Moulting support?

[Raikou]

Hi all!

So my pair of peach faced are currently going through their first moult with me. However it's been so long since I last had lovebirds, it somehow managed to slip my mind this is a thing they do! They both look, well, a bit like crap at the minute.

They have a good diet of tropican pellet mix, with a varied seed mix on the side every now and then for variety, herbs and fruit veg etc every now and then. I also went and picked them up some moulting supplement to go in the water today.

Is there anything else in particular I should be doing? Is there such a thing as a "bad moult" that would need intervention for?

They're behaving as normal and still lively and chatty, happy to come out and fly and pull my hair as usual.

 

[SailBoat]

As long as you are providing a varied and healthy diet you have the foundation of a great molt. As you likely know, a molt places a heavy demand of their energy stores and you providing that strong diet assures their health.

A Parrot that lacks the needed energy stores will greatly limit their molt.

 

[noodles123]

Have you taken them to an avian vet? If you are seeing major bald patches etc, there are certain viruses that can cause that. Healthy moults do not usually cause bald spots. Moults do tax them a bit, so nutrition is important, but shoot for natural fortification (e.g., chop, vegetables etc). What do they typically eat in addition to seeds and pellets?


I would advise against putting supplements in water. 1. it can alter the taste of the water and cause them to drink too little. 2. It is impossible to monitor how much they are consuming and birds can OD on vitamins. 3. It can increase the rate of bacterial growth in water.


If a legit avian vet does a vitamin panel and recommends supplements, then they will not generally tell you to put them in water for that reason. If you must, I would mix them into a specific type of food (like plain oatmeal or something) so that you have an idea of how much is being consumed, but even then, don't just "wing" it (no pun intended lol). You need to be cautious because pellets and seeds are often already fortified with vitamins, and you could easily overdo it (despite your good intentions).

 

[bug_n_flock]

Plus the add in stuff for water almost invariably tells you to add a crazy large amount.



Feathers are mostly protein. I like to give a little extra protein during a molt... boiled eggs, etc but generally no. My senior tiel, Alex, gets a little "older" during a molt, but he bounces back just as soon as he is done with all that hard work growing beautiful feathers.

 

[Raikou]

Have you taken them to an avian vet? If you are seeing major bald patches etc, there are certain viruses that can cause that. Healthy moults do not usually cause bald spots. Moults do tax them a bit, so nutrition is important, but shoot for natural fortification (e.g., chop, vegetables etc). What do they typically eat in addition to seeds and pellets?


I would advise against putting supplements in water. 1. it can alter the taste of the water and cause them to drink too little. 2. It is impossible to monitor how much they are consuming and birds can OD on vitamins. 3. It can increase the rate of bacterial growth in water.


If a legit avian vet does a vitamin panel and recommends supplements, then they will not generally tell you to put them in water for that reason. If you must, I would mix them into a specific type of food (like plain oatmeal or something) so that you have an idea of how much is being consumed, but even then, don't just "wing" it (no pun intended lol). You need to be cautious because pellets and seeds are often already fortified with vitamins, and you could easily overdo it (despite your good intentions).

No major bald patches, they look like someone threw them in a clothes dryer for thirty seconds and they got a bit messy, not the most flattering look. I offer them herbs like parsley and mint, fruit like mango and melon and veg like carrots and sugar snap pea pods just to name a couple of each thing that they'll currently actually eat. I was offering egg food for protein as they had chicks a few weeks ago too to provide protein as they aren't too keen on actual egg at the moment (they didn't seem to have the most varied diet before I got them a few months ago, so basically everything is new and trial and error as food and not a poisoning attempt on their lives - I do still attempt offering new things regularly to slowly broaden their diet) so I'm guessing that would be a good idea to continue into and through the moult? They seem to be unbothered by any potential taste difference in the water and not showing avoidance of it neither.

Is the overdosing on vitamins an actually plausible risk? I only ask in that sense as from working with diets from rats (completely different to birds I know, but potentially the issue itself relatable) over the years, most commercial food available is poor quality so most people make their own mixes or purchase from tailored places to avoid them, but then need to additionally supplement food or water as not being heavily processed fortification is low and vitamin and mineral needs etc have to be met elsewhere.

Getting the right amount, giving too much etc comes up frequently and the general consensus with those types of supplements is as long as you aren't basically putting the concentrated powder down their mouths daily, they wouldn't be able to consume a large enough of it in a properly measured portion of food or water in one go consistently for it to become an issue with their bodies processing it properly and having issues.

Though in this case its slightly different with pellets having fortification to be complete like you said, as there's a lot more quality available with avian diets it's seeming than small pets - when they're going through a rough time working to produce new feathers still that it's better to refrain from water supplement over just a good diet?

I hope at least half of that makes sense as I had the world's worst nap after trying to attempt christmas food shopping earlier and boy am I drowsy XD

 

[noodles123]

Yes- you can really mess up their organs etc and even kill them with too many vitamins. I know you probably wanted to hear from someone else, but it is true. The same is actually true of human children, although they are far less sensitive than birds. There are water and fat soluble vitamins and this all comes into play as well. If they can pee them out, it is less risky, but still dangerous, as it has to be filtered out (kidneys/liver etc can take a beating). Parrots and humans live far longer than rats, so this may be part of the issue--- chickens, dogs, rats and cats have lifespans under 20 years (generally) so sometimes vets and professionals do things to them that would be seriously detrimental to a longer-lived animal. If you need your organs to last you 30-80 years, it's a lot different than if your lifespan is 6-20.
If you want vitamins, unless you have a vitamin panel confirming a deficiency from a CAV, your best solution is to feed safe veggies. Your food is likely already fortified and so it could be like feeding a kid 20 multi-vitamins a day, only worse (as birds are generally far more sensitive). There have actually been a few studies that even show that multi-vitamins decrease life-expectancy in humans.



Regardless of lifespan, parrots are really sensitive and when they already are consuming fortified foods, adding more on top of that is unsafe. Let alone to their only water supply.



It's not just about ODing, it's also about the impact on their water consumption and the fact that you could be causing far greater risk for bacterial infection (aside from over-dose).

 

[Raikou]

I'll ditch the vit then with that in mind. Thanks for the advice, though I'll never want human kids the image of giving them a plate of multivitamins is a bit of a dark giggle what a meal XD

I'd always want to be wrong over accidentally causing harm, so tell me anything I wouldn't wanna hear any day!