Eclectus - Moulting?

[flossy]

Hi Guys
(Hope I have put this thread in the right place! Feel free to move it if I haven't.....lol)

Ok - my question.

I have a few Eckies but only one is looking shabby. Is it normal for them to moult at this time of the year? If that in fact is what he is doing? Wazzle, my HR male is looking really scruffy around his neck/head area - he looks unhappy? if that is possible? Not unhealthy, just unhappy?
Still eating, pooping and everything else as normal.Nothing has changed.....?
Any thoughts guys? As I said, all the rest are in great condition, no moulting - male or female....so just wondering if anyone else is having this problem or if I need to take him to see Mike Cannon?

Thanks heaps
Flossy

[avinet]

If he is just in poor feather around the head and neck but good on the body it could be plucking by a mate - although I don't know Eclectus well enough to know if mate plucking is an issue.

A photo speaks a thousand words

cheers,

Mike

[flossy]

Hi Mike......yes, I thought of the pic again, after I posted. He is on his own, so no chance of plucking by a mate.....(although Savannah my Major Mitchell is trying to bite through the wire to get to him, and is partly succeeding too! We now have to replace the wire between them.....!!)
It's just odd....I will go and take a pic this afternoon and put it on here.....thanks....AM

[Robyn]

Flossy, I think you'll find Wazzle is moulting. Sometimes they can go through a mojo moult where they look terrible to the point you can see their skin. Mainly on the head. Eclectus moult their body feathers almost all the time. Although they only drop flight & tail once a year.

Some eckies only ever have 1 mojo moult. Elliot had a good moult about 18 months ago. He looked terrible.

[flossy]

Oh thank you Robyn!!! This is basically how Wazzle looks! Phew, what a relief....he wouldn't let me take a pic of him yesterday, he got a bit freaked out, so I didn't force the issue.....
You learn something new every day!!

So my poor little Wazzle is having a mojo moult....lol!!
Thanks again
Flossy

[meandem]

Wow! I have never seen any of my eckies look like that. Well at least I will be prepared when it does happen. Phew!

[anzac]

Thanks for that too Flossy. Billy is has a similar condition, just mainly around his head so I guessed he was moulting as well cos he so young and I think I read somewhere that turk males need 2 moults to get their proper colouring? So I guess it's much the same moulting look across the species of parrots. I know I got the fright of my life when the tail feathers came off my canaries when they moulted.