Molting bird has me puzzled

Please could somebody advise me as the the length of a "big" molt. My bird has been molting since October, and it's still molting. Is this normal or is it not.

He seems to have lost about all his tail feathers they grew back, then some of them seem to fall out again. His downy feathers are for ever falling out. He seemed to go bald on the top of his head, then they grew back, he really seems quite tatty, how can you tell when the molt is finally going to stop

He also seems to be permanently preening himself, is this normal. I did put some stuff on him thinking that he was having a problem with mites etc, so I don't think it's that, I guess he's preening.

I have even go so far as to buy him toys which I was told gives them the feeling of preening, so it distracts them from preening themselves.

 

A birds big molt can last for 6months or longer.
He will keep losing and replacing his feathers until the molt has come to an end.
What i do is use a plant mist spray bottle fill it with warm water and spray the bird this helps them preen and get rid of any dust aswell as any lose feathers.

If you can not get hold of a mist bottle place a shallow dish of warm water on the cage floor and he should bath in it.

Also if possible place the cage outside when it is warm the suns rays are actually vitamin D to birds and helps keep them in good health aswell as helps the molting process.


Do not worry he will fully recover from his molt and you will notice when its ending when the feather loss slows down.

Mike

 

Holy cow ,my bird has only been molting for about 2 months! :shock: