[Vince]

Cheekee is a little over 18 months old & is going through her first heavy molt. She has had a couple of mild molts since we have had her....but this is clearly a heavy molt as she is loosing a good deal of feathers from her tail, some wing feathers & down feathers. There is dust everywhere...
My question is will they pluck a some feathers during the molt?
A lot of the feathers just fall out when she ruffles....but during preening she is actually pulling some out out as I catch her with them in her beak.
She does not have any noticeable bald spots, but her feathers are uneven looking with new pins coming through and the missing ones.
Is this normal behavior....I just want to be guarded for plucking :/
She has always done a fantastic job of preening & has never shown signs of plucking before. But with this molt she is preening HEAPS...
She is a hand raised bird & we spend heaps of fun time with her...
Diet is also very good...
Any feedback from experienced keepers would be awesome...thank you!

 

[Newtonian]

I think, like a young kid will with a loose tooth, they do sometimes pull out the feathers that are loose. Others can chime in here with their thoughts, but I don't think you need to worry. Also, all of my tiels have thought that loose feathers are the most exciting toys ever, so during a molt I often find feathers in the beak because they're too fun to drop and lose.

 

[SoCalTiels]

If she's going through a heavy molt, it's pretty normal. Newtonian had a good comparison. When they molt, I can imagine it gets pretty itchy with all the new feathers growing in, so they're going to preen a lot more and remove the loose feathers, there just happens to be a lot more of the loose ones. If plucking isn't a behavior you've ever noticed in her before and nothing in the environment has really changed, I wouldn't worry too much about that being an issue.

 

[Bagheera]

Tiki is going through a molt and one day he actually handed me the shaft of a feather that had probably broken before I got him, he was twirling it around in his beak. Was rather comical. I am pretty sure he plucked it.

 

[catalinadee]

I think they just help remove the moulting feathers to be honest They seem to poof everywhere!

 

[TamaMoo]

Joey has ended up with some in his beak while preening. He doesn't seem to be pulling intentionally, but they are just coming out. He will drop them and watch them float down, then stare at them for a few seconds as if trying to figure out why they are on the floor. It is comical to watch his expression.

 

[Vince]

Thanks for all the replies everyone....I was feeling little unsure of it all.
First heavy molt is a little like my kids cutting their first teeth...lol
And TamaMoo & Newtonian, Cheekee has totally done the confused & play thing with the feathers One of her longest tail feathers fell out right while I was watching her a couple of days ago....she looked down at it totally confused for a few seconds & then ran down her rope to pick it up. She twirled it around for a few seconds & then ran over to me with it looking both confused & excited all at once!
I could not help but laugh loudly....it was really funny to see
Thanks kindly again for the replies...