Six months baby... and already molting?!

[Luciana]

He's not even 6 months old, in fact... Lucca is a crimson-bellied whose belly is crimson from the start, a cutie pie. I'm attaching a pic of early October 2019, so just four months ago, with pin feathers. Now, four months later, he's already shedding a few of the red ones in his belly. I've taken him to a full avian vet examination as he arrived, and he was ultrafine. I've also attached a more recent pic of him, with his full red belly, but the shedding does not show at all, it is in fact just starting.

Still looks and acts very healthy, a true baby Einstein, if I may say so: smart, alert and willing to learn. But, I wonder... is this normal? Sometimes it's a red feather, sometimes a tiny plume, everyday the amount increases a little bit, and I want to know if I should be worried about it. Are babies supposed to molt?

 

[Laurasea]

I think it's normal. A few feathers are traded out all the time. Then the big molts. If I remember correctly my Quaker did a big molt around 4 months.

 

[SailBoat]

The above is so very true! Two things are driving this:
1: Many Birds (Parrots) have very dull colors on their first set and the second set, they begin or fully display their adult colors. The larger Parrots can take five to eight years before they have their adult coloration.
2: Young Birds are commonly very hard on their feathers, so nature builds in the replacements.

 

[Luciana]

Thanks, guys. It does make sense: the feather-making "engine" must be kept running! At first it seems counterintuitive that perfectly new, glowy and healthy feathers should fall, but then I see that, well, it's not a process that should be halted and reinitiated, but a permanent one varying in intensity.