Molting question

[Navre]

I have a 13 month old GCC. I have had her since July of '14. Since I have had her, she has only lost one vane feather, or contour feather (Not sure of the terminology.. I think she has only lost down feathers and maybe a chest feather, or two).

There has been only one feather big enough to notice.

She does have a few pin feathers on her head, again. He plumage looks okay, other than her tail feathers which get pretty well beat up against the cage while she is being insane.

Is it normal for her to have lost no feathers this entire time? I seem to remember my CAG losing and replacing feathers pretty steadily.

She is on a solar schedule. She is fed mostly fruit, some vegetables, harrisons pellets. I'm not giving any vitamin supplements.

[Wolf]

If she is on a solar schedule, then she should molt once a year which is usually right at the end of their breeding cycle. In Bolivia and NW Argentina where they are from they breed in Feb. so they may be fall breeders, Pajarita would know more as she is from that area.

[Pajarita]

Hmmmm, well, she should have had her juvenile molt 6 to 4 months ago, are you sure of her age?

[Navre]

I have a certificate with a hatch date of Jan 20, 2014. I think I got her at the end of July. She had no blood feathers at that time.

Her band is a 2014 band, so even if the date isn't exactly right, assuming the band is correct it couldn't be too far off.

[Pajarita]

The year on the band is always correct because the places where they sell them do not sell any band with a 'fake' year on them so she is definitely a 2014 bird but she might not be a January bird (hatch certificates don't really mean anything because they are produced by the breeders themselves and they are always in a big hurry to get the babies sold so he could have lied and given her an earlier hatch date in order to sell her). You got her in July and she was fully feathered by then but she didn't necessarily have to be 6 months old for this, she could have been 3 months old for all we know... Birds usually have their juvenile molt around 6 months after they are born but a juvenile molt at 8 or 10 months of age is relatively common in captivity even when you are keeping them at a strict solar schedule. After 12 months is not so common but not completely unheard of, either, especially for birds that were born out of season (as she seems to have been) so I would say that this is her juvenile molt.

[Navre]

Still no loss of any large feathers, at all. I'm keeping a lookout for them. I don't know where she could be hiding them.

[Wolf]

This sounds to me like she is just going to do a normal molt when she is finished with her breeding cycle.

[Pajarita]

Yep, that's what I think too but, if she doesn't, you will have to take her to an avian vet.

[Navre]

She has finally started to molt.

[Pajarita]

It's actually too early for it as she should be in breeding condition right now so keep an eye on her and re-evaluate her light schedule, please.