so I'm not sure if this could be her starting to moult or if she's plucking out her feathers. Just now she was preening herself and a fluff fell off of her and a feather.
Right now I'm scratching her and looking through her feathers and I'm noticing quite a few pin feathers especially around her neck. Although I haven't really looked this closely before while scratching her so I'm not sure if this is normal or if she's moulting. There's also about 4 tiny pin feathers that are actually visible on her cheeks and a few on her chin.
She's about 4 months old. I'm not sure if they moult when they're that young.
Please let me know what you think, any input is appreciated.
Thanks!
I'll also attach video of her "preening" or maybe it could be plucking. I'd appreciate it if you let me know if it looks normal.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNHsRHfRkNA&feature=youtu.be]Green Cheek Conure Preening - YouTube[/ame]

 

[weco]

Looks like she's moulting, especially since you're finding both 'fluffies' and primary/secondary feathers.....

Giving her frequent baths helps a bird moult & if she'll let you, gently pinch or roll the pinny sheaths between you fingers/finger nails, especially on her neck & above...she can't reach those herself.....

If you live in a dry climate, the dryness can make some birds over preen or barber their feathers themselves.....humidity levels above 40% is good.....

 

[Allee]

Connie's a real cutie and I think she's just preening. She may be uncomfortable with all the new feathers coming in, and as weco said, you may need to check the humidity level.

 

[andrea.b]

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to start misting her every day to increase the humidity in her cage. Im still a little worried about the plucking though because she's so young. Are you guys sure she's not too young to be moulting?

 

[weco]

Although 6-10 months old is the average age for first molts in green cheeks, it is not something etched in stone, as is the case for much of birdom.....if new feathers are coming in early, your little friend probably missed Nature's memo about properly scheduling events in their life.....

Jest aside, you should use the data/information you read as guidelines...as you may have already learned, there is a lot of variables and flat out misinformation in a lot of what has been published about our feathered friends.....I've found that if a particular piece of information describes one of my birds, I generally believe/rely on that piece of information more than I do other information that does not sound like my bird.....

So, considering that your bird acts like a normal GCC that is molting, producing pin feathers & leaving fluffies & feathers laying around, with no indication of any plucking, yes, your little friend is just getting a headstart on its new finery ! ! !

 

[andrea.b]

Okay great! Thanks so much. Im so relieved..
I cant wait to see her new shiny feathers.

 

[andrea.b]

Hello,
I thought i'd just give an update incase another new bird owner had the same kind of question and it could save them quite a bit of anxiety about plucking. Over thanksgiving this weekend I left Connie with a bird behaviourist. I mentioned to her that I was a little worried about plucking, but i also told her that i was pretty sure it was just her molting.
The woman gave me some very valuable information:

Basically, birds often have their first molt around 6-10 months but that can vary depending on what season the bird was born in. Weather changes, differing humidity, and temperature changes can cause the bird to start molting apparently. Connie hatched in late June, so by fall, when she was only three months old she was exposed to a lot of weather fluctuations. The weather in London ON has been very odd, one day it was almost below freezing and within a week it was back up to 25 degrees.
So the bottom line is if you have a really young bird don't worry if your finding feathers around the cage, because molting is effected, not just by age but also external factors.

Hope someone in the same situation finds this helpful.

Also I'm positive that she's molting now because she has new pin feathers all over her head. She is taking very intense baths where she climbs right into the water and stays there for up to 5 minutes. Usually she will let me give her scratches for a couple minutes and then she gets bored but last night she let me scratch her for almost 15 minutes.