Spike posted an intresting article on another thread about molting which got me reading into more things. Here is another great link.http://birdtoyoutlet.com/bird-safety/article-things-you-can-tell-from-feathers.htm The main things that I learned are about stress bars (which I didn't know about). Here is spike's link. http://www.cockatiels.org/articles/care/molting.html