# Losing feathers?



## DefiantWamelon (May 21, 2018)

Hi

Magnus is going through his first moult and is growing and losing a lot of feathers. It's been going on for a month or two, but today I noticed some of his newly grown primary feathers have fallen out. Some of the ends look quite mangled (possibly chewed or plucked?) and he's lost two wing feathers and a tail feather today. 

He does seem to preen excessively, a lot more than the budgie I had before him, so I'm worried he might be plucking and might damage a blood feather one day when I'm out (he has ripped a blood feather open a few weeks ago which I had to have removed).

Attached are some photos of the feathers that have fallen out today.

Does anyone have any advice?


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## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

Magnus’ molted feathers look normal . 

He’s not picking, you’re seeing normal molting. Although some parrot species are more inclined to pluck and chew than other species; the root of which is usually a medical cause, it’s very rare to see budgies do it. 

The reason Magnus’ feathers have that appearance is that while they were in his body during the first months of his life, they have rubbed agsinst things, and got a little smashed and messed up in his environment. Sometimes if an old feather gets really messy repeatedly, it doesn’t go back together again perfectly neatly. No cause for alarm. His look perfectly normal. 

I wouldn’t worry about Magnus accidentally causing a blood feather to break when preening. He knows exactly how to do it . It’s not uncommon to see more preening during molting. 

While the molting process does seem to take a while, he’ll look brand new and very handsome when he’s all done :thumbsup:.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I agree with Julie, Magnus is simply having a normal molt. 

Molting*


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