oh boy!

[Pointy_kitty]

my old cockateil almost NEVER moulted and when she did it was the big feathers
now pickle (my budgie) who is usually beautiful and practically perfect in every way, is all messy looking
his feathers are all messy and his down fluff is falling out
he's only 3 months old........
could he be becoming a man ???
i can't wait til he loses his bars but he shouldn't until he's at least 6 months old
he has regular baths.... so why does he look so scruffly?

 

[Dragonslair]

This may be a silly suggestion, but is your budgie bored or too hot?
Is it maybe suffering from a vitamin deficiency? Have you got all the common items in its cage, such as cuttlefish, toys etc.
Moulting in budgies starts a little at a time and you notice a few feathers here and there, but not as you describe. If it doesn't clear up within the next few days it might be wise to take it to a vets to get it get out.

 

[Pointy_kitty]

This may be a silly suggestion, but is your budgie bored or too hot?
Is it maybe suffering from a vitamin deficiency? Have you got all the common items in its cage, such as cuttlefish, toys etc.
Moulting in budgies starts a little at a time and you notice a few feathers here and there, but not as you describe. If it doesn't clear up within the next few days it might be wise to take it to a vets to get it get out.

well i don't think that he is bored,
he's out for at least 2 hours a day and his cage has lots of toys, a mirror, a cuddlebone, millet, a seed bowl and a veggi bowl
i give him his tub once every second day
and every day i let him out specifically for flying (about 10 minutes where he does fast circles around the room)
i think i have pretty much covered his proper diet (except he doesn't eat his fruit ever) and he has lots of entertainment
and about the heat, it is still pretty cold over here

what about him sounds too exteme for moulting?
he looses between 5-10 fuzzies a day
they are tiny peices of his down
i have read that they can loose these all year round but i thought he was too young to start
i just wanted to know why he was all scruffy

 

[Pointy_kitty]

i just read this on a budgie care site:

With young budgies the ceres of both sexes are the same colour, a purplish shade, so it is difficult to decipher their sex until they have been through their first molt at three to four months of age. Only then will the adult color show.

so i guess that answers my question,
he is probably just about to molt

 

[Auratus]

Do you have a wal-mart? I get this stuff called "Parakeet Molting & Conditioning Supplement." It works well when birds are moulting and helps them do it faster, and their colors come out better.

Just make sure he doesn't get what's called a "french moult" That' when the Flight feathers on the wing fall out and never grow back and then he can't fly. My enlgish budgie that I got from the lfs had a french moult... he's very scruffy looking but I like him

 

[Pointy_kitty]

Do you have a wal-mart? I get this stuff called "Parakeet Molting & Conditioning Supplement." It works well when birds are moulting and helps them do it faster, and their colors come out better.

is the "suppliment" a drop of his water or something hard he has to eat?
i've seen seed mixes that are disguised as treats but i don't know if he'll eat them
he is very picky with which fruits/vegi or seeds he'll eat

Just make sure he doesn't get what's called a "french moult" That' when the Flight feathers on the wing fall out and never grow back and then he can't fly. My enlgish budgie that I got from the lfs had a french moult... he's very scruffy looking but I like him

thats horrible!
good you still love him though
how/why does it happen?
anything i can do to prevent it?
he ADORES flying

 

[Auratus]

It's a seed that smells really stronly of licorice. My birds eat it but they aren't very picky.

I don't know what you can do to prevent a french moult besides good food. Most of the birds that I've seen get it, get it from malnutrition.